Broken Wings

[Guest]

Subject 76504-821B's powerful wings propelled him over the surprised lab attendant, past the armed guards, and through the pane glass window to freedom. Bullets whizzed past him and blood ran in rivulets down his face and arms from the myriad cuts his body had sustained forcing it's way through that window. Immediately he was outlined in spotlights but he had passed the point of no return. Any attempted escapees were subject to immediate termination. He beat his wings as fast as he could as even more bullets flew past his body and flew off into the night air, unsure of where he was going or if there was even a world outside of the School he'd inhabited for his six years of life.

Hours later he found his wings aching from pure exertion and many miles of flight. Whether he liked it or not he would have to make a landing. He surveyed the forest below him for a clear area and picked out a clearing with a stream not too far away from it to land in. As soon as he touched down he felt all of his strength leave his body and collapsed, unconscious before he hit the ground. When he awoke it was to birds chirping and sunlight warming his nude body. Clothing had always been a foreign concept to him, something worn only by those that subjected him to endless torture. It had never been something he was given. He dragged his still aching body over to the stream and drank his fill, taking a few seconds to wash the blood and grime off of himself and out of his wings.

After his bath he looked up at the sky and stretched his body out,then squatted low ready to take flight again. He leaped up, beat his wings once, twice, three times, and found himself too weak to sustain himself in the air. Dismayed, he picked a direction and set out walking. By the time he reached the forest's edge he was starving, his birdkid metabolism requiring thousands upon thousands of calories to sustain itself. The moon was high in the air when he felt the texture of the ground below him change from grass and sticks to something harder, and rougher. He looked down and saw white lines painted about a foot from where the change had taken place and a few feet beyond that another white line, this time dotted. He had reached what he believed was called a road. In his time in the cage he had previously called home he had taught himself rudimentary speech from the dotted conversations he'd overheard. While he was pondering the concept of a road he failed to notice the two headlights bearing down on him. He did not, however, fail to notice the impact of the vehicle against his body, and for the second time that day found himself unconscious.

[Ana Kingsley]

It had been one of those days. One of those days where everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong. First her alarm clock hadn't gone off and then she had been late for work. At lunch someone stole her sandwich and left her with nothing but an orange to eat. Her stomach was not happy about that. It had been growling all day which proved to be distracting as hell. Nothing could have made this day any worse or so she thought. Cassandra turned up the radio in her old beat up truck and headed home for the night. She had left almost two hours after her actual shift was over. This was the last time she covered for Kevin and his lazy ass. He needed to get over those video games and take his job seriously.

She turned left onto the old highway. It wasn't used by many since most took the interstate now. Cassie liked it because it cut through the woods, making the long drive home rather peaceful. She prayed going this way would make up for everything that had happened. Surely a nice drive would calm her frayed nerves. The radio played a song she liked and she began to sing along with it. Her singing voice wasn't the best but she still sang along. Hell, she even went to karaoke at the Mexican place down the road a few nights a week just for the fun of it. A smile spread across her face as she drove along. Maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad after all.

Rounding a sharp corner, Cassie barely had time to hit the brakes before she slammed hard into something that had been standing in the road. "Oh crap!" What had she done now? What had she hit? It had certainly been tall, a lot taller than any deer she had ever seen around her. She was pretty sure she had seen wings as well. Her heart was racing as she got out of the truck cabin and walked around to see what was laying on the ground. A gasp escaped the petite female. "What the hell is he?" She asked herself. There was a male laying in the road before her, butt naked with wings coming from his back. Cassie closed her two different coloured eyes and took in a deep breath. "Oh god. I killed someone. I'm so going to hell. Oh god. What am I supposed-" Her rant was cut off by a groan. Her eyes snapped open, allowing her to see the broken figure move a bit. "You're still alive? I need to get you home." It took all her strength to pick the guy up and drag him around to the back of her truck. She laid him down gently, opened the back of the truck and then lifted the guy in. He was lighter than she thought he would be but he was still heavy to her.

Once the boy was inside the bed of her truck, she closed the tailgate and got back into the cabin of the old machine. Cassie turned down the radio and took off towards home. She was definitely going over the speed limit and lucky for her, the usual cop that sat at the end of the old highway wasn't there tonight. The girl arrived at her home in record time. Why was this day not getting any better?! All Cassie wanted to do at this point was go inside and shower but now she had to take care of this winged guy or whatever he might be. For a second, she thought about calling the authorities. Then she remembered that she had hit whatever it was and they would take her in for reckless endangerment or something. "I hate my life." Cassie parked her truck and went around back to figure out a way to get the guy inside. He was starting to come to a bit so she figured he might be able to walk a little. "Its okay. You're safe." She told him as she got him out of the bed of the truck and onto this feet. He was still unsteady but she helped him walk up the stairs and into her house.

Cassie sat him in her recliner while she pulled the cushions off her couch and pulled out the fold-in bed. Once she had the cushions back on it for pillows, she once again lifted the male and laid on him on the bed. She collapsed in her recliner and groaned when she saw the blood on it. "That is never going to come out." She mumbled as she waited on the boy to wake up. When he did, he would see a petite girl with dark brunette hair and two different coloured eyes; one hazel, one nearly black. She had a cute face and long eyelashes. Her outfit consisted of a white button blouse that was stained with blood from carrying him inside and dirty black slacks. Cassie bit her lower lip and prayed this guy would be okay and not try to kill her for hitting him with her truck.

[Guest]

76504-821B awoke after a few hours to hunger wracking through his body, not to mention the pain of having a pickup truck slam into him. He looked around furtively, not knowing where he was and being completely unaccustomed to a "homey" atmosphere. Wherever he was he knew it was altogether different from anything like a School. His eyes grew wide as dinner plates as he took the entire place in, drawing his knees to his chest in fear. He extended and stretched his wings to make sure they weren't damaged and then wrapped them around himself protectively. After a few seconds he peeked his head up and over them and stared at the girl.

He was starving, worse than he ever had. At the School he'd at least been given his nutritional gel by now. His stomach growled loudly and he let out a whimper and pointed to his mouth, not knowing how to communicate with the strange creature across the room from him. "Eye hung-ee! Hung-ee!" his voice rasped. He hadn't had anything to drink since the night before at the stream either. He needed to get something in him and quick. Still, his fear kept him in his seat and he ducked back underneat his wings, afraid of reproach from the human female.

[Ana Kingsley]

Cassie watched in amazement as the boy sat up slowly. He extended beautiful golden wings before wrapping them around his naked body. What was she supposed to do? Not wanting to scare the poor thing, she stayed as still as possible in her seat. He pointed to his mouth like a child would when it wanted food. The winged boy even spoke like a child. Cassie bit her lip. She had some stuff in her kitchen but she had no idea what he could eat. Slowly, she stood up from her seat, placing her hands up as a sign that she wasn't going to hurt him. "I'm going to get you some food. Stay here. Its safe here." Cassie hoped he could understand her. She really didn't need him running off or attacking her. As far as she could tell, he was more scared of her than she was of him.

Walking to her kitchen, the young woman looked at her cabinets. She threw one open and grabbed out a granola bar. Surely he could eat this. He had teeth and the bars weren't too hard. Cassie also got him a glass of water. She carried them out of the kitchen and back into her living room. "Here. Eat. Food." Her fingers pointed from the food on the plate to her mouth as she tried to communicate with the winged boy. "Good food. Yummy food." A smile crossed her features as she tried to make him feel more comfortable. He didn't need to be afraid of her. Cassie left the plate with the granola bar next to him and the glass of water was on an end table to his left. She returned to her recliner so he would come out of his winged shelter and eat. She could hear his stomach rumbling from where she sat. "I'm Cassie. CAS-see. Who are you?" Surely he had a name, everyone had a name.

[Guest]

The boy devoured the granola bar in about three bites total and drank the water just as quickly. His stomach was still burning with hunger so he pointed to his mouth again sadly. The girl's smile and kind tone made him relax somewhat, but he had no idea what she was saying. Finally, she pointed to herself and said her name. He looked at her curiously and said "You Cas-see." and smiled, very proud of himself. But when she pointed at him that smile flew away immediately. "I.....I..." he pointed at himself twice, looking confused. All of a sudden comprehension dawned on him and he raised his foot, showing his serial number neatly tattooed on his sole. "Me!" he grinned. "Me! Me! Me!"

He looked at the crumbs of granola still on his hand and licked them off, frantically searching for more, then got up and walked to where she had gone to get food. He found the box of granola bars and clutched it to his chest and looked at her hopefully.

[Ana Kingsley]

She had to tilt her head a bit to see the number on the sole of his foot. Ouch. That tattoo had to hurt. "Huh... Can I call you Seven? Its the first number of your 'name'." Cassie had no idea what else she might call the winged boy. Curious, she followed him into the kitchen as he found the granola bars and clutched the box to his chest. "Go ahead. You can have them all." She smiled softly. He was so innocent it seemed. Where had he come from? Why had he been staring at the street like he had never seen one before?

"Where are you from?" Cassie asked as she got him another glass of water. "You aren't too injured are you?" She pointed to a cut on his arm as she spoke. Surely if he could understand her name, he could understand what she was saying. Then again, he could not understand a word at all. Her fingers pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to figure out what to do with this kid. Suddenly, her phone rang. Cassie jumped up and nearly screamed at the ringtone coming from her pocket. "Stupid phone." She pulled it out and answered it.

"Hello...Yeah...Okay. No. I'm not covering for you again Kevin. Screw you asshole!" Cassie hung up on Kevin and turned her phone off. She shoved it back into her pocket and looked at Seven. "Hey. Its okay. It was just my phone. Sorry I got angry. I'm not mad at you." She smiled again to reassure the bird boy. Its was times like this that Cassie was glad she had an extra bedroom. He could sleep in there until she could find out what to do about him.

[Guest]

Seven grinned from ear to ear and hugged the girl. "THANK YOU CAS-SEE!" his strong arms held her to him for a few seconds until hunger overcame thankfullness and he devoured the entire box of granola bars. As he filled up, he felt comprehension coming over him, perhaps the drugs that had been keeping him childlike and slow were finally wearing off without the daily doses. His face changed, suddenly aware of his nudity and aware of the fact that this was not a normal thing among people, for he had never seen someone else nude before.

He folded his wings around his body and blushed scarlet. "Need clothes Cas-see!" he said, this time enunciating properly. He had, however, maintained the exaggerated pronunciation of the girl's name. He rather liked pronouncing it that way. More and more, he was becoming as intelligent as she was, if not more. The lack of schooling however, meant that he could not read or write, or let alone comprehend mathmatics, although he would certainly have the capacity for it if he was taught. "Thank you for the food." His intense eyes drilled into hers. "I'm not hurt. Not badly. I got cut but that's it. Is there anything you can do about that?" He held out his arm expectantly.

[Ana Kingsley]

Oh lord. Cassie had forgotten that he had been naked. Then he hugged her and she felt her cheeks flush bright red. "Oh god! Clothes!" She covered her eyes with her hand for a moment. As he said her name, she couldn't help but laugh a bit. He seemed to like pronouncing it that way. Silly bird boy. It was when he started talking like a normal person that she moved her hand away from her eyes and stared back at him. He had really pretty eyes. Hell, he was pretty damn good looking.

"Uhh. I have a first aid kit upstairs. Let me get you some clothes and I'll be right back. Just stay here." Cassie turned quickly so she wouldn't glance any lower than his chest and headed towards the stairs that led to the second floor of her house. She went into her bedroom and found a big pair of black sweatpants and an old wife beater she could cut the back out of for his wings to fit. Or he could just go shirtless. It wouldn't kill her if he went shirtless. Cassie blushed and shook her head. "No bad Cassie." She scolded herself as she reached into her closet and found a clean t-shirt to put on.

After changing into the t-shirt and a pair of her own sweats, she took the clothes down to Seven and handed them to him. "Here. Put these on and then come back into the living room. I've got the first aid kit in there." Cassie kept the first aid kit hidden under the couch for some odd reason. She had to crawl under the pull out bed to get the kit but she soon had it out and opened. "Is it a deep cut? Do you think it needs stitches?" She hoped not. There was no way she could sew the kid up.

[Guest]

"It's not that deep, but what are stitches?" He tilted his head slightly after pulling on the sweatpants. "I just need to keep it clean. and it should heal well enough by itself. I washed it in a river before you hit me with that big metal thing." He held the shirt in his hand still and extended a wing. "I'm sorry. I don't think this will work. I'm fine like this honestly."

He looked at her again. "If it's not too much trouble could you help me find a hiding place? There are people.... bad people.. who would very much like to find me. People could get hurt. You.... you could get hurt."

He frowned and shook his head. "It probably would have been better if you'd left me out there. It's not safe for me to be here. A cave maybe? Or I could go deep into the woods? The point is I can't stay here, or if I do I need to be hidden, hidden well. I don't want you to get hurt you've been nothing but kind to me."

He frowned and furrowed his brow. "Why are you so red? Is something wrong? Did I do something?"

[Ana Kingsley]

"Uhh. Stitches help close the wound faster. I can just clean it though." She explained as she made sure all the supplies she needed were out on the fold out bed he had been laying on earlier. When he handed her the shirt, Cassie simply smiled and threw it on the floor behind her. She could pick it up later. "A hiding place? You can always stay here. I'd rather not have you out in the wild..." That thought scared her. He could get hurt again.

"I didn't mean to hit you with my truck. That metal thing is a truck. I didn't see you when I came around that curve." He was talking about hiding again. "I've got a basement and a shed out back. Plus there is a secret passage that connect my bedroom to the guest room you'll be staying in. No one knows about that but me. Please stay here." Cassie grabbed his arm and a wet cotton ball at the same time. She dabbed the cotton ball over his wound to clean it before she grabbed the bandages and began to wrap it up gently.

"Huh? Oh. You didn't do anything. Its just... I'm not used to having a shirtless, winged boy in my house. Actually, I've never had a guy in my house before." She sighed. Her love life really was pathetic. She hadn't had a date since she was fifteen and even that had been a terrible date. It was her dual-coloured eyes that kept most guys away. No one appreciated how different she was but she had gotten over that years ago. "There. You're all patched up. Feel free to look around. Your room is upstairs and down the hall on the right. Mine is on the left. There is a bathroom connected to your room. You can shower there if you like." She smiled as she got up and went into the kitchen. Cassie made herself a sandwich and returned to the living room. She took a seat on the fold out bed, grabbed the remote and turned the TV on to find something to keep her entertained while Seven explored her humble little home.

[Guest]

"The basement would probably be best Cas-sie. I won't go outside during the day and I won't go out much at night either. Just... every now and then I need to fly. I can't explain why I just have to. It's in my nature." He smiled at her warmly. "Why aren't you used to having males around you?" He stepped closer to her and lifted her face up, leaning close to scrutinize it. "Oh.... you're a mutant like me! Your eyes are different!" He smiled and stared into her eyes. "I like your mutation Cas-sie. It's very..... it's very..." he didn't have a word for pretty he realized. "It's very good. I think it's very good."

He flushed and let her face go and followed her back to the living room, then took a seat on the opposite side of the fold out bed and started watching her television with her. "What is this? Can those people see us?" he was a little confused and afraid. He grabbed the nearest comforter and covered himself entirely with it and dropped his voice to a whisper. "They could tell the School about me Cas-sie. They don't need to see me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" He started shaking in fear under the blanket and once again folded his massive wings around himself.

[Ana Kingsley]

When Seven stepped closer and lifted her face up, she about fell over. "You like my eyes? Thanks. Its not really a mutation, more like a genetic thing. It runs in my family." She was about to say something when he started freaking out about the TV. Cassie felt so bad as he wrapped himself up in the comforter and then in his massive wings. "No Seven! They can't see us. We can only see them. Its called television. Those people are far far away from us. Across the world somewhere. They don't know what we're doing." She reached out to him, her fingertips barely touching his soft feathers. "Oh my. Your wings are soft."

Some part of her wanted to snuggle deep into the soft, golden feathers but she held herself back. No reason to freak the kid out right? Cassie pouted a little as Seven continued to hide. "Come out Seven. Its okay. I promise. I'll protect you. I mean, I do owe you after all since I nearly killed you with my truck." She still felt bad about that. In the morning she would have to check on her baby to make sure it wasn't dented too bad. Cassie turned off the TV in hopes of coaxing Seven out of his hiding. "I'm sorry Seven. I didn't mean to scare you." She slowly wrapped her arms around him as good as she could with his wings guarding him. "You'll be safe." Cassie let him go and took a bite of her sandwich. Though she wanted to keep comforting him, the growling in her own stomach demanded attention as well.

[Guest]

Seven frowned when she let go, having rather enjoyed the closeness and the feeling of safety she offered. He sat next to her and wrapped his wings around the two of them, his wingtips barely touching but around them both just the same. "Cas-sie is it okay if we sit like this? Even though those people can't see me..... I like this more than watching them." He was nervous, although he didn't know why. "You didn't almost kill me. I'm tough, I promise." He took her hand and placed it on his ribcage where the truck had hit him. "See? Nothing broken." He lifted his hand from hers.

"I know it's warm under here, but I like it. It's very comfortable for me." He slowly pronounced the word 'comfortable'. "I feel safer than I should with you under my wings. Is it okay if you stay here for a while?" He stared into her face hopefully. "Oh! You're still hungry.... I'm sorry.." He opened his wings back up and scooted away from her. "I'll let you eat Cas-sie. I apologize."

[Ana Kingsley]

Cassie liked being under his wings. It was...Well, it was amazing really. They were so soft and they made her feel so safe. "Its okay. I won't take long to eat." She smiled at him and nearly wolfed down her sandwich. As she looked over at him, she grabbed the remote and turned the TV back on so they could watch it together. After, the female slowly scooted closer to Seven. "You can do that again, I mean wrap your wings around or whatever." She thought back to what he said about her being a mutation like he was.

"Were you born this way Seven, with wings I mean? See, I was born with two different coloured eyes. My grandma had eyes like mine so now I do too." Cassie hoped she was making sense. She was starting to understand that he didn't know as much as she did. What did they teach him at that School he mentioned? It didn't sound like much of a school if he didn't even know what stitches were or how to say comfortable. Cassie was truly worried about Seven. It seemed like he had no formal education and she had no idea if she would be patient enough to teach him.

"Whats the School?" She asked innocently.

[Guest]

"It's..... it's where I was born. Born isn't really a good word for it though. That implies I had parents. From what I overheard I was an experiment, made in something called a test tube. I've always had these wings. They kept me in this tiny crate, barely big enough for me. I couldn't ever extend my wings unless they took me out of the crate. It was..... it was terrible." A pained look came over his face. "Every day they took me out and told me to fly, and to fight. They brought in men, big men, who would hit me and kick me and come at me with knives. If I didn't fly well enough or fight them back well enough I was beaten and kept in the crate for days on end without food." He looked down at his torso, with showing ribs and scars all over. "I never fought or flew well enough. It was a bad place. I'm glad I'm here with you now."

He wrapped his wings around the two of them again and laid his head on her shoulder. "Can we talk about something different Cas-sie? Or just sit like this? I don't like thinking about the School." Her shoulder was warm, he buried his face in it and started to shake as whether he liked it or not he started thinking about it and all of the bad memories involved.

[Ana Kingsley]

Her fingers traced paths through his dirty hair. "Shh. I'm sorry Seven. What they did to you was terrible." How could someone do that? Create something so beautiful and then torture it? Cassie felt a deep anger welling up inside of her but she held it back. There was no reason for her to get angry now. What was done was done. All she could do now was try to protect Seven as best as she could. Now Cassie worried she wouldn't be able to protect him at all.

She had no special skills. Hell, she could hardly lift Seven up and he probably weighed less than she did. Cassie worried her lip with her teeth, a bad habit she picked up years ago. She didn't know how to fight really, except for the self-defense she taught herself after that guy tried to mug her a year ago. She ran her fingers over his scalp and frowned a bit. "You should go shower Seven. Clean your hair and your body properly. I'll get the basement ready for you. You're exhausted and need sleep." And she needed time to figure out what she was going to do. Cassie needed to go grocery shopping tomorrow to buy more granola bars and other things to get some meat on Seven's bones. He was far too thin for his height.

[Guest]

"What's a shower?" His look once again changed from gratitude to confusion. "I know how to clean myself but I have no idea what you're talking about Cas-sie. I'm sorry." He stared at his grimy toes and looked back up at her. "Can you show me?" He walked with her to the bathroom where a metal shower head hung from the wall. "Where does the water come from?" She showed him how to work the knobs and where some soap was and handed him a towel.

The shower was the first one he'd taken in his entire life, but it felt good to remove all of the dirt and grime from his body and hair, and more importantly, from his wings. He preened himself meticulously after he was done washing everything else and towel dried his hair and body. He had difficulty, however, in drying his wings off. He pulled the sweatpants back on and peeked his head out of the bathroom door. "Cas-sie? I can't dry my wings can you help?"

[Ana Kingsley]

When he asked what a shower was, she had nearly fallen right over from where she sat. Lucky for her, he caught on fast and just after a few times of showing him how things worked, he knew exactly what he was doing. Cassie had been preparing his bed downstairs when she heard him calling for her. Her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out how she could dry his wings without hurting him. Oh! Her hairdryer!

Cassie walked in the bathroom and reached in the cabinet under the sink to grab her hairdryer. "This is a hairdryer. It uses warm air to dry things. I'll put it on low and dry your wings. It makes a loud noise so don't be startled. Okay?" When she was sure he wouldn't freak out, she plugged it in and turned it on. Dual-coloured eyes watched his body language carefully as she told him to turn around. She held the dryer up to his wings and let the warm air run over his feathers. "Tell me if its too much!" She said over the noise the dryer made.

It would take awhile to get his wings dry but Cassie didn't mind helping him out. She yawned loudly and stretched a bit once they were done. "Its getting late Seven. Maybe we should go to bed? I'll sleep on the couch so I can hear you if you need anything." It wouldn't have been the first time she crashed on the couch. She had already folded up the pull-out bed and cleaned up any messes that had been made. Her fingers ran through her dark hair as she walked back down to the living room. "I'm sure that you're exhausted."

[Guest]

Seven let out a low groan as the warm air ran over his wings. He had never experienced anything like that, even in flight the air wasn't as warm, or focused. It was incredible. He arched his back a little while she did it. "I like the hair dryer Cas-sie. It's very good." He turned and smiled at her after she was done and hugged her to him again. "Thank you for helping me get cleaned up. But um..... can you sleep next to me tonight? I would just like it.. I'll let you touch my wings if you do."

He was still afraid of this strange new place even if he felt like he could trust the girl that had found him, but he didn't want to tell her that. She seemed worried about him, another foreign concept to the bird boy. "And um... can you call me something besides Seven? The people at the School called me that too. That and some other stuff.." He frowned for a few seconds before putting his happy face back on and looked intently into her mismatched eyes.

[Ana Kingsley]

Cassie's round cheeks flushed bright red as he asked her to lay next to him tonight. She bit her lip as she thought about it. He had offered to let her touch his wings. Maybe she could cuddle them. After a moment, she meekly nodded her head, meaning she would sleep next to him downstairs tonight. "Oh. Uhm, Can I call you Lief? I like that name." Cassie smiled at him as she took his hand and led him downstairs.

The two entered the basement slowly. It was cooler downstairs since the room was technically underground. Cassie had it fully furnished with everything from a leather couch to a queen sized bed. A flat screen TV was hung on the wall across from the bed so whoever was laying there could watch whatever they wanted. All it was missing was its own bathroom. "Well, this is your new home. Tomorrow I'll buy you some more food and you can leave it down here." She let go of his hand and walked over to a small rectangular box. "This is a refrigerator. It keeps food and drinks cold." Teaching Lief things was interesting. He seemed curious and willing to learn, which made things easier for her.

"You know I can't stay with you all day tomorrow. I have to leave in the morning to go to work. Will you be okay here alone?"

[Guest]

Seven.... Lief's eyes went wide with panic for a second before going back to normal. "I think so.. will you wake me up before you go?" He stretched and walked around the basement to look at all of the furniture. When he got to the refrigerator he looked, amazed, at it and opened it. He gasped slightly when he felt cold air waft out.

"I'll stay down here all day, I promise Cas-sie." He nodded solemnly and let out a huge yawn. "I'm ready to go to sleep!" He folded back the comforter and laid under it, waiting on her to join him.

[Ana Kingsley]

She hesitated for a moment. This was all so strange. She was just supposed to curl up with him? Could she trust him? Cassie looked him over carefully as she walked to the bed. He didn't seem like the type to take advantage of a situation so she crawled into the bed next to him and curled up to keep warm. Even with her sweats on, she always got cold when she slept in the basement. "Goodnight Lief. Sweet dreams."

* * * *

Cassie awoke in the morning wrapped around Lief with her face pressed against his chest. She felt herself blush heavily. This was a bit awkward. As gently and slowly as she could, Cassie removed herself from his grasp. She went upstairs to shower and get ready for work. Showering felt amazing. Her muscles ached a bit today but it was worth it.

With her shower finished, Cassie went to her room to put clothes on. Once her typical uniform was on ( white button up blouse / black slacks ), she went back downstairs to tell Lief goodbye. He was still sleeping so she decided to let him sleep. She had warned him last night that she would be gone most of the day anyway. Cassie left the house after making sure all the doors and windows were locked. No one could get in and she hoped Lief wouldn't try to get out.

[Guest]

Lief awoke to an empty stomach, and even worse, an empty basement. Hadn't Cassie told him she'd tell him when she was leaving? Panicked, he strode around the basement for ten or twenty straight minutes, extending and unfolding his wings and eventually just sitting back on the bed where she had lain next to him and wrapping himself in his wings. Had she left him? Had she told the School where he was? He was nervous, very nervous, and scared. He ate most of the food in the refrigerator and shook under his wings for a few more hours, waiting for her to come back to him.

Eventually he reached over and turned on the television, and since he didn't know how to change the channel, found himself watching the news for six hours. No mentions of him, or any genetic mutations for that matter on the run. He did learn, however, the exact weather reports for the next week and a dozen other sundry things that he planned on telling Cassie the next time he saw her. He hoped she'd be proud of how smart he was being by learning all these things.

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