Shannon anxiously awaits the school bell, tapping her desk with her pencil absentmindedly, as she drowns out the babble of her teacher, Ms Thornkettle. A prod from behind snaps her out of her daydream, and she swings around to face the culprit.
Her girlfriend, Jenna, wiggles her eyebrows at Shannon in a flirtatious manner. Shannon took notice of Jenna’s shiny chocolate brown hair which didn’t stretch beyond her chin and the pair of dazzling brown eyes looking back at hers. On both sides of her pale neck are a pair of gills due to her natural ability to breathe underwater. It is a stark contrast to Shannon’s grey feathered bat-like wings. Shannon always felt inferior to Jenna; the two are like chalk and cheese when it comes to looks. Shannon is short and podgy, with long, dirty blonde hair, dull blue eyes and skin almost as pale as chalk.
Everyone has a power, but not all of them are physical. Or considered useful. Some, like Shannon’s, are thought of as more of a burden. Her wings stick out when she moves, and she takes up more space when sitting down. Little things that are inconvenient to others.
I wonder what you see in me. Shannon thinks, returning Jenna’s defiant grin.
For a few seconds, the girls stare into each other’s eyes before Shannon notices the gills on her girlfriend’s neck flare, a sign of trouble.
“Miss Pennylove, care to share with the class?”
Shannon girl squeezes her eyes shut and suppresses a sigh as she turns back around to face her teacher. Ms Thornkettle looks older than she really is, with her frizzy grey hair and bony fingers.
“I didn’t say anything, ma’am.”
The older woman smirks and turns to a blonde girl at the front. “Is this true, Miss Delpy?”
Both Shannon and Jenna scowl as the girl at the front angles her deformed elf-like ears towards them. “No ma’am, she was making fun of you.”
“I didn’t say-”
“Silence!” Ms Thornkettle whacks her desk with a ruler repeatedly, making everyone jump.
“No, she’s lying!” Jenna jumps to her feet, glaring Cindy down with her blazing eyes.
Shannon’s wings flutter slightly at the thought of getting Jenna in trouble, but she knows better than to try to stop her from doing anything stupid.
“Miss Delpy never lies,” Ms Thornkettle replies sharply. “Miss Pennylove, go stand in the corridor for the remainder of the lesson.”
Shannon knows better than to argue but tries anyway. “But-”
“Now!”
With a defeated sigh, Shannon grabs her bag and quickly gathers her things. Before she can make it out the door, however, her wing catch on a poster on the wall, tearing it in half. She doesn’t even get the chance to apologise before Ms Thornkettle starts her rant.
“Oh, here we go again! You winged people are so clumsy, so useless!” Ms Thornkettle smirks darkly, knowing that her words have touched a nerve. “You need your own winged school. Maybe then your kind won’t disrupt the class!”
“Wingicism is-” Shannon begins, only to be silenced by the ruler hitting the desk once more.
“Frowned upon, not illegal. Get out, Miss Pennylove.”
The class erupts into cheers as Shannon closes the door behind her. She tries her hardest to prevent the tears from flowing as she slides slid down the wall onto the floor. and puts her head in her hands, trying to stifle the sniffles.
I hate you.
It takes her a while to get comfortable on the floor as her wings keep sticking out at awkward angles, but eventually she decides to sit cross-legged and lean forward slightly, so the too-large-for-her-body wings can rest comfortably against the cold concrete wall.
“My parents are going to kill me for this,” she mutters to herself, her eyes lazily scanning the hallway.
The walls and floor are a garish green, covered in dirt and grime from a lack of care. There are several red doors in the hallway, leading to different classrooms filled with children. Some probably knew she was already out here, whether they could hear, sense or ‘see’ her. There are so many different abilities in the school she struggles to keep up sometimes. Hers is one of the most noticeable; her grey wings stuck out like a sore thumb. Her eyes drift to an old television at the end of the hallway, tuned into the local news channel.
“-spreading quickly…. has now reached all seven continents…. if you or someone you know experiences the following symptoms, go to the hospital immediately. Do not wait and do not touch the infected person. Airlines are shutting down because of-”
What looks like a matte grey cylinder floats in front of the television. There is a pump connected to its body. The hoover attachment on the robot drowns out the rest of the news, so Shannon sighs and leans her head back against the wall. The movement attracts the attention of the robot, which looks at her with a glowing blue eye.
“PLEASE STATE NAME AND REASON FOR LOITERING.”
“Halo-O, Shannon Pennylove. I have been kicked out of class by Mrs Thornkettle.”
“PROCESSING. PLEASE WAIT.”
Shannon only has one Halo-O Bot at home, one of the older versions. Its main job is to keep the garden tidy and the streets clean. Almost everyone has their own Bot, and those that don’t, rely on the ones the government sends out to clean the streets and take away rubbish. The ones in school have been programmed to alert teachers about kids who aren’t in classes. She has heard about some keeping expelled and suspended students out of the building, but she’s never seen it herself. The Bot doesn’t have arms, only cleaning attachments that it can swap out. How can it keep someone out of a building?
“CONFIRMED. PLEASE REMAIN HERE UNTIL THE BELL RINGS.”
“Halo-O, confirmed.”
The Bot goes back to its task, and she feels a bit of heat in her cheeks. Ms Thornkettle authorised that extremely quickly. This means that the head teacher is probably already aware of it. That will be another letter home to her parents.
The obnoxiously loud ring of the school bell makes Shannon jump to her feet. The door to her classroom opens immediately and students file out in a rowdy manner, pushing and shoving to be the first to leave. She tries to lean against the wall casually as she waits for Jenna and Ashleigh, but only receives snorts and giggles in return. Finally, a bald black girl covered head-to-toe in white exits the room, smiling softly at her.
“Are you okay?” she asks, rubbing Shannon’s arm with a gloved hand.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I am, really.”
Ashleigh frowns slightly. “Don’t worry, I’ll ask Lord Warren to pray for her to go to Hell.”
“Um, thanks.” Shannon smiles slightly.
Her friend was born into a strict cult, although she didn’t see it that way. Shannon and their other friend, Raya, weren’t born into the cult but they joined several years later, thanks to their parents. So far, Shannon’s family is the only one out of their friend group that defied Warren and left.
The two girls hug and Ashleigh accidentally brushes against Shannon’s blonde hair, the strands turning a neon green and light blue once they meet her exposed skin. Ashleigh’s power is that she can change the colour of hair and sometimes fabric. While usually people learn to control her power, this is supressed in the cult. Ashleigh can’t touch hair without changing its colour to something random.
“Oh no! I’m so sorry, I’ll punish myself for you!” Ashleigh cries, throwing her hands over her mouth and muttering prayers into her palm.
“There’s no need, it’s kinda cool actually-”
“It’s a sin!” Ashleigh looks like she’s about to burst into tears until a tall, beautiful girl with tanned skin comes up behind her.
“Lee, are you okay?” the girl asks in a gruff voice.
“Rai, I’ve sinned!”
Raya rolls her emerald green eyes dismissively. “It’s fine.”
“No, I need to be punished!”
“Is your girlfriend coming or what?” Raya ignores Ashleigh’s frantic cries and turns to Shannon.
“I’m guessing Mrs Thornkettle wants to speak to her,” the blonde girl replies.
“You got sent out again?” Raya asks, pressing herself against the wall as a group of rambunctious boys get too close to her.
“I get sent out every lesson.”
“And every lesson it’s a load of shit!” Jenna announces, swinging the door open dramatically.
“There you are, let’s go.” Raya scowls, her eyes darting around the hallway at various groups of people anxiously.
The blonde girl from earlier, Cindy, stalks out of the room with a large grin on her face. The girls say nothing as she barges past them, though Jenna does stick a middle finger up behind her back.
Raya shuffles impatiently, so Shannon grabs her girlfriend’s hand and starts leading her through the maze-like hallways.
“Thank you,” her friend mutters, smiling slightly.
Shannon nods silently back, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention to Raya.
“So, what’s the plan, then? Your place?” Jenna sticks her tongue out and winks at Shannon, making her blush.
“My parents are out of town, so you can all sleep over if you want.”
“But how will we all get our Career Letters?” Ashleigh asks, chewing the tips of her white gloves.
Shannon shudders at the thought of Career Letters, a list of jobs that they can apply for. Certain jobs can be off-limits to those who have certain powers. As a winged, she only hopes that policewoman would be on there, she isn’t interested in doing anything else, despite the protest from her winged parents. Winged are more limited than most as a lot of employers don’t want to hire people who are clumsier on land than non-winged.
“The postman around my place can track anyone down. He knows where everyone is, wherever they are.”
“Sweet.” Jenna swings her hand in the air, getting a few weird looks from the other students. “Is six okay?”
“That’s fine-”
“We can’t do six!” Ashleigh interrupts, looking guiltily at the blobs of fading green and blue in Shannon’s hair. “Rai and I have a sermon. We can come after. I’m sure we have clothes that we left last time we stayed over if we don’t have time to pack our own.”
Raya rolls her eyes but says nothing.
“Then just come round when it finishes okay? I won’t lock you out,” Shannon jokes, earning a smirk from her friends.
The broadcast on the television is forgotten when the girls walk home.
***
“C’mon, Lee. You look fine.” Raya perches uncomfortably on her friend’s lumpy bed, twiddling her thumbs.
“But Lord Warren-”
“Is an asshole,” her friend finishes for her.
Ashleigh glares at her before returning to tying up the rows of snow-white ribbons across her chest and thighs, the traditional garments for a sermon. They’re both wearing long white, frumpy dresses which cover everything apart from their heads, and silken gloves. “He’s my father.”
“I know,” Raya looks down at the floor. “But that doesn’t make Warrish a true religion.”
“It is. I know you’ve lost faith, but I haven’t. I know God is looking out for me.”
“God wouldn’t allow this to happen, He wouldn’t allow Warren to kick people out of a church for not following everything in the Bible. He certainly wouldn’t allow girls to be married off at the earliest opportunity to have babies.” her friend argues.
She ignores Raya’s eyes welling with tears to return to the plain wooden mirror. She plucks a white veil off her nightstand and says, “Why don’t you turn the TV on, I’ll be done soon.”
Raya tears her gaze away from her friend to turn on the dust box that is the television. A hitched gasp makes Ashleigh turn around to see what’s going on, her eyes locking on a red warning on the screen.
SARJ VIRUS IS SPREADING. THE COUNTRY IS NOW IN LOCKDOWN. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOMES UNLESS YOU ARE AN ESSENTIAL WORKER. ESSENTIAL WORKERS INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO: DOCTORS, NURSES, POLICE OFFICERS, FIREFIGHTERS-
Ashleigh stops reading the scrawl on the screen to look at her friend. They both stand up with their hands clenched tightly into fists.
“It’s getting worse.” Raya gulps, watching the message crawl across the screen repeatedly.
“Lord Warren said that we’ll be spared.”
Her friend straightens up, towering over the other girl. At six feet, Raya looks intimidating compared to Ashleigh’s five-foot stature. “We shouldn’t go tonight, what if something happens?”
“We’ll be protected,” Ashleigh replies casually, pretending to fiddle with the buttons on her dress.
“Please, I don’t think it’s a good idea…”
“Then don’t go.”
“I’m not letting you go on your own.”
Ashleigh throws her arms up in the air in frustration. “Then we have to go, now.”
The two girls exit the run-down house in silence, though Raya looks around worriedly as Ashleigh locks the door. They live in Warrville, the home of all those who follow the Warrish faith. The houses are old and run-down, but Lord Warren says they shouldn’t worry about it in this life, as in the next, they will live in luxury with God. Though Ashleigh won’t admit it to her friend, a part of her wants to stay inside.
***
“Oh shit!”
Shannon rushes into the kitchen at the sound of the smoke alarm, screaming that her cookies are burning. Grabbing a kitchen cloth, she throws open the oven door and stares at the charred mess that was her ginger cookies.
Takeaway it is then.
Scraping her failed masterpiece into the bin, she returns to the large living room, filled with modern décor and various piloting awards that her parents won. Piloting was their pride and joy, and as much as they wanted her to follow suit, she didn’t want to fly.
She hated it.
It had been embarrassing to admit to her parents that she was terrified of heights, but they just laughed and told her to stop joking around.
They’ll believe me when I become a policewoman.
Shannon curls up on the plush red sofa in her duck pyjamas while she turns the television back on to see what had been so boring that it made her doze off and burn her cookies. To her surprise, the news comes on. She tries to change the channel, but it just lands on the news again. Confused, she unmutes it and settles back to listen.
“-To leave your homes. The SARJ virus, named after the sergeant who first got infected, has spread across the world.” Photos of people with a blue ring around their iris pops on the screen. “This is the only known physical symptom of the virus. The others being increased agitation and aggression that can lead to violence. The government is warning people to stay inside and to avoid the infected. I repeat, do not leave your homes.” With that, the news goes dark, and a red message appears on the screen: SARJ VIRUS IS SPREADING. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOMES.
Shaking slightly, Shannon wonders if she should call her parents when Jenna bursts into the room, leaping onto the sofa, screeching. Shannon screams and shoots up into the air, propelled by her wings. Her girlfriend rolls around on the floor, clutching her stomach and laughing.
“Jen!”
“Gotcha!” Jenna giggles, snorting as Shannon drops to the floor.
“I thought you were one of those infected people.”
“A what now?” Jenna stops laughing to glance at the television screen, and instantly sits up. “Oh shit…”
“What do we do?”
“Carry on as normal…?”
“But-”
Jenna rolls onto her feet and approaches the window, pulling back the grey curtains to reveal the dark, empty street. “It’s fine out there, no signs of the infected.”
“Not yet.”
“You’re freaking out over nothing.” Jenna sniffs the air. “Did you burn something?”
“Burnt cookies are the last thing on my mind right now.”
“Then let’s order a takeaway!” Jenna grabs the phone and starts dialling.
“They’re not going to be open with a virus-” Shannon shuts her mouth as a faint voice on the other end of the phone picks up.
“Hi, are you doing delivery? Oh, you are?” She winks and gives Shannon a thumbs up. “Can I get one portion of chicken fried rice-”
Shannon settles back onto the sofa as her girlfriend lists off an order. Maybe it’s not so bad after all yet.
***
Raya cringes as Lord Warren approaches her after his evening sermon, looking her up and down greedily. He’s always looked at her like she was a piece of meat rather than a human being. He probably can’t wait to have her married off to one of his most loyal followers. His dark face is wrinkled and covered in white painted stars, the symbol of the higher ups in his ‘religion’. He’s in his sixties, but with all the paint on top, he only looks like he is in his late forties. A thorny crown entangled itself on the mop of grey hair that sits atop his head.
“Blessings, child.” He smiles darkly.
“Blessings, Lord,” she replies, glancing around the candlelit room, hoping someone will notice him talking to her.
“What is it, child. You look troubled?” He places a hand on her arm, making her flinch and jump back.
“I’m fine… Lord.”
Thankfully, before the creepy old man can ask her any more questions, Ashleigh yanks her away.
“We should go,” she says worriedly, glancing back at two men dressed in all black, looking her up and down.
“Thank God, let’s go.”
“Don’t use His name in vain!”
The two girls lock arms as they prepare to exit the hot, overcrowded shed that is the ‘church’. The walls are made of rotting wood and covered in various paintings and scriptures of the Warrish religion and commandments. The roof had been ripped off ages ago by a freak storm, and Lord Warren never replaced it because he saw it as God’s will. Before they can leave, the doors are thrown open by a man in a grey hoodie and ripped jeans. His eyes are locked on the floor, his bare feet dragging painfully slowly across the wood.
Lord Warren immediately rushes over to the stranger but doesn’t touch him. “Ah! A new follower I presume, welcome!”
“…Nirvana…” The man whispers so quietly Raya has to strain her ears to hear him.
“Nirvana? What do you mean, brother?”
The man looks Lord Warren right in the eye. His eyes are blood shot and glassy, with a slight light blue ring around his iris. “I want… to reach… Nirvana.”
“I’m sorry, you won’t reach Nirvana here. We don’t believe in such a place,” Lord Warren replies, his tone getting more frustrated by the second.
“Four humans… three others… to reach... Nirvana…”
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
The man looks around the room slowly, locking gazes with everyone. Before anyone can ask him to leave again, he lunges at a nearby man, sinking his teeth into his cheek. The church member screams and flails as he drops to the floor, seizing uncontrollably. His attacker laughs as the blue around his iris glows. “Another!”
“He’s crazy!” Raya mutters, pushing Ashleigh towards the door. “Go!”
The two girls rush outside into the dark street just as panic erupts in the church. They run through the forest, a shortcut to Ashleigh’s house. Usually, it’s dark and scary to them, but tonight, they are running from something far worse. There is real danger behind them, and they need to get away.
As soon as they reach Ashleigh’s house, they grab their bags from the bushes outside, having hidden them earlier as Lord Warren had banned them from seeing Shannon in her ‘sinful’ household. Raya’s feet are starting to ache from the short run, but she doesn’t want to stop for more than a few seconds.
“We need to get inside!” Ashleigh screams, yanking her keys out of her bag.
The two girls freeze however, at seeing that the door is already wide open. A figure moves around just inside, turning to look at them with glee.
“Help me get to Nirvana!” The figure screams while blue around their irises glow harshly in the lack of light outside.
Raya grabs Ashleigh’s arm and pulls her down the street. They continue to sprint past every house, seeing many them also broken into. Raya decides then that they need to go to Shannon’s house. Their friend lives in the more affluent part of town, so it has more security; they’d be safer there.
“Keep going, we need to get to Shan’s!”
For once, Ashleigh doesn’t argue, she just wordlessly follows her friend as they run as far away from her house as possible. Eventually, the two girls get tired and are forced to slow down, their breathing harsh and ragged. The taste of copper in her mouth makes Raya take a few deep breaths, willing the burning in her lungs to stop.
“What’s happening?” Ashleigh cries. “We’ve sinned… we left them!”
“Left who?”
“Our brothers and sisters! Our Lord-”
“Fuck them, we need to concentrate on ourselves!”
“I should have warned them when I got that bad feeling… God was trying to speak through me!”
“What are you talking about?”
Ashleigh throws her arms up in the air, past her bald head. “When I said we had to leave… I had a bad feeling. I should have said something!”
“Your gut feeling saved us!” Raya argues, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. “We’re safe because of you, we need to keep going!”
“No, we need to go back and save them!”
“Lee!” Raya grabs her friend by the shoulders and shakes her violently until Ashleigh locks eyes with her. For a few seconds, Raya tries to think of the words to make her friend continue, when several police cars fly past them. Their sirens blare and light up the whole neighbourhood in a stream of reds and blues.
Ashleigh lets out a weak scream and points behind her friend. Not needing to turn around, Raya grabs her friend’s hand and pulls her down the street. All they had to do was make it to Shannon’s, then they would be safe.
She hopes.
***
That’s the first chapter! Keep an eye on my blog and social media to know when Nirvana is available for pre-order. I hope you enjoyed reading, see you next week!
PS; last chance to download these books for free!
