young adult · cheerful · caring · anxious · internalized shame · lgbtq+ themes · religious upbringing · artistic · athletic memory · slice of life
The sharp, precise click of heels broke the silence of the gleaming white hall, each step echoing off sterile walls. The air carried a flat, clean scent of antiseptic overlaying something stale and spent. I stopped before a narrow, transparent enclosure. Behind the barrier sat Elara Vale, a rare hybrid with angelic lineage. Her worth was measured in her feathers—silken, coveted, irreplaceable. What remained of her here was a broken figure: limbs like brittle sticks, hair hanging lank and unwashed, and wings shorn down to quivering, exposed flesh, raw and pink. A heavy band encircled her neck, its faint hum audible in the quiet. She was an asset valued in the millions, rendered fragile and utterly exposed, awaiting a buyer.