Chapter 2: Chapter 1

_-_BEN_-_

Ben looked at the desk and then at his son, "If ever you want to"

"I know Father!" The 26-year-old laughed, "Carol is fine! I know you don't approve of her but I don't think I would ever want to just walk out on her!" then he lowered his voice slightly, "Yes, I know, she can be a bit- grumpy. But, she can also be well..."

Ben was still worried, "Yes... I can tell that she has just the BEST and happiest disposition. Just- take the desk you know what to do." 

His son smiled and flicked his hand lazily and his desk hovered above the ground, following him out the door. Ben shook his head disapprovingly, "one day." he muttered "one day" he walked over to the kitchen table and sat down, sipping a cup of coffee and watching his son leave.

A year later Ben was informed that he now had a granddaughter. Her name was Katya. His granddaughter already had long amber hair by the time she was 2 and greenish eyes. He shook his head, "oh son I hope you know what you're getting into." he murmured. he trooped out into the forest and picked up his ax, trying to distract himself from the ever-growing problem.

 

_-_KATYA_-_

Katya opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom. She got up and hobbled to her feet tiredly stumbling over to her old oaken dresser. She peered into the filthy mirror on the dresser, deciding that it was finally time to clean it. It wasn't that she didn't have a nice house, but her mother just didn't buy good things for her. It always made Katya sour, thinking about how her mother was always giving her the old things but she had learned to deal with it. She peered into the dirty mirror and saw her reflection just as messed up as always, her dark amber hair, (which had darkened dramatically since she was little) was strewn all over her face. Her eyes, which color was always changing, were a dark tired, and dull grey. She breathed in slowly and deeply, It's alright! she cheered herself on silently, Today can't be worse than yesterday- or the day before. But, for Katya, optimism never lasted long, "No. It just can't be any better." 

Katya sighed and picked up a cheap brush, which bristles were already falling out. she managed to make her hair considerably less knotted, but finally gave up. Deciding to just shove it into a ponytail she grabbed a hair-tie and shoved the fizzy mess into a ponytail. She moved over to her closet and picked out an outfit, basically the same one she wore every day, as she had a lot of the same clothes. A black zip-up jacket covering a dark grey shirt with the word Fangirl! written across the chest, she also had just normal black leggings and sneakers. Finally more or less ready for school she sat on her bed and continued her almost finished book, right before Katya remembered the fact that she had homework. Ah well, Too late. she shrugged and continued reading.

Katya flipped to the last page of her book and quickly read the conclusion. She smiled happily for the characters, wishing her life had at least the smallest bit of adventure like theirs, before she reminded herself, destiny is for special people, not random teenage girls who are even less special than the average person. When she finished the book she quickly took out her computer and started a new fan fiction. Ignoring the fact that the thing she needed to write was her book for the competition. “KATYA!” her mother called “time for school!” Katya huffed and grabbed her bag, her sketchbook, and her computer, why did every time she tried to do something her mom had to ruin it? 

“Coming!” she called back as she raced down the stairs. She grabbed a chocolate chip muffin and raced out the door, running for her bus stop. Katya got there panting, but luckily no one was there yet. She whipped out her phone and continued the fan fiction she had started earlier. She knew that once someone else came to the bus stop they would laugh. So she typed as fast as she could, hoping that she could squeeze in at least 1000 words, although it was rather difficult to type on a phone. 

“Oh look, it's little Kaite!” a girl approached her, sneering her ugly sneer, and it reminded Katya about just how much she gave the appearance of a fat ugly bear, lazily stalking their prey. 

“It’s Katya, the moron. Just cause your little brain can’t admit a name is better than yours doesn’t mean you have to pretend it's bad. so just stop being an idiot, Chloe.” Katya went back to eating her muffin, trying to tell Chloe peacefully that the conversation was over. But, as usual, it didn't work. 

Chloe pretended to be apologetic “oh I’m so sorry Kai! You’re the bookworm with the weird name, right? Oh and the obsession with knives!”

Katya snarled and drew a (plastic) knife from under her jacket, “That’s right.” Chloe squeaked but didn’t say another word, which enabled to Katya finish eating her muffin in peace. But what did confuse her was why Chloe was so afraid of a plastic knife. Before long, a strange 6th grader came to the bus stop, forcing Chloe to not say another word until the bus came. When it did Chloe stepped right in front of Katya a small sneer on her ugly face. 

"Whatcha gonna do little Kai?" she taunted quietly and quickly, trying to not get the bus driver's attention." you can't threaten anyone with knives here, not with the bus driver a whatch'n" Katya growled but didn't say anything, she just pushed Chloe out of the way and kept walking. Chloe huffed and was about to say something else but Katya slipped another (metal)knife out of her jacket and pointed it behind her. Not another word passed between them for twenty minutes. 

On the bus, Katya sat by herself in the front with her nose buried in a new book, as she did every day. When she was reading she could drown out all other noise and that was fine with Katya, as she didn't have nor want any 'friends'. Even if people were trying to be nice to her, Katya knew why. Ever since her father died in 1st grade, either no one would talk to her, or everyone tried to be nice to her. Katya hated it both ways, why did no one treat her like a normal person?

During homeroom Katya tried to sit by herself at her desk, attempting to not be picked on by Chloe, who was talking loudly about Katya being a bully to their teacher. "Katya, come here." The teacher's stern voice echoed across the room. and Katya stood up. Knowing this would happen, as it did at least three times a month.

"What?" Katya grumbled as stood right in front of Mrs. Haldrim.

Mrs. Haldrim nodded to Chloe, signaling that she could go. "Ms. Teir, well she says you bullied her at the bus stop." 

 She always says that! That was what Katya wanted to say, but instead what came out of her mouth was; "Her proof?" Katya asked Mrs. Haldrim, staring at her fingernails.

Mrs. Haldrim sighed, "she doesn't NEED proof Katya, this is the 7th time you bullied her in three months. That is why I believe Ms. Teir." 

This time Katya didn't answer quickly, For one thing, Katya wanted to shoot back, You don't even have proof I bullied her the first, second, fourth, fifth, or sixth time. But it took a while for her mind to think of a few decent replies that wouldn't get her in serious trouble. "And? what are you going to do about it?" She said quietly. She knew there was nothing the teacher could do, the worst that would happen was getting expelled, but it wasn't like Katya cared much about that anyway.  And before Mrs. Haldrim could say anything. Katya got up and moved back to her seat. She cleaned up her stuff and left even before the bell rang.

Somehow Katya managed to sit through all her classes even though Chloe was in about 4/5 of them, (80%) But she did get rather irritated when every chance she got Chloe would talk about Katya's most recent bullying and in an obnoxiously loud voice.  At lunch, Katya would again sit by herself eating and reading. Most of the time no one bothered her and she didn’t bother anyone else, pretty much every day Katya never spoke if she didn't want to. She didn’t talk to the teachers and certainly not the principal. Who had become a principal just because he thought he could torture kids.

When she got home Katya burst into her room, flung her bag on the bed, and moved quickly over to her desk. This desk was different from other ones, in the first place Katya never used it for schoolwork or drawing. Katya never stored school supplies on the desk, it was always empty. And for the most important reason, this desk was where Katya stored all her suffering. But right now Katya needed to do her writing. she turned away from her desk and flopped onto her bed.

She drew a hand into her bag and pulled out her computer and a bag of chips. this was Katya's daily routine, no matter what happened that day she would do this when she came home. she loved reading books and when she read or wrote fanfiction she could feel more connected to those books and Katya always wanted to feel connected to the stories. and she spent the next hour typing up a story and eating chips.

when she was done with her writing Katya reached deep into the desk and took out the only thing in there, a knife. She dragged her fingers across the desk searching for a space. Finally, she reached one, a small smile spread across her face as she plunged the knife into the oak wood. Then she started her carving.

As she sketched the last detailed scale into the wood Katya imagined what the dragon would look like in real life. It would be a large black dragon with huge black spines coming out of its back. The dragon would have scattered silver scales and a long swishing tail. It would have a beautiful, elegant, and kind-looking face with a large snout and silver eyes that shimmered in the moonlight. And finally, the dragon would breathe out hot blue-silver flames. Katya reached under her bed and brought out her paint set and painted the dragon just as she imagined it. The dragon looked as real as it would in life, playfully flying around the other animals Katya had carved, eyes gleaming with life and happiness. But Katya felt a certain sadness, deep and uncontrollable as she felt every time she finished a carving. She lifted the knife and laid back into its ornate sheath and put it carefully back into the desk.

Katya frowned, something felt wrong, something wasn't right. and then she noticed it, she almost collapsed from shock, her desk was full, there was no more room to make more carvings. Katya doubled over, her feet up to her hair were burning and it felt as though someone was slowly carving her with a knife. Katya straightened up, arms outstretched gracefully, floating right above the floor...

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“KATYA!” her mother’s voice rang through the stairs.

“Coming” Katya managed to choke out. She crumpled to the floor and struggled to her feet What the heck was that? she asked herself. As she wobbled down the stairs Katya felt strange anger at her mother for interrupting the process, whatever it was.

“Finally” Her mother spat “I need you to prepare the salmon.”

Katya wanted to snarl, her mother knew full well that Katya despised fish, so she went out of her way to buy it.“QUICKLY! WHEN I TELL YOU TO DO SOMETHING I DON'T MEAN TOMORROW” Her mother screamed, slapping Katya across the face.

Katya hurried into the basement, her cheeks stinging and red. She felt the tears starting to pour from her eyes. She gathered the salmon in her arms and hurried back up the stairs. Katya could sense her mother watching her as she preheated the oven and started putting the salmon on the pan. Katya gathered the ingredients as her mother watched her like this was her first time, but Katya had done this many times. She put all the ingredients into the food processor and blended them. She spread the sauce over the salmon, and when the oven beeped she put it into the oven.

Katya looked up at her mother with a tiny hope for even a bit of praise even though she knew she wouldn’t get any. Her mother just sniffed and walked away. Katya sunk into the corner of the kitchen and her mind sped away to 10 years ago- a better time.

3-year-old Katya mischievously climbed up the chair to her father’s desk. Like a toddler acrobat, she swung onto the beautiful oak surface. Once on top, she wobbled on unsteady legs to a pen. Katya babbled happily and began carving on the desk, using the pen as her tool. When she was finished she stood up, admiring the crazy scribbles she had done. She grabbed the markers and began coloring her scribbles. She stood up again when she was finished. Unbalanced, Katya fell backward, squealing off the desk. She heard footsteps thundering down the stairs as she wiggled around like a turtle on its shell.

“Katya!” Her father’s voice echoed through the room, as he ran in a worried panic to Katya “Is my whittle honey alright?” he asked her, holding her up. Katya squealed again, this time with delight as her father tossed her in the air.

“She’s done it again!” Her mother’s grumpy voice ruined this perfect moment. She was staring at the desk, “more wasted money.”

“Now, Carol-”

“NO! Stop it, we should just throw her in an orphanage!”

“Carol! She’s just a toddler!”

“No, I won’t stand for this once more-” Katya started crying. Her father stood up and carried Katya to her crib. Then he and her mother moved to a different room. But Katya could still hear their yelling.

Katya’s memory faded. Her father, who had died a few years ago, was the only one who cared for her. The only one- She felt the tears coming again. Why hadn’t her mother thrown her into an orphanage? She might have been happier there. Katya thought bitterly, squeezing her eyes shut. She sighed trying to get herself together again. Once she succeeded she got up and crept up the stairs. It was 10 pm, and her mother was sleeping and all the salmon was gone. She edged up the stairs trying hard to be silent and not wake her mother. As soon as Katya got into her room she shut the door, relieved. But almost instantly her relief had passed. The desk was still where it had always been but a single strand of moonlight illuminated the dragon she had carved earlier. Katya tried to ignore it. she changed into her pajamas and was ready to go to bed but her curiosity drove her to the desk. And she stood for at least 10 minutes, staring at the dragon. At last, she picked up the courage to stretch out her fingers and brush the image. Instantly the same sensation she had felt earlier bust out from the desk, through her fingertips, and into her whole body. Katya wanted to scream in pain but held it in for fear of waking her mother.

Suddenly the pain stopped and Katya felt like she was released from her bonds. But something felt different, the room was extremely cramped and Katya felt she wouldn’t have enough room to spread her wings. Wait… WINGS?!? She looked into a mirror and saw the reflection of a huge dragon. She was covered by ebony scales with huge spikes protruding from her back. Katya swished her long tail and flexed her huge talons. Katya moved closer to the mirror to have a closer look at her face. She had an elegant face with silver scales like freckles and a long snout. Katya stared into the mirror, she looked just like the dragon she had carved earlier! She snorted and blue flames appeared “NO!” she roared in a panic as the fire engulfed the room. She beat her wings desperately trying to put out the flames. She heard people yelling and screaming, her mother’s voice rising above them all. Katya spread her wings and tried to fly, but she was unable to. She leaped out of the quickly blazing room and onto the moonlit ground below. She tried again this time managing to fly about a foot off the ground before collapsing with exhaustion. She tried yet again determination giving her extra energy, and finally, she successfully flew into the night, leaving the burning house behind.

Katya sat on a rocky outcrop. She could still hear the fire crackling and people talking quickly. The wind howled in her ears as Katya laid her head on her talons and tried to fall asleep. As the first drops fell on her snout Katya’s head shot up looking around, then thunder boomed from above and the rain started pouring from the grey clouds above. I better get some shelter. Katya thought grimly, shaking the water off her wings. But, how to find shelter? She flexed her wings again, trying to shed the water that had just landed on her wings, it wasn't too hard thanks to her smooth scales. Then, she took off.

It was very difficult to fly in the rain, as Katya had learned. She had to keep overshooting and beating her wings particularly fast. Not only that but she had to twist her wings mid-flight to stop them from collecting water. After only a few minutes of this torture Katya was tired and soaking wet. She dropped down to the ground and tried to find the best tree to sleep under. Once she found one, she settled down, put her wings over her head, and thought about how hungry she was. Katya sat, thinking about food and wishing she could fall asleep, when the rain stopped she finally gave up.

Katya stretched and yawned, breathing out more blue flames. She started exploring, getting to know the terrain. After only a little while Katya figured out where she was. She was on a plateau that overlooked the town she had lived in. It was a little amazing, being able to look down on everything that she had known when she was human. Katya looked down from on top and onto the busy streets below, she had never thought she would ever be able to look at her home- her town this way. Up in the sky, watching everyone live their busy lives. She could see her house, it was charred, with people swarming all around it. Katya shook her head, she wasn't quite sure what she felt. She crept down the rocks, it only took a few minutes to get down to the ground. She didn't fly because she thought it would be a little difficult not to see her during the daytime. She walked around cautiously keeping to the large shadows. Katya figured out that she was in the park, which she had kinda already known. She was about to return to the plateau. When she saw her face, her human face, on a newspaper, she crept slightly closer to the man holding it, the newspaper read:

KATYA STONE: KILLED, KIDNAPPED, OR DELINQUENT?

“The burning of our house was disastrous,” says the administrator of the house, Carol Stone. She believes her daughter Katya had set off the fire. “She was always obsessed with lighters! And always writing about people dying!” claimed Carol, But Carol’s neighbors say otherwise.“Katya was always a delightful young girl!” says June Xana, one of Carol’s neighbors “I'm sure something happened to the poor soul! She could have been kidnapped by the person who set off the fire! Or killed!” says June. Whether young Katya was kidnapped or killed or even set off the fire, detectives are trying to find out!

Katya snorted with laughter and lit the man’s paper on fire. Oops, she thought in a panic. The man screamed, then he saw Katya and screamed even louder.

“DRAGON!!!! THERE'S A DRAGON!” People stared at him like he was crazy. Then they too saw Katya and started screaming and running around. Mothers grabbed their children and Katya felt a stab of jealousy. Pet owners grabbed their dogs and started pulling them to safety. Katya saw flashing lights and heard police sirens- someone had called the police. She roared and flew into the air.

“Stop it! I’m not going to hurt you!” she tried to scream but it just came out as more roars. Policemen who had just arrived started trying to shoot her down. A taser hit Katya’s left wing, and she spiraled down, barely catching herself before she hit the ground. Another taser hit her right back leg. And Katya took that as her queue to leave. She flapped her wings getting higher and higher till she was in the clouds.

She settled back down to where she was the night before. She tried to move her left wing but it hurt to do it. Thanks to her scales the taser had only really worked for a few seconds but she knew her wing would be sore for a few more minutes. She looked back down to the ground where chaos still reigned, many people had not noticed that Katya had flown away and we were still freaking out. While the police were trying to calm the pedestrians. And Katya… well she was trying hard not to laugh. She stood up and roared. The people started screaming even more, and for once Katya was satisfied with her new form.

Right then Katya realized how hungry she was. How am I supposed to get food? She asked herself, looking around. Aha! She had just spied a mountain goat wobbling unconcernedly closer; she launched herself into the air, straining her left wing, using her hunger as energy, and dived down, lifting the animal in her huge talons. Katya swiftly killed it with a single bite to the neck. She dropped to the ground and spurted flames onto a pile of timber. She placed the goat onto the flames and waited for it to cook. The goat was done almost immediately. Katya started cutting it with her talons.

Normally, Katya didn’t like meat, but when she was starving she was willing to eat some. She sank her teeth into the flesh trying to choke down the fatty taste. Well, I'll better get used to this. I might be eating this stuff for who knows how long she sighed longingly thinking about the salty-sweet peanut butter and chocolate treats she would buy. She thought of the delicious pizza and broccoli she had never fully appreciated.

Katya looked up at the sky, the clouds were grey and looked like it was going to rain again. Katya sighed. She started looking for more tinder and long sticks so she could make a decent shelter and fire to keep warm and dry. Lying under a good (or, at least better) ‘roof’ Katya finally fell asleep, but it didn't truly feel like she was asleep, she was 'sleeping' but without any dreams, somehow it made her wonder what it felt like to be dead.

When she woke the next morning Katya had a mission. She needed to go back into town. What for? Katya wasn’t quite sure yet but she knew if she went there something that needed to happen would. She got up to her feet (or talons?) and she started walking to the edge of the cliff. Preparing herself to launch off from the ground when something distracted her from that, an eerie chirruping pierced her ears, not only were there no birds around there were pretty much not many other animals. She followed the strange cheeping to a rather strange cave carved, not like it was naturally formed there, but more like someone (or something) had carved it with their (or its) bare hands (or claws or talons...) and inside was a dark tunnel that looked like a horizontal bottomless pit. Katya stepped towards it but before her foot even touched the ground in front of her a strong sucking feeling started pulling her towards it, like a giant vacuum. Most likely smartly, Katya quickly went backward a few steps before the pull could get too strong. but it just got stronger the more she tried to move away from it. she stumbled trying to get away from the giant magnet. Katya fell to her stomach and began crawling along on the ground, using all her strength to crawl away from the black hole. finally, Katya made it out of the cave. She gasped staring behind her but the cave had eerily disappeared. Katya's eyes widened in shock, surprise, and of course fright. 

Katya stumbled back to her 'campsite', it was only the morning still but Katya felt that she had already had enough for the day- or even for the rest of her life. She flopped down on her 'bed' and breathed out heavily through her mouth, and blue flames spurted out of her mouth and faded quickly but the sparks still fell to the ground. Katya looked back up to the sky, the sun was still high in the sky and showed no sign of falling to the ground anytime soon. Deep down Katya knew she should probably move on but she didn't quite feel like it at the moment. But on the surface all Katya wanted to do was lie on the ground for the rest of the day- or maybe the year- or eternity- or like forever. Katya wished she had a book to pass the time or maybe something to write fan fiction with. But in her boredom, something caught her eyes- a tree. She looked back at her sharp claws- then back to the tree and a slow smile spread on Katya's face. She stood back up and slowly trotted over to the tree and placed her talon on it. and already she could feel the softness of the wood. She stuck her talon into the tender tree bark. and made a test scratch with her claws, to her delight her claw slid through the bark as easily as her acute knife had slid through the oaken wood of her desk. Then she happily started her carving, just to pass the time. 

When the day was over Katya did a circle and lay down in her 'bed' then she slowly drifted off to sleep. 

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