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| Lisa leaned back on her pillows, and listened to the wind in the trees. It was a soft sound which reminded her of the few times she had ever been to the ocean. The lightning flashed repeatedly and the thunder rumbled after. A peep out the window showed a stormy yellow sky, for all that the hour was 11:57. Lisa felt like that sky: stromy and loud with the a full fury of raindrops just withheld. Lisa looked up at the ceiling. "Stupid hormones. I'm all depressed and stuff." Lisa was silent a moment. "I don't like it here. Not at all. This town, this life. My whole existence. Not at all." She glanced at the clock. It was 12:01. "The witching hour." Murmured Lisa before switching off her night light, and burrowing into her pillows. Lisa heard something move in her room. She laid very still, and could hear the sound of someone breathing. She reached with trembling hand to switch on her night light, to find that the electricy was out. Lisa fumbled for the flashlight by her bed. She switched on the bright beam, and shone it around her room. She was horrified to see a sleeping figure leaning against her door. She let out a yelp, and it lept up. "Oowww! Turn it off!!" it cried, throwing it's arm before its face. "What?" asked Lisa trembling slightly. "The LIGHT!" "Why should I do that?" she demanded working to shine the beam directly on it's eyes. "Because if you don't turn it off, I will become VERY ANGRY!" "Oh." Lisa switched off the light. "Thank you." it sighed, and put down it arms. Lisa got her first good look at the midnight intruder. He had hair the color of new fallen snow, but it looked as if it was sprinkled with gold dust. "Now, who exactly are you?" he asked looking her up and down with bright eyes. "Lisa." she replied softly. "Lisa." He echoed making her name a foreign mystery. "What is a Lisa?" He jumped upon the chair, agile as a dancer, and perched there among her stuffed animals. He regaled her with a grin like a rising summer sun. "A Lisa is a gently blooming flower." "Who the heck are you?" snapped Lisa, feeling acutely awkward. "I am Aviegl, the Night Walker." "Right. What are you doing here?" "I heard your desperate cries. I was riding the storm, when I heard your sadness. I was curious, so here I am. And I am glad I came, fair one." "Are you trying to hit on me? If you are, I promise you I am not your type." "Nevermind that, seems to be the trouble with you?" Aviegl wondered, his face taking an expression like a concerned big brother. He had, in fact, not understood the meaning of Lisa's last comment. "What do you care, furry?" "My name is Aviegl." Avigel looked down on his body which was covered with a short gold fur. His face was narrow and handsome like a human man's, except that his eyes were large and luminous like a cat's and the color of new pennies. "Nice. The name isn't an excuse for your style. How about you leave, before I scream." Avigel looked down at the garmet which was much like a black wet suit that stopped at the thigh, and had short sleeves. He had a heavy, silken sash drapped over his sholder, with a golden clasp at the top. He frowned. "I have been not been unkind, have I?" he snapped with a bit of a snarl. "You came into my room without asking." replied Lisa, stiffly. Aviegl growled deep in his throat. and his eyes began to glow like brands. His three taloned hand tensed and untensed, as the glared at the girl. "I was right. You don't really care. Go away." With that Lisa covered her head with a pillow and pulled the sheets over her head. This alarmed Avigel so that he forgot his anger. "I'm sorry, Lisa. I truly care. Honestly, I do." "Why?" asked Lisa, her voice muffled by the pillows. "Why not?" Returned Avigel. "Isn't the point that I care? Couldn't you tell me what's wrong?" "Just my hormones." Lisa replied, peeping out from under the sheets. "I am not really depressed for a special reasons. My emotions just go crazy sometimes." "Is that really the only trouble?" asked Avigel, with a little smile. "Well . . . I was a little lonely." Aviegl nodded, looking as if he understood. "And, I do feel a little fustrated, and bored." "And why is that?" Asked Avigel, the words flowing though his lips like honey. "There is really nothing for me to do here. I am a student during the year, and just me during the summer. Where is the point in that? That doesn't really mean anything." "Ah, the restlessness of the young. Is it truly that terrible? Soon, you will live independently, and then you will have a meaning, yes?" He peered at her softly, a cool light shinning in his eyes. Lisa shrugged. "I don't know. I am just bored and anxious here, as it is. It doesn't matter. I may as well bloom where I'm planted, because it is not like I have a choice." "Of course you have a choice!" Exclamied Avigel. He grinned, a gesture so powerfully sweet that it made Lisa's heart skip, and leaned in closer. He hoped off her chair and spread out his arms, unfurling a pair of golden wings, webbed like a bat's with talons at the end. He bowed from his waist, and his eyes glittered. "You could go with me to Night's Castle!" "Where?" "Night's Castle! Surely you have heard of it?" Lisa shrugged. "No? It is the most beautiful, grand structure in the world!" He hoped off her chair and spread out his arms. A large pair of golden wings, webbed like a bats with talons at the end, unfurled from his back. "It is the most wonderful place ever imagined! A palace of dreams and stardust!" "Sounds like Dinseyland." quipped Lisa. "I would really rather go to sleep." "You don't want to go to Night's Castle?" Aviegl gazed at her in astonishement. "Why, every dreamer in Night's Castle has a meaning! Every dreamer has a role and a purpose!" Lisa sighed. "I kinda of want to go to sleep, ok? Just forget I said anything." Avigel's sholders sagged. "As you wish." He stepped lightly over Lisa, pulled open her window, and perched for a moment on the sill, inhaling the stromy wind. Lisa was suddenly seized by the relazation that she was letting the most wonderful and exciting thing that had ever happened to her fly out her window. "Wait!" she cried, putting a hand on Avigel's sholder, as if to stop him from leaving. Avigel was still for a moment, and then swung his legs back over the sill to look at Lisa. He wore a little smile that sent a little shiver down Lisa's spine. "Tell me some more about Night Castle." Avigel's smile broadened to a ray of pure joy. "It is wonderful. A place of dreamers and love. There is little more to tell, besides that you should go there with me." "How would we get there?" Avigel got a mysterious look, jumped over her and her bed onto the floor and bowed from his waist, his golden wings making a canopy over both of them. "Whoa." Replied Lisa, astounded. "We would fly?" "Well," relied Avigel, his eyes glittering. "I would fly. You would hold on." Lisa stared for a moment at Avigel, her eyes wide. "I want to go." she said finally. Avigel scooped her up in his arms, and began to dance about the room, whooping excitedly. "AVIGEL!" "What?" He asked, mid-whoop. "I need to get dressed first." Avigle surveyed the over-sized shirt that served as a nightgown. "What's wrong with that? It doesn't matter what you wear in Night's Castle." Lisa snorted, "Just turn you back for a minute, ok?" Avigel begrudginly obliged, as Lisa put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. "Ok." she said, running a comb through her wild hair. "Let's go." Avigel once more scooped her into his arms. Only to set her down once more so that she could scribble a quick note: DEAR UNCLE VERN- Went to Night's Castle. Be gone forever. -your reluctant neice Lisa p.s. you won't find me, even if you bother to look "Now are you ready?" Avigel asked, as he paced the room." Lisa nodded, and before she knew what was happening, Avigel had taken a giagantic bound out of the window with her in his arms. At first Lisa only sqeezed her eyes shut and and clung to Avigel, but gradually, she opened her eyes and wathed the boiling yellow clouds. She was comfortable, and somehow dry. The rain flew madly about them, until Lisa could remember nothing but clouds. At last they flew from the strom into a quiet star filled sky. From a distance they were a pretty pair. Lisa, her long, dark hair flying in the wind, her wide, violet eyes, and her slight frame, contrasting with the golden bulk of Avigel. They hovered in a sky which few have traveled, waking. Together, they entered the Night Castle. |
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