When Doves Cry

Amonl'isa (Whisper of Quietus)

Chapter Four; This Calls for a Toast : Pour the Champagne

Toasts. They were of great meaning. Often when one thinks of a toast, they think of a happy moment. Though far more lies behind a toast. Something terrible had to happen in order to toast. Wether a father gave away his daughter, or a war was lost. Great or small - sacrifice was always there.

I was always an obedient child, and my demise it was. Had I not listened to Daddy, I would have been safe, fine, in my bed by now. But no, I had to listen, and it was my downfall. I had ventured downstairs, only to find a terrible circle drawn up on the floor. I was hating those circles, they were so ugly, and they reminded me of the creepy animals in the book. Though obediently I trotted on, Alexander keeping time with my every footstep, and every movement I happened to make. For this, I suppose, I was very thankful.

Daddy was standing in the middle of the room, the light bouncing creepily from his glasses. A smile was on his face, a weird, wrong sort of smile. I hated it, but yet again, I was starting to hate a lot of things, pretty quickly, too. Though I kept quiet, allowing Daddy the right to speak first. Though when he did not, there was a long quiet between us, and I was left in confusion for a few minutes. It grew terribly uncomfortable for me, I don't know if the smie did it, or the light on his glasses. Maybe, maybe it was both.

"Nina, darling, step into the circle, please." Daddy said politely.

Though it wasn't Daddy. It wasn't him. His voice was the same, so anybody wandering by would know it was him, but it wasn't him. His tone was different, nearly cruel to my ears as I listened to his mannered words. Fear powered my limbs, for if it hadn't, I would have stayed quite still. Slowly, and very stiffly, I walked into the circle, staring blankly at Daddy, trying to hide my fear. Obviously, it hadn't worked very well - much to my dismay.

"Stay calm Nina, it's fine." Daddy cooed, ushering Alexander into the circle with me.

Oh I was thankful! So very thankful that Alexander was going to be there with me. Though the attempt in soothing me didn't work as he had planned it, only did it make me more afraid. Afraid of what was to happen - scared of my Daddy. I was thankful for the comfort Alexander allowed me - for I was so very scared. Tears welled in my green eyes; and by now I couldn't hold them back. Pale lines traced my flushed cheeks, small sobs shaking me.

"Hush now, Nina. All will be fine." Daddy kneeled down, touching the edge of the circle.

At first, it was only his words I hated. The words I was scared of. But then when he touched the circle, light filtered up through every little line, a terribly bright light. I squealed, though I couldn't hear myself. Alexander was squirming beside me, and I think he was barking, I couldn't hear him, or anything at all, for that matter. Seeing him was fairly hard too, for the light was blinding me. I held tighter, though, the fear making me do so. I needed something to cling onto. Then I couldn't breathe. It was as if something was pressing on my chest. It happened so very fast, so fast...I rested on Alexander, and despite the bright light surrounding us, Alexander went limp, stopped squirming, and everything went black...

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I suppose I had been out for a while. A rather long while, for when I woke, the room was back to it's normal state. I couldn't see Daddy, but I didn't want to, either. My tears had dried, and at least I couldn't feel them. And I could breathe, and see, thank goodness. But my body ached so much, and as I tried to stand up, agony filled me. When I finally managed to right myself, I was on all fours, though my limbs were of equal length. All four. And I couldn't stand upright, so I stayed where I was.

A wave of brown hair hit my eyes, and my face, and I didn't want to flick my head to move it. Instead, nearly instinctively, I raised an arm to move the long curtain of auburn hair, when my clear vision hit something. And I stopped dead.

It wasn't my arm - it was a leg.

An animal leg.

I shook my head to rid my visage of the hair, much to my dismay, it hurt more. I stared ahead of me, deciding I wanted to know what happened.

I stopped again.

I had a muzzle.

At first, it seemed to surreal to think about. My mind just wanted to shove it away, as if instinct were propelling it to do so. My head was fuzzy enough, and I didn't want to think about it. My first thought, for I had decided to think this out, was that I was dreaming. And my dream had led me into the role of Alexander's point of view. Though dreams didn't hurt, dreams weren't painful! There may be emotional agony in a nightmare, but nothing physical! I groaned slightly, wanting to place my face into a pillow. I wanted to color in a book. My mind snapped, and I remembered the ugly picture book.

Alexander - the drawing.

Chimera.

I was a Chimera.

My Daddy made me a Chimera...

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Iris: Well - hello. It's Iris again. Now, Raven told me that when she wrote this last night, she was nearly tearing herself up. Woo! Maybe that was me sharpening my claws, oh well. Anyways- review. If you're not crying so much you murdered your keyboard. Envy won't be back for a while, though we're filing a Missing Person's for Boodah...Hm. Oh, Silas was taken to a mental hosptial, though I do think they returned him to his "The Da Vinci Code" section. Raven tells me that book is good...