The monumental doors to the museum opened to behold four men in solid black suits and sunglasses, containing in their tight circle, the President. He arrived with minutes to spare. The group of secret service men quickly huddled to a corner of the room,a few feet away from the rest of the crowd to ensure the Presidents safety. Once the announcer spotted the men, he knew, it was time.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. President, I would like to once again welcome you to the museum." As he spoke in a very loud yet low voice, the crowd slowly came to a hush, and all eyes rested on the man standing in front of the monstrous iron cage. He kept very calm, his hands resting in front of his body. As if the crowd wasn't already intrigued enough, the announcer wanted to fire them up just a little bit more.
"Tonight, the museum is proud to unveil, it's greatest exhibit yet. A creature so rare, with no more than one hundred to ever exist, it was believed to be extinct. In fact, it was never really known to even exist" The crowd drew in a breath, and a hushed whisper fell over the room.
"This extremely rare creature was founded by a gentleman and hunter in the Fairhope, Alabama area. The exhibit arrived here yesterday morning at 8 o'clock. Nobody else, including myself, has seen the fascinating creature."
The audiences eyes were already larger than their stomachs, and they haven't even seen the creature yet. The suspense was killing them.
"Well, we shall see. Ladies and gentleman it is such an honor for me to unveil the rarest creature on Earth, a Volucris."
The announcer waved his hand in a gesturing motion to the cage, stepped aside off of the round stage holding the cage, and joined the crowd in the unveiling. The white, ghostly sheet rose, and the very eager crowd gasped.
Inside the middle of the gigantic metal cage, held an unusually large nest, made of tree branches and hundreds of dead leaves, all intertwined together. Behind the nest stood a very thick, yet small oak tree. Almost all of it's branches were cut to it's trunk, and no leaves were held on the tree. The bottom of the cage was simply a cold metal floor, very clean. There was no food or water anywhere inside the cage. The crowd looked from left to right, and stood on their toes to see what such a creature looked like. A disappointed sounding whisper echoed in the room. No one seemed to see it.
Then, a very, very small movement from inside the nest caught a woman near the front's eye, "Wait, look, in the nest," she said in a loud but elegant voice. Everyone turned their attention to the very center of the iron enclosure, and for the second time they gasped. But this time, they were not just shocked, but confused. The crowd fell completely silent, and as if their eyes couldn't get any bigger, they did just that.
Imprisoned inside the monster nest, huddled in a small ball, held a roughed up, battered... eighteen year old teenage girl.
She was unclean, with dirt smudged across her face, and scratches along her arms and legs. There were leaves scattered in her hair, and her short plain black dress contained a long hole running down the back. She was anorexic, very unhealthy looking for such a young adult. She wasn't wearing any shoes. She sat in the middle of the nest, with her legs hugged close to her chest. She faced her head towards the rear of the cage. Her left arm outstretched in front of her face, her hand holding onto an extended branch.
The crowd was frozen where they stood, and kept as silent as a cemetery. No eyes wondered off of that cage even for a split second.
After a short amount of time, the anxious waiting finally paid off.
"Can you get a close up of this?," one reporter whispered to her camera guy. He moved two inches closer, and angled his camera so he could catch every bit of the small action.