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She sits quietly, in a way she rarely does. Small legs dangling on grey rock. Tiny against the endless ocean in front. She can smell the salt in the air. Her wings are curled around her shoulders, a thin barrier from the cold cruel world. Her wings are deep brown with a reddish tint. The sun is rising, lighting the sky up with steaks of gold and orange. It’s a stark contrast to the crashing blue waves below her. Her thin jacket stained with blood is not enough to protect her from harsh winds that whistled and shrieked. She shivered and pulled her wings tighter around her body.
She had escaped. The escape she had dreamed of as she was forced to learn to fight. The escape she had dreamed of as she lay awake in a too small bed, right hand cuffed to the bedpost. She was free from The Lab. Free. Free to get a job, grow up, go to school, maybe even have parents. Real parents that would love her.
She leaped off the cliff and for a dizzying second, she plummeted down spinning out of control. Then her wings snapped open and she flew forwards. Her wings beat the air, propelling her forward to freedom and away from the only place she has ever known. She flew forwards to unknown land.
As she flew she dove down until she was hovering just above the waves. She could feel the cold spray of the water on her face. A loud call startled her and she looked up to see a bird she had never seen before dive down into the water and came up triumphantly holding a wriggling silver fish. She stared at the bird and moved her wings to try to copy the sharp quick movements of the birds wings as it dove down into the water. However when she tucked her wings in and dived into the water to try to grab a fish, all she came up with was a handful of kelp. She huffed, irritated and shook her wings to dry them off. After a longing glance towards the fish swimming just under the water, she flew up and away from the water.
She coasted on air currents, her wings lazily beating the air as she soared. The midmorning sun beat down on her. It has been four hours since she started flying and the excitement and adrenaline of the escape has faded leaving hunger and an increasing ache in her stomach. She could fight, speak three languages and summon tears in command but she had never learned how to hunt.
It couldn’t be that hard to hunt and get food though. She spotted a young hawks grab a fish in its talons and flew towards it. It squawked in surprise and tried to fly away but after a brief fight she took the large fish away from it. She felt a little tinge of guilt that quickly faded as she watched the hawk dove down and grab another fish.
The only problem now was that she didn’t see any land to make a fire on. After a few minutes of flying though she spotted a small beach off to her right. she glided down into the damp sand. She quickly found dry plants to use as kindling and after a few attempts managed to start a small flickering fire. She pokes a stick through the silver fish and held the stick over the fire.