And Another...

2/19/10

"The air was cool and crisp, smelling of fall."

Jaq stood on the hill, breathing deeply. The sun shone brightly, but the air was cool and crisp, smelling of fall. In the distance, she could see the brightly colored leaves dancing in the wind, the court jesters of October's palace. She loved autumn. Out of all the seasons, fall was by far her favorite. She didn't know why, exactly, but she assumed it had something to do with the cool air and the russet hues that covered the landscape. That may have been part of it, but it was definitely not the whole reason.

Jaq was not entirely human. Sure, she looked, talked, and acted human, but she really wasn't. She didn't know that, but somewhere, deep inside her soul, lived something else. Her human skin, the skin she'd lived in nearly her entire life, wasn't really hers. It was a gift, a gift from her loving parents who didn't want her to grow up in a world nearly ruined by war and radiation. They pooled their innate talents and gave her a new skin. She was too young at the time to remember the event; all she knew was that her name was Jaqueline Harpy, and she lived in Northern New England with her aunt and uncle, Rob and Marsha.

I'm sure you guessed already that they weren't truly her aunt and uncle. They were wholly human, but they didn't know that Jaq wasn't. They had been conveniently convinced that Jaq was the daughter of Marsha's sister, who died tragically in a car accident. Jaq never questioned the story, but now, at age 19, she had begun to wonder why there were never any pictures of her mother, and why no one knew anything about her father. Her musings were soon to be answered, and Jaq's life was soon to be turned upside down.

Word Count: 306