can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars,
I could really use a wish right now;
She watches the one in front of her, still wide-eyed and too inquisitive for her own good. Evenstar knew that not everything in the world was pleasant and fair, but by her naivety in this situation, you wouldn’t know it. She had been born when the plague struck. She had watched as both her parents fretted over how they would keep her safe, and remembers how devastated they had been when she made the mistake of getting lost outside the protective shield of Tephra and she contracted the illness they had been trying to protect her from. She had watched from a young age as the love between her parents splintered and frayed, unraveled further by her mother’s unfaithfulness and her father’s unwillingness to accept it.
She knew, more than most her age, that the world was full of shadows and unjust moments, but it had never occurred to her that someone would want to physically hurt her.
There is a flicker of movement behind the strange creature, and like a cat to a string, her attention shifts.
She can’t even react fast enough when the other creature launches from behind her.
Instinctively, she startles away from her, a reflexive cry trying to scream from her throat but her fear seems to paralyze all sound before it reaches her tongue. She nearly collides with the other creature in her flight response, which causes her to dart forward and to the side. It is only her quick, deer-like movements that causes her to narrowly miss both their jaws, but even then, she already knows it was useless. Even as she runs, even as she weaves in and out of the tightly packed trees, she can feel them running up her heels. Her speed would be nothing compared to theirs, and it is only on adrenaline alone that she manages to keep the minuscule gap between them.
I'm praying that this stairway leads somewhere like Heaven's door,
and when you get there don't look down
