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“Wings,” the small Cybunny murmured, “are my dream. And
they will always be my dream.” She held her books tightly to her white, furry
chest as she walked home on the cold, windy day. It was one of those almost spring
days, on which you could feel spring in the air, smell it, and almost taste it
on the tip of your tongue. Nevertheless, it was not quite there, and the harsh,
raw wind still pelted your body with a seemingly endless anger.
“Wings,” she breathed. She thought of having
wings; long, silver wings with a slight glimmer at the ends. “I’d fly and fly
if I had wings,” she muttered.
Yes—wings. But not the wings that faerie pets
had. Graceful and beautiful as they were, the Cybunny had her own ideas about
her wings, and she wasn’t settling for anything less.
She sighed as she walked into the small Neohome
that she shared with her owner. She peeked inside. It smelled musty. The Cybunny
wrinkled her nose. The place had been closed up all day—her owner was at school.
College, a far off place, grand as a castle, the Cybunny imagined. She heard
her owner tell grudging stories of college when she came home to visit, but
the Cybunny always wished that she could glimpse the place, and make her own
opinions.
She quietly trotted over to the counter, dropping
her schoolbooks onto the cheap, white and blue tiled floor. She picked up the
note scrawled onto green stationary:
Vi,
Please be sure to lock the back door after you come in. I’m afraid I will not
be home tonight, for I am very busy. There is ham in the refrigerator and bread
in the breadbox. I Love you, Sweetie.
Your Loving Owner,
Danni
The Cybunny looked at the note and sighed. Vi.
Her name. A name destined to fly.
Bread in the breadbox. Ham in the fridge. Vi
scorned, and tossed the note into the checkered rubbish bin. Danni always tried
to sound so cheerful, when really she knew that Vi would be down hearted and
hurt at the fact she was going to spend another night alone.
But all in all, tonight Vi didn’t mind it. She
felt comforted inside the small, musty, three room house. With the door bolted
tightly shut, there was no way intruders could enter, nor could the wind chill
her to the bone.
She quietly walked into her bedroom. Furnished
sparingly with a plain wooden bed, oak mirror, and a pink vanity, the room wasn’t
what you could necessarily call, “Themed.” It was simple, but it was home to
Vi, in times of aloneness, and Vi was often alone with Danni at school.
She plopped herself down on her bed and reached
underneath to yank out her drawing pad and pencil. She opened to a clean page.
A clear page; a new picture. She pondered only for a moment on what she would
draw.
Then she drew. She sketched herself, with fluffy
white fur, long ears, and short, stubby paws. She drew on a smiling face she
never wore, even though Danni often complained and said it was her “best face.”
She knew that she would only smile once she got
her wings.
Finally, her basic self was onto the oak tag
paper. Now, she smiled as she drew long, flowing wings. They curled at the ends
and flipped under. They were long, large, and absolutely flattering. This, by
far, was the best out of the sixty-five pictures she had sketched of herself
with wings.
Finally, she was done. She smiled admiringly
at the gleaming portrait. If only, she wished, it was a piece of silver, or
a spoon, so she could polish to her heart’s content, and make it shine like
the sun. Then she would be happy.
Feeling drowsy, she peered at her clock only
to find that it was almost midnight, and she had school tomorrow. Slowly, unwillingly,
she slipped the picture under her bed, but not before giving her picture a little
kiss.
“How I’d love to be you,” she whispered. Then,
as the clock struck midnight and twelve chimes emerged from the living room,
she fell back into a deep sleep.
***
The morning arrived all too soon for Vi. She sighed as she rolled over and
switched off her unceasingly agitating alarm clock. She lay in bed, thinking
about last night. Remembering the sketch.
“That’s over,” she murmured, as she rolled her
unwilling body out of bed. She sighed as she trotted over to her mirror. She
knew she would need to brush her fur and gel her ears and…
Wings.
She couldn’t believe it. She did a double take
in the mirror.
Wings.
There they were; just as they were in her drawing.
Long, silvery, curling at the ends. Butterfly shaped!
Wings!
With a shout of joy, she raced about the house.
She hurried into Danni’s room, which was used only when those once-in-a-blue-moon
days swept around like leaves in the month of Collecting, and Danni would spend
the night. But the room was furnished, and it had a three way mirror, in which
Vi examined herself at every angle.
“My wings!” she squealed like a Snorkle. Her
wings; velvety to the touch, but barren enough to withstand anything that came,
had finally arrived. They were here; they were on her body. They were hers.
“My wings,” she whispered, as she touched them,
unwilling to believe, but she had dreamed for so long, how could she NOT believe?
Quietly, she got herself ready for school. She
smiled as she gathered the bound books of the subjects she used to hate: history,
science, math. But, clearly undaunted, she held her head high, fluttered her
newfound wings, and started on her way to school.
She smiled, clearly pleased, as she walked to
school. The raw wind still blew, and cut through her flesh like an icy knife,
but Vi hardly even minded. But soon, Vi’s thoughts turned ugly, as she thought
of how many pets would be at school, doing double takes at her wings.
“What will they say,” she whispered to herself.
“What will I say when they ask how I got them?” She could only imagine the terrible
questions pets would answer. They would tease and taunt her, perhaps. Vi fluttered
the wings nervously and thought to herself. She found herself arriving at the
school’s big, black iron gate too soon. She looked at the gate and then back
at her wings. Then, nose in the air, she turned around and walked home.
“I’ll have a nice, quiet day at home,” she said,
as she turned around and began to walk away.
But little did she know that she would have everything
but a nice quiet day at home.
***
Vi sat quietly on her bed, looking at the sketchbook and eating a piece of
bread, from the breadbox, spread with peanut butter. She was worried.
“Why do I suddenly have wings?” she murmured,
as she looked at the sketches. “Why today?”
She pondered and wondered and rolled over and
over in great discomfort. Not external discomfort, but internal. Internal pain
is worst, because no matter how much Magic Goop you rub on your forehead, the
internal pain is still there. There is no antibiotic for internal pain.
Maybe sleep will help, Vi thought to herself.
And then, vowing not to wake for at least two hours, Vi rolled over and fell
asleep.
***
“Vi? ’Lo?” Vi woke up suddenly at the sound of footsteps. She peeked out. No…
it wasn’t Danni, but Danni’s younger sister, Val, who often checked up on Vi
when Danni was away.
Instinct within her body came into command, and
Vi knew that she mustn’t let anyone find out about her wings. She imagined being
locked in a cage for hours, being observed by eerie doctors, and talked about
all over. Seclusion and privacy were the two important things in Vi’s life,
and she had to have them to be happy.
Quickly, she yanked the blankets up around her
so that Val wouldn’t be able to glimpse the wings. “In here, Val!” she called.
Val hurried in.
“Hi Sweetie!” she squealed. “How are you?”
Vi issued a fake smile. She felt as if she was
wearing a mask. “Not bad… just very tired.” To clarify her point, she yawned
widely. Val smiled at her.
“Of course you are, sweetheart. Being home alone
must be very tiring. Do you want me to make you a sandwich? There’s still bread
in the breadbox.”
Vi yawned again. “No thanks, Val. I’m very drowsy,
and I think I’m going to just go to sleep again.”
Val smiled. “Of course. Nighty night, sweetie!”
and she flounced out of the room.
Vi waited until she heard the door click before
she jumped out of bed to re-bolt the door. She hurried back to her room, and
glanced at her wings in the mirror. She yanked out her sketchpad, and stared
at the picture.
“As long as I live,” she whispered. “I will
never let anyone find out…no one.” And with that, she laid down, closed her
eyes, and tried to fall back to sleep.
But she couldn’t. She couldn’t get the fears
and toils of her life to fade and disappear. Her thoughts bobbed up and down
like the sea, rising and falling over and over again.
She sighed, and rolled over. She peered at her
clock. 4 o’clock NST, the glowing lights proclaimed.
She got up out of her bed, and walked outside,
sitting down on a dew-covered hill. She sighed as she watched the sun pull itself
up over the valley. She felt the early rays of the sun hit her pointed face.
“Wings,” she murmured, as she flapped them. They
made an ominous sound, but it was pleasing. She smiled as she rose a total of
six inches above the ground.
“Danni,” she whispered into nothing. “Danni,
I’m wearing my best face now.”
The End
Author's Note: Thank you for taking the time to read my story! Your support
is greatly appreciated! Hopefully I will be able to write more stories about Vi
and her mystical wings, so stay tuned!
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