She had screamed and tried to sink as far into the corner as she could. Still they came with clasping hands. She screamed and yelled to no avail. She pleaded with her parents to make them stop. Yet, they were helpless then, just as they are now, lying cold in their graves. They were the only people who could release her, and now she was condemned to go back.
Her heart was beating so fast that she feared it would break her chest in two. She never liked to think of herself as one to scare easily, but she was afraid now. She feared this more than she had feared anything else in her entire young life, even more than facing life alone. Alone was not so bad, but being locked away was her fear. She feared the cage like a bird did. She wanted to be free and fly as they did. Even if she had to fly far, and even if the wind was against her, she would fly.
She looked up through her tree of comfort and to the ever darkening sky.
Yes, she would fly. She may fall once she had ascended into the clouds. Yet, if she fell then she could at least say that she fell while she was free. Her feet trudged forward, sliding in the mud as they did. She never took her eyes from the sky. The clear sky beckoned her, although it was merely an illusion.
She looked out at the horizon. Her life lay there. Not back in her crumbling home where she watched her parents die. Not locked away because her mind was different from others. Her heart slowed as her eyes set themselves on the distance. Yes, she would be fine. she may be alone, but she didn't care. She would go away, far from here where no one knew her, and they would never find her again.
When they come for her all they would find would be a crumbling memory and the crumpled letter on the floor. She would take nothing with her. She didn't need anything. She smiled to herself. She swore the Sun peeked out from behind the clouds.
“It's OK Sun…. you don’t need to be afraid. I’m not… but it's alright if you don’t want to be seen, I get that too. You’ll come back when you’re ready, just like me.”
She walked on and the birds in the trees around her sang and flew up in the sky. She smiled, for she knew that one day soon she would fly with them. For no one could cage a bird, and no one was going to cage her either.