Talia
My eyes snapped open as a lightning bolt illuminated my bedroom, wrapping everything in an eerie pale light before descending back into darkness. A low rumble of thunder came through my open window. Sighing, I sat up in bed and pushed my tangle of blond hair back off my face with shaking hands. I was still half asleep as I stumbled over to the window where I could hear the sound of heavy rain drops descending from the heavens.
Looking out, I watched as the rain slashed through the light from the streetlamp, dulling its bright orange glow and only illuminating the patch of road beneath it. Apart from that, the world was in darkness. There was no soft, safe light from the moon only the visitor of the night that engulfed the streets and houses. Cautiously walking back over to my bed, I felt around for my phone on the bedside table. It was hard to find in the darkness but once I did the light from the screen blinded me. I squinted and peered through the sleepy haze that was covering my eyes. Once they had got used to the harsh brightness of the phone I opened them fully and looked at the time. The digital clock read 4:28. Flicking on the lamp that was sat on the bookshelf, I reached for a jumper that was slung over the end of my bed and pulled it on, before tying my hair in a loose bun at the nape of my neck. I stood and walked to the door, my mind too alert and occupied to get back to sleep.
As I reached the door, I stretched a short pale arm towards the handle but stopped short as a faint red glow illuminated through the fabric of the sleeve. Slowly, I rolled it up. My hand shot to my mouth as understanding dawned on me. Somehow, engraved on my right wrist, in black ink, was a large majestic bird with a flaming body and wings, which actually seemed to be flickering from a dull red glow, to a sharp orange light and then back again. The dream came back to memory so fast that I had to place both hands firmly on the door to stop from slipping to the ground and curling up into a tight ball like I used to do as a child. In my minds eye, a valley rolled out before me and a soaring blue sky stretched out over head, seeming to travel into the distance as far as I could see. But what was strange, was that I wasn’t watching from a distance like you would in a movie. Seeing the character spiral in the sky, but I was viewing it all in first person. As if I myself was flying through the heavens at 30 miles per hour. I couldn’t enjoy the view long though, as the body my mind had inhabited swooped towards the ground and rose again quickly. Almost as if teasing me on my fear of heights. Although it was just a dream, I balled my hands into fists, clenching my fingers together as if they were the only thing stopping me from falling out of the sky as the ground swerved and dipped out of view again, but soon coming back and steadying out. I let out a breath as it finished and my body just glided on the wind. That didn’t last long. On a sharp current of air I flew vertically up into the sky. Passing through layers of clouds that vaporised around me as I sped through them. I rose higher and higher. Until suddenly the clouds were left behind me and I came up above them. All around the sky was a dark blue and I knew by just that, how high I was. At least the clouds stopped the view down to the ground. Whilst taking this all in, I hadn’t realized that I seemed to be coming to a stop in slow motion. The new world around me came to a halt and so did I. Then it hit me. I took in a deep breath and let out a terrified scream as I dropped back through the clouds, like a stone through water. That is when I got a proper look at my body. Whilst falling out of the sky I looked back at the place I had fallen from and could only see a muscular oval shape body with feathers made completely of fire despite the lack of oxygen. I also realized that metre long wings were pressed tightly against my torso and a forked tail flapped hastily in the wind. As I sped towards the ground, my speed not decreasing, I realized what I was. I was a Phoenix.
My eyes flew open and I found the anxious face of my mother leaning over me. Somehow I had managed to crumple to the floor in the dream-Probably, when I started falling. I gulped as she placed her hands on either side of my face. I looked into those sea green eyes that replicated mine and saw they were alert with fear. I remembered that in the dream I had began to scream, and feeling the soreness in my throat I must have been screaming aloud too.
“Well.” I said hoarsely, my throat stinging every time I spoke. “ that wasn’t a very pleasant dream.” despite the fear in my Mothers eyes the edge of her mouth lifted up in a smile.
“you scared the living daylights out of me.” she said as she pulled me too my feet. I bit my lip and looked down at the floor ashamed.
“sorry.”
“no need to apologise sweet. At least your alright.” we hugged in a tight embrace and then pulling away, I spoke in a whisper, hoping not to damage my voice any further.
“ Can we go down and get a drink?” My mother let out a laugh and took my right hand in hers.
“of co-” Whatever she was about to say was stopped as the mark on my wrist caught her eye. I had forgotten about it till now but it was too late to try and cover it up. She grasped my wrist and pulled it up closer to her face where she examined the glowing light which had now brightened and started turning yellow as well as red and orange. Typical.
Without further discussion she trailed me out of the room and bounded down stairs to the kitchen were she plonked me in a chair and began to boil the kettle.
“Mum?” I waited for an answer but there wasn’t one so I carried on talking although it hurt like hell to speak in anything above a whisper. “Mum I swear to you that I don’t have any clue about this.” as if she was going to believe that. “Look I woke up because of the lighting storm and found it on my wrist. So you can shout and swear at me as much as you like but I have no idea how it got there.” Still she didn’t answer. I sighed and looked out the window, watching the pea sized rain droplets hit the window until a mug of tea was placed in front of me. I took a sip of the hot drink and felt the warmth seep through my body. When I looked back up at my mother again, all anger had drained from her face and in it’s place a wild, crazy grin.
“Its finally happened.” she whispered to herself. Suddenly, making me jump, she snapped her fingers and went to the cupboard under the sink. For a few minutes she rummaged around. Swearing to herself until eventually she came out of the depths of the cabinet and chucked a thick leather bracelet on the table. I took it in my hands and examined it. It was pale brow in colour and the edges were tattered and old. I could tell it had been used many times before. a small metal clip was on the inside of the bracelet and the material was smooth on the outside.
“Put it on your wrist. It will stop the glowing.” said my Mother who was now sat back at the table. Doing as she said, I wrapped it around my bizarre tattoo and sure enough, the glowing could no longer be seen. My brow creased in confusion. Seeing my distress, mum placed her mug on the table and cleared her throat.
“It’s ok Talia. You don’t need to explain. I can do that for you.” I looked down at the bracelet and waited for her to continue.
“Since the beginning of time, Talia, our family have been able to do things other people cant. Sure, there are plenty of other families like us, but not nearly as many as ordinary people.”
“What are you talking about mum?” I asked. Confusion clouding my mind. Instead of trying to explain any further, she rolled up her own sleeve, and there, on her right wrist, was a black ink tattoo of a phoenix not glowing like mine, but still identical.
“I could sit here all day and tell you about why me and you have these marks, but I think it will just be simpler to show you.” without any further discussion, she rose from the table and stood out in the middle of the kitchen. She closed her eyes and her body relaxed. I sat there, tapping my fingers irritably on the table, but still nothing was happening.
“Mum, what are yo-” Slowly, my finger came to a stop as I watched my mothers face. Or should I say the birds face? Staring in amazement, I waited as her nose and mouth came together and formed a long and slender beak, her eyes became narrow and deep set and shone with hidden intelligence. Her body seemed to shrink and her legs thinned until they looked as thin as sticks. Her toes changing into three razor sharp claws. And finally her arms expanded until they were as thin as paper and glowing a spectacular ruby red. Her new transformed body stood on the floor gazing up at me. It tilted its swan like neck and shook out its feathers. The movement causing the entire creature to catch light. I stumbled out of my chair and fell onto the floor as the bird that was supposed to be my mother flapped its great wings and lifted itself into the air. It did a small summersault in the limited space of the kitchen before landing back down on the floor with a sharp clicking noise as its claws made contact with the wood panels underfoot. And then, quicker than it had started, the body of my mother re-formed and she took a shaky step towards the table. Her beach blond hair fell in a curtain across her face as she braced herself against the table. Breathing heavily. I was in to much shock and wonder to speak. My mother had just turned into the bird from my dreams.
Thanks for all the advice!
I'm not saying I thought she did have loads of arms, just that that's what it sounded like. Ambiguous prose often makes for unintentional hilarity. One time my dad was reading this book to us and it said about how the character heard "the step of a foot on the floor above" or something like that. We all knew perfectly well that the author just meant there was someone upstairs, but that didn't stop us from laughing hysterically about the one-legged man madly foxtrotting back and forth in the attic.
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