Sorry for the days delay guys, I had a horrible filling put into my wisdom tooth yesterday and was feeling pretty delicate all day! But here it is for you ☺️
Also thank you to those who are commenting/voting and letting me know that you're enjoying this so far, means a lot!! Xx

I sagged in relief as the bell rang, signalling the end of the school day. It wasn't that the day had seemed particularly long, it was more the fact that I could now go home and unstrap my wings. Since that day all those years ago, when that girl had seen my secret, I hadn't escaped school to stretch them once. I had learnt that it was too risky to do so and even if they sometimes hurt like hell from the awkward position they had to be strapped down in, it was ten times better than the alternative.

I shoved all my books into my locker, having already done my homework for the evening during my free period, before slamming the door shut and made my way out towards the back of the school. I had found that this was the best place to fly in and out of during the school day. Most of the students and staff were heading towards the car park outfront, making their way towards their cars and school buses so they could escape school until tomorrow. That left the back of the school fairly empty, only the odd teacher who had stayed behind to mark papers or the janitor starting his shift to buff the floors and empty the bins, but they were all easy to avoid.

I snuck out through the back door and across the school grounds until I made it to the forest line. Once out of sight I breathed a sigh of relief as I shed my trusty parka  coat and pulled my multiple layers up to reveal my stomach, or more accurately, the bruised flesh that had been stained purple and yellow from the many years of wearing these belts.

There were only two of them, one close to my bra line and one lower, towards my hips, but they definitely left their mark. Unfortunately, for them to effectively do their job and hide my wings, they had to be kept tight, so tight that the metal constantly dug into me and bruised my skin. I had gotten used to the feeling over the years, and by now I'm sure my body was pretty much immune to it, barely feeling the tightness of them as I went about my day.

I sighed as I ran my fingers along the old leather before sucking a sharp breath in as I tightened the belt slightly to release the buckle from the hole I'd made in the leather. That bit was always the worst, the pinch as my skin got momentarily trapped between the metal and leather, but it was always worth it as sweet relief ran through me as they fell at my feet. First one, then the other.

I'm sure there was an easier way of hiding them, a more effective and pain free way to conceal who I truly was from the world, but unfortunately working with what little I had, this was the best I could come up with. It was enough, I hadn't been found out in years.

I smiled in relief as the second belt fell at my feet and with one last quick look around at my surroundings I took off my last layer, a long sleeve t-shirt, to reveal my jet black wings. I held my breath as I waited for the feeling to return.

I could feel my blood rush through the starved veins of my wings, and sighed as I relaxed into the sensation. It was one of the best feelings, like when you can feel your limbs waking up after you've been leaning on them. The only difference was the pins and needles you got after, I hadn't had that feeling since I was twelve years old.

I rolled my neck as my wings started to relax against my back and the feeling returned to them before uncurling them to their full wing span and flapping them a few times.

I honestly never got bored of seeing them. Even after all the trouble they had caused me throughout my teenage life, there was still no better feeling than sailing through the breeze on a warm spring morning as the birds woke up for the day and decided to join you for a morning fly. I knew I was lucky in that aspect, no one could experience the views or feelings that I got to on a daily basis, and I always made sure to remind myself of that everyday, no matter how much of a crappy day I was having.

I knelt down and quickly collected my coat, tops and belts that I had discarded at my feet as well as my rucksack before relaxing my knees slightly and took off into the treetops. The leaves and foliage had started to grow now that spring was fast approaching, but there still wasn't enough to hide me completely from eyesight if someone really looked. Thankfully though I was pretty fast, too fast for someone to see, and if they did manage to spy my movement as I swerved between the treetops, I'd be more of a blur to them than an actual person, let alone someone they could identify.

I sighed a breath of relief as I left the perimeter of the school and soared up into the air, retreating quickly into the low hanging cloud. Flying through the wet clouds was way better than dodging and darting through the trees. Up here I had time to think and let my brain wander, whereas down there I was so focused on not crashing into a trunk I didn't have time to let myself even think for a moment about anything but what was right in front of me.

As I flew home I thought about my first day, evaluating it and making sure that it was a smart decision to go to that particular school. Seeing as this was my last school before I graduated, I'd decided to treat myself a little and go with a school that was closer to home, that would allow me to sleep in more and get home quicker once the day ended. Not that I was rushing home to do anything, but even I was normal enough to want to get away from school as soon as possible.

Apart from that guy at lunch obviously trying to start some form of friends with benefits situation, the whole day had gone by pretty smoothly. Mrs Dooley had accepted my forged doctor's note, explaining that I had to keep my layers due to thyroid and heart problems, meaning I was constantly cold and needed to stay away from physical activity to keep my heart rate from racing to high. It was complete crap obviously, I had just done some basic research on what could cause a person to be constantly cold and that had popped up. I had expected someone to bring it up and question that my symptoms didn't match up with what I'd said, but no one ever did.

Thankfully the other kids had avoided me, other than the obvious stares I knew I was going to receive, everyone gave me a wide berth, put off in approaching me by my unfriendly attitude and choice of attire. I had found it funny the first few times I'd tried dressing like this, not really believing that just by changing my outfit choice people would avoid me more. It was like magic however, as soon as those combat boots went on my feet and a ratty looking beanie sat on my head it was like people avoided me like the plague.

I smiled as I started to recognise the tree's through the clouds and descended so that I could land just outside my house. I didn't live far from school, maybe a twenty minute drive, but for me it was only just over five minutes. This had always been my back up school, one I'd attend if something had ever gone wrong again and I'd have to flee the school grounds. Thankfully though that hadn't happened, and it meant that I could sleep in until eight thirty before I had to get up and get into school for nine. I had to be careful when arriving that late to make sure no one would see me emerging from the tree line around the school practice field, but as long as I did it inconspicuously I didn't see an issue with it.

Home wasn't much to most, but for me it was everything. After fleeing my childhood home with nothing more than what I was wearing the morning my parents decided to butcher me had been hard. I had nowhere I could logically go where my parents couldn't find me. I knew that if I went to one of my friends' houses for help my parents would find out and come for me, and that was if my friend and their family didn't freak out at the sight of me and try to finish what my parents had started, which would have been highly likely.

I only had one choice that day. Run. So I'd ran, all the way across the North Atlantic ocean until I finally landed in Maine, America. Here I had lived in the forest for the best part of six months, living off the land and creating shelter as and how I could. I hadn't been very good at it at first, any weather other than perfectly sunny skies would ruin it one way or another, but it didn't stop me from re-building over and over again until it stood through a thunderstorm.

My life changed for the better when I came across an old abandoned house not too far from the town of Wethersfield. It was a quiet place, with more forest trails than roads and a population of just over 2,500 people. Big enough for me to hide in but small enough where my parents wouldn't think to look for me. It had been the perfect place, and so I'd decided to stay.

I rolled my shoulders as I walked up towards my house and opened the front door. I never saw the point in fixing the lock on it, because in all honesty, who was going to be out here and looking for this place to wander into. And even if they did, it wasn't like I had anything for them to steal, just a few books, a scrunched up pile of bedding and enough clothes to last me a couple of days.

The place had been damaged by a fire, so bad that the upstairs was virtually unusable. Even me with my fast healing and above average reflexes wouldn't risk going up there and falling through the ceiling, breaking my leg or something worse. It had been a modest place even in its heyday, just a simple building with a kitchen/diner that I used to hold the few items of food that I'd managed to gather, and the living room which I'd turned into my bedroom.

When I had first arrived the place had been a mess. The floors were covered in dirt and leaves that had been blown in through a broken window throughout the many storms that the place had endured over the years. Ivy and other weeds had made this place their home, growing in between the floorboards and through cracks in the few unbroken windows that this place had. The main issue though was the lack of a watertight roof. The fire had burnt most of the ceiling away, leaving the boards open and exposed to the elements whenever it rained. With a few strategically placed tarpaulins however I had managed to make the place virtually water tight. I still had to leave the odd bucket or saucepan lying around the floor when the heavens did decide to open, to catch any rogue leeks I hadn't managed to fix yet.

I had lived here for over four years now, and it had been more of a home than my old one in England had ever been. Sure I missed the creature comforts like heating and running water, but with a naturally high body temperature and a stream running not too far from here, I'd found ways around it. I tried not to make the place look too lived in, just in case someone accidently stumbled across it one day on a hike and decided to take a look, but thankfully that had never happened.

I dumped my bag at the front door and hung my coat up on the last part of the remaining bannister, it looked more like a coat hanger than anything else, and turned right towards the living area. Even though the place still smelt faintly like dirt and didn't have homey touches like posters on the walls or soft carpet under my feet, I still loved the place. It was the one place I could truly be myself without any fear of being judged or stared at.

I sighed as I perched on my unmade sofa bed and proceeded to unlace my boots. I much preferred to be barefooted or to just wear socks, it helped ground me and brought me closer to the present.

Once my shoes were finally off I stepped into a strappy top, of which I'd cut the back out off, and made my way into the kitchen to see what food I could make myself for tonight.

With only a small handful of rice grains and a couple of apples I'd picked from a fruit tree not far from here I knew I wouldn't be eating much tonight, not if I didn't go out and find some more food soon.

Just then I heard a screech not too far from the house and I smiled before getting up and walking outside. This was the other reason why I loved this place.

Perched on a branch not too far from the front door, was Harper, my Harpy Eagle. I had come across her not too long ago. I had been flying amongst the clouds, just enjoying my Saturday like I normally would, when Harper came out of nowhere and just decided to fly with me. I had been worried at first, that she had thought that I was interfering with her nest or something and she was trying to chase me away, but over the next few days she'd kept showing up wherever I was, just wanting to be with me and  keep me company.

After I had realised she wasn't after me for anything, or thought I was a threat to her in any way, I'd decided to do some research on her. According to Google, she shouldn't even be here, her species usually lived in rainforest areas across the southern area of Brazil to name just one place they lived, but for some reason she was here, in the north east of America, with nothing but a small woodland area for her home. I had tried to send her home on many occasions, even flying part of the way with her to show her which way she was supposed to be flying, but she'd always return to me.

In the end I had given up trying to send her home and had accepted her with open arms. She wasn't a pet to me, nothing as majestic as her should ever be considered a pet, but she was more than just a random animal to me. I knew it sounded kind of sad, but to me she was the closest thing I had to family.

I walked over to her with a smile on my face and flew up into the tree so that I could sit next to her within the newly forming leaves.

"Hey girlie, so what's been happening whilst I've been at school then? I hope you haven't been causing too much trouble," I laughed as I thought about all the times she'd chase the small rabbits and foxes around, more for fun than anything else. I reached out and stroked the soft white feathers on her chest, marvelling at the softness as they ran over my fingertips.

"Did you manage to catch anything today?" I asked as I looked up to where she usually keeps her kills, noticing a few tufts of fur sticking out of the branches as I did so. "I guess you've eaten well today then, unlike me," I chuckled as I stroked her feathers one more time before jumping down and walking towards the house.

I heard a squarking sound from behind me and laughed, "I've got to go and find something to eat. I'm not like you and can just catch an unlucky rabbit that wanders into your path now can I," I answered, as if she'd asked me the question where are you going?

She squarked again but I ignored her as I walked back into the house to collect an old reusable shopping bag I'd found in the bin. I pretty much lived on the concept of one man's trash is another man's treasure.

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