• Chapter 1
    When James finally opened his eyes again, he instantly regretted it as sunlight poured into his eyes. He groaned and rolled over, closing his eyes at the same time. Deciding that it was safe to open his eyes, he did so. When his eyes fully opened, he was staring into the eyes of a sleek black cat. Its eyes were pure gold. It was so unexpected that he fell off the bed, landing on his back.

    As he landed, he almost cried out in pain, but managed to just keep it in. His back had been fine before now. Why did it hurt so much now? Tears leaked out of his eyes as he lay there holding his back.

    After sometime, he sat up and propped himself up against the side of the bed and looked around himself. The room itself was completely white. He saw in one corner a bunch of crates stacked, while in another corner there was a bookshelf. The bed itself was in the center of the room. One of the walls was completely made of glass, which was where the sunlight was coming from. On the opposite wall was the only door in the room.

    James sighed as he looked all about and then up at the ceiling. Just yesterday he was being yelled at by his parents about staying out to late. He wondered if they had noticed he was gone. If they had they probably didn’t care. So much for family he thought silently.

    Suddenly, behind him he heard someone chuckling. Struggling he pulled himself up onto the side of the bed only to find that there was no one there. Only the cat was there on the bed.

    “Am I hearing things now?” he asked himself. He slapped himself across the face and shook himself. Behind him the door opened to reveal a dark hallway and a girl. She wore her black hair down to just below her shoulders. Her bangs covered half of her face.

    Immediately, James shook his hair in front of his eyes. He had noticed that most people became nervous talking to him when they noticed his eyes. The cat jumped off of the bed and ran over to run its head against leg. She picked the cat up and petted its head, and stared over at James.

    With all of will power, James stood up and waved.

    “Hi,” was all he decided to say. As soon as the words had left his mouth she squealed and ran out of the room leaving the door wide open. James stared after her wondering what that was about. Shaking his head he sighed and limped over to the doorframe and leaned against it. Looking back at the room he had found himself in he wondered if maybe he should stay there.

    Laughing at his own thought he walked down the hall holding himself up only with the help of the wall. He still couldn’t understand why his strength had left him; he hardly ever did anything physical. The thought of him doing anything physical was almost laughable. PE and walking around his high school were the only times he really needed to. Except for the occasional fight with a bully here and there, but most had found it better to avoid him so there was still no explanation of why he was tired.

    As he made his way down the hall he thought about all that had happened it the past couple of hours. He was still deep in thought about this when he came to an intersection in the hall.
    One way was dark, while the other was very bright. He stared at both choices for a while, shrugged and headed down the hall with light.

    The further he went he found that the hall started to slope upwards. Suddenly, at his side the cat from before was at his side.

    “It would be a very good idea if you turned around now,” the cat said in a female voice. James stopped in his tracks and looked down at the cat. He shook his head and muttered to himself.

    “Now I know there’s something wrong with me. Hearing cat’s talk to me now.” He continued to mutter such thing to himself as he continued to walk forwards.

    “I assure you I am talking to you. And I’m trying to tell you that if you don’t turn around now I can’t assure your safety.” The cat said with urgency in her voice. Now he was sure that the cat was a female.

    “And prey tell why I should suddenly start listening to a cat,” James said irritably to the cat. Today had been very strange to begin with and this was just adding to the strangeness. Up ahead he could see sunlight coming through a crack in something that looked like solid rock.
    This was also something new to him. Real rocks were very rare in the new world. It all seemed too perfect to him. He seemed the only person that really cared.

    Racing forward, he rushed through the crack to see what was outside of it. He found that the cat was no longer following him and that there was no longer a floor, only open sky. As the realization hit him he fell. He had been inside of a mountain and now he was falling, falling, falling through nothingness.

    Glancing below him he saw the deep blue of water miles below him. Almost feeling a loss at not being able to explore this new world he shed a few tears. At the same time he felt a faint feeling in his heart. It took him only a second to figure out what it was. It was freedom. Always, he had always been caged; no matter where he was he had always found himself bound to something. He had never been free to do as he wanted. Here in the sky he found that he could do as he liked.

    From deep down inside he felt a feeling of regret that he would never feel this again. That he would never be able to tell his rescuers thank you. He was suddenly angry that it was here that he would die. At that moment there was only one thought in his head. I don’t want to die, the thought rang in his head over and over again.

    “I won’t die!” he screamed to the sky. Rage filled him and once again his back ached. Only this time it was a different kind of ache. This time it felt as if something were flowing out of him. He looked at his back and saw two glowing wings growing out of his back. They were a brilliant glowing white. His dark brown hair streamed over his eyes and he found himself slowing down dramatically.

    The rage suddenly left him and he found himself losing energy. His sight became foggy and he rolled over to look at the sky only to see three figures floating on glowing wings. A smile played across his face; maybe he was dead and the angels were coming to take him to heaven. He found himself being pulled upwards as the world around him went black.