• Once again I was alone in the quiet of the choir room, the music sheets of which I worked on every day sprawled out in front of me, the messy writing of the bic pen unreadable by pretty much everyone but myself.
    My cell phone vibrated against my leg; I pulled it out and turned the alarm off.
    With my Signature teddy bear magnet, I stuck the papers to the side of my guitar case and marched out into the Almost-winter breeze.
    With the strange things going on lately, I pulled my Cell-phone out of my pocket again and checked the time.
    4:53.
    Time had been speeding around me lately; Just the other day I emerged from the school to find it was five A.M in the morning, and had the most Disturbing run-in with Leila, the girl whom I believed was responsible for the strange happenings.
    As I set my Black guitar case on the ground, one of the papers wriggled itself loose from it's magnetic imprisonment and danced into the breeze.
    "Every time!" I groaned to myself, chasing after the paper and jumping, each time it only being but an inch out of my reach.
    The paper flew like a butterfly and entwined itself into the branches of a mighty oak tree with some of it's leaves left on the side of the courtyard.
    I cursed to myself and positioned under the lowest branch of the tree, jumping and grabbing onto it.
    I tried again after a fell into the snow, hung on and pressed the hiking boots I used even fothe littlest of snow against the bark of the thick tree trunk and pulled myself up, planting my butt onto the top of the branch.
    Sticking my head into the leaves of the tree, I didn't see any white traces of the paper and pulled myself up onto the next branch.
    Sticking my head into the jungle-like tree, I spotted the paper caught in between two of the branches in the very center.
    I groaned again as I inched forward carefully, extending my arm as far as it would go until I closed the tip of my middle and index finger around the edge of the paper and pulled it closer, wrinkling it up in my hand.
    Pulling the stubborn music sheet into my pocket, I jumped down to the lower branch of the tree and lost my balance on the ice that stuck around the bark.
    The wind stung the sides of my cheeks and blew the hood of my coat back as I fell into the snow, the water sinking into the bottom of my jeans. The paper flew out of my pocket, but I inched forward and grabbed it before it could blow away.
    "Damn," I said, pulling myself up by using the trunk of the tree. I sighed as I smoothed out the paper against it, then threw my head back and groaned.
    The text on the paper I had taken hold of was written in blue pen, with neat and proper handwriting, unlike my normal scribbles. I crumpled the paper back up and threw it onto the ground.
    Another gust of wind blew through the courtyard, making hundreds of orange leaves fly off of the branches of the tree I had just fallen out of. As the leaves blew around me, a spotted a white piece of paper casually flying with them, as if it fit in with the colors.
    I ran forward and clapped my hands around it, smiling to myself as a felt the odd strange warmth of the paper soaking into the hands.
    The paper I had taken hold of also had neat blue writing on it, followed by a stain in the bottom of a strange purple color.
    My eyes scanned the paper in shock of the Sapphire text written on it, making my arms and nerves tingle.


    We Stretched Our Wings,
    In The Light None Of Us Had Ever Felt.
    The betrayl of the Chosen reflected in out eyes,
    Entwining the sin in the untainted soul.
    Give us out Flight, Give is our sky,
    the words echo in the night.
    Into the Chrystal ball we go,
    Our footsteps echoing in your dark corridor,
    And the Blackness of the shell,
    That once held the few drops of light,
    Inside of the Untainted Body.


    Reading the poem made me feel strange; each word burned itself into the back of my mind, placing itself into a slot that seemed like it was just made for them.
    I reached around and grabbed the crumpled paper I had found in the tree under the bush it rolled into.
    The handwriting held the same Grace and elegance of the other poem; but no Purple stain was on it.



    For the soiled drops of blood
    That stained the blank surface,
    Time will stop and speed
    For the pain, and for the secrets that linger in your head.
    The shadow in the night follows,
    Unknowing how to use its Wings,
    For it's Soul has been spread in the sun,
    Rotted by it's own self.
    The darkness that you think,
    Is merely only seen,
    Unless of course you look
    With the black eyes of the Shadow itself.
    No darkness lingers truly inside,
    Only in the eyes of the empty creations.


    I folded the two papers in half and stuck them into my deep coat pocket. The second poem had somehow scared me; all of it seemed to be happening to me.
    "Time will stop and speed," I repeated to myself, taking in a deep breath. "The shadow of the night follows."
    The thoughts of who had written these poems scared me; it made me think it was Leila.
    I took in a couple more breaths and noticed something out of the corner of my eye again.
    Whipping around as fast as I could, I spotted a twinkling object near the bottom of the school gutter, the one that lead out near the sewers.
    I stepped towards the side of the building, my feet crunching under the snow and picked up the object.
    It looked like a pipe about the size of my thumb, made from a gorgeous sparkling glass that gleamed in the sunlight.
    "Sam," someone said.
    I gasped and turned around to see Leila, standing behind me quietly.
    Her eyes were red and bloodshot, and she was holding her notebook to her chest with a purple pen tucked in a spiral.
    A ribbon that was worn in her waist-length brown hair was wet and dripping, but the rest of her was dry and she wasn't wearing a coat.
    She was staring at me with squinted eyes, a hint of admiration and anger lingering in the back. Reading someone's eyes was a weird trait that I had, along with talking to myself sometimes.
    I didn't think Leila would find me; I had been trying to move fast so she wouldn't. Desperately hoping my phone would ring so I could run away, I parted my sticky lips. "Hi," I murmured, sticking the fragment of glass into my pocket with the two poems.
    "Sam," Leila repeated, extending her arm with a cupped hand at the end.
    I inched backwards a little; hoping she wouldn't hurt me.
    The thought of turning and running crossed my mind, but I was in idiot and stood in place.
    Leila closed her eyes, her grip on the notebook hugged to her chest loosening a bit.
    "The key," she said, crunching the cupped hand extended to me into a loose fist.
    I stepped back again. Since I had first spoken to Leila, strange things had been happening to me; I've been seeing things following me, shadows stalking me. And time had been speeding around me, too; I've been extra careful so it didn't happen.
    "You found it," Leila flashed a fake smile at me. "You found it."
    I felt like slapping myself for being an idiot as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the fragment of glass. "Here," I said, placing it into her hand; which she had cupped again.
    Leila pulled her hand back and stuck it in the pocket of her School uniform; a brown dress with black leggings.
    "Make a wish," Leila stuttered, biting her lip.
    "Eh?" I asked, not sure if I had heard her right.
    Leila rocked back and forth on her feet. "Make a wish, quick."
    "I wish," I blurted out, then almost slapped my hand over my mouth at what I was saying, but for some reason I couldn't. "I wish everything would make sense." I sighed.
    Leila pulled a violet out of her pocket. I threw my head back and groaned again as she blew at the flower, sending the petals flying around me in a circular pattern, like a tornado.
    "Your wish," Leila smiled at me as I turned around, ready to run. "Has been granted."
    I looked back once as I ran away; seeing something strange.
    Under the setting sun laying against the horizon, it beamed towards Leila from behind, coloring the snow all around us.
    And I think; Just maybe, that in the shine of the sunlight, I saw wings sprouting out from Leila's back.
    I shook my head and looked forward again, deciding it was just my imagination.