Submission: Sun Feathers

Sun Feathers
Fictionwriters August Challenge Entry


     “This place is far quieter than it usually is,” mused a teenager with brown hair and deep emerald eyes. He sat cross-legged in socks while he looked through a window, into the traffic-clogged fishbowl people referred to as reality, in one of the many McDonalds the city had ordained to build, an agile shape in the sparsely gathered parents and children.

     In front of him sat a lithe young woman with white and black hair, dressed in a pink tank top and red shorts. Her off-color contacts, one purple and one yellow, gleamed as she poured over the math text in front of her and said, “I never did thank you for getting me out of that box Andrew.”

     “I’m a tutor,” the teenager shrugged without care, “I just hate being cramped up in the confines of a study hall room. You’re just as much of an excuse for me to get out of that prison as I am for you.”

     “That’s not quite what I meant,” she said with a smile. Her delicate hands closed the tome and moved behind her head as she leaned backwards, “but, if it’s all the same to you, play time is over…”

     Andrew’s eyebrows arched with surprise, “what?”

     “Actually I should probably say it’s just about to begin.” A golden robe flowed across her body from her pink shirt. Not a moment later she had leapt onto the table and placed the bladed edge of a scythe against his neck, the sharp metal trapped him against his seat, “see, I hate to have to take those I don’t know to be good or evil, so I’m going to give you a chance to continue living if you’ll play my game.”

     Andrew’s green eyes looked around his surroundings and noticed that there was no one left in the restaurant, not even a manager, “What kind of game?”

     His captor her up a finger to his lips to cease any further questions, “Avoid me until your watch chimes and I’ll postpone your date with destiny until you’re older.”

     “Any rules I should be aware of, Death?” the young man asked as every muscle in his body tensed. His heart beat faster than the wings of a hummingbird, a dull roar of the adrenaline that began to flow through his system. One of his hands wrapped around the in-line skates tucked into his backpack.

     “Not really, just keep running.” Her hands withdrew her weapon from his neck as her voice rang joyfully in the air, “and go!”

     With force enough to knock over the chair bolted to the floor he kicked into the air and towards the glass exit, his predator’s scythe ripping through where he had been moments before. The blazing sirens of a chaotic city filled his ears the second after he left the confines of the building and set off at a full throttle run down the street and spring boarded off of a guard rail into the streets. Two forceful jerks followed and his skates were on his feet and rapidly pressed against the black asphalt in a desperate attempt to move forward.

     “What fun!” Death exclaimed as she followed. Her scythe cut the air behind Andrew, forcing him to throw himself forward and away from the blade. A quick slice near his right side sent him into the left hand lane and oncoming traffic, much to her sadistic delight.

     With a hop he soared over the hood of a Porsche and slammed his skates against the rim of the glass windshield. The force of the slide sent him into the air with a shrill shriek, momentum taking doing its duty in keeping his speed when he touched down on the concrete sidewalk in a half-crouch. Somehow he managed to put on a smile as people cleared out of his way and the railing to his right turned to a solid line.

     Suddenly the earth itself cracked under his feet as the woman in the bright robe appeared in front of him. When he turned he saw the gaping crevice that ripped towards him with frightening speed. Too many vehicles populated the streets and the strip of houses and shops to his right were held at bay by a chain-link fence.

     Immediately he leapt onto the railing that separated him from the asphalt and let loose a flurry of sparks as his arches ground against the cold metal. Death’s scythe whipped toward him with amazing speed, forced him to jump, and caught him by the heel of his left skate. His heart stopped as the bindings deteriorated then fell with their shoe into the crevice that loomed below. Fear and adrenaline restarted his system immediately as his right foot collided with his thin metal pathway. All of his attention focused on his right leg and what little balance remained.

     His leg lashed out as soon as he fell back onto the sidewalk. Emerald eyes followed the skate as it hooked through the air and nailed Death in the side of the head with just enough force to make her eyes spin.

     When they finally refocused she saw Andrew as he knocked a man wearing a racing suit to the ground. His hands quickly grabbed a set of keys and crammed the thin piece of metal into the ignition of an angular motorcycle. The biker tried to stand, but was knocked back down by a collision of helmet and face.

     Wheels squealed in protest as his bike lay burnt rubber on the asphalt. People became a blur to his eyes the young man with brown hair disobeyed every single sign and traffic light. His speedometer wound to the right in record time and began to slow near the seventy miles per hour mark. The rate in which cars seemingly began to fly backwards towards him prevented him from taking another glance.

     Dank city environments broke into a sunlit highway as he rode between the two flat lines that split his pathway. To his right lay the sea, an endless sparkling mirror marred by specks of dust that were fishing boats. Ahead rose red vertebrae from the blue depths, supports of a bridge and tons of steel that allowed people to pass to the south side of the city. Docked ships floated to his left as well as a crescent strip of land that served as the harbor and fish market.

     Suddenly the ocean boiled and spun in a massive vortex, carried upwards into a pair of tidal waves by unseen forces. Their forms framed the suspension bridge, a gaping may that threatened to swallow all who were on it.

     Andrew only smiled and turned his throttle to maximum. His form turned to a bolt of lightning as it raced between vehicles and panicked commuters. Sound fractured and disappeared from his world as a pair of white crowns began their descent, a reminder of mortality that he didn’t need anymore.

     And then he was on the other side of the bridge with his rear wheel swung into a stopping position. What skeletal portions remained swayed in a gentle breeze as people rose to the surface with unbelieving faces. His emerald eyes dilated in fear as he stood, Death’s scythe wrapped around his thin neck.

     “Don’t worry, nobody’s dead… I saw to that.” Her off color eyes danced, “You have to have been the hardest person to catch yet.”

     “Are you sure you caught me?” the young man asked as his left arm rose, “amazing how much time passes when you’re having fun…”

     The watch wrapped around the limb chimed a number of times before the young woman behind him exploded in a burst of light. Her voice came from far lower when she resumed, her scythe gone, “Well isn’t this a fine predicament.”

     Andrew turned to Death and only saw a small black and white kitten with a pair of eyes that didn’t match: one topaz and the other a deep amethyst. After he had stared at it for a moment all he said was, “holy crap.”