Chapter 58

Elika yawned, trying to ignore the light knocking on her door, she just wanted to go back to sleep. It had taken her hours to finally fall asleep without the shadows on the walls making her paranoid. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone to sleep?

She groaned, climbing out of the metal bed and stumbling towards her desk, yawning as she pulls a nightdress over her head. She was going to have to answer the door, or they won’t go away, the consistent knocks continuing.

She pulled on the handle, shocked to see Mrs Taner and most of the orphaned children on the other side, three of them holding up a chocolate cake.

“Happy birthday!” They all shout, Mrs Taker unable to hide her smile.

Elika stood there for several seconds, her lips parted in shock, they had remembered her birthday, but how? And more importantly why?

“The cake is for me?” She asked, her smile so bright that is outmatched the sun shining through her window.

“Yes, everyone deserves a cake on their special day.” Mrs Taner says, “Now blow out your candles.”

Elika smiles again, leaning forward and blowing out the two candles that were on top of the cake, the children around her all cheering with glee. They were just as excited as she was, and that was probably the best surprise of all.

She loved the children of the orphanage, she even made anonymous donations to the place once a month, it wasn’t as though it was needed, but it got the children extra things like toys and clothes. Things that they want, and not just for their birthdays and Christmas.

“Thank you.” She whispers to the little girls holding the cake as steady as they can, it wobbled, but they didn’t drop it.

“You’re Welcome!” They shout, big smiles coating their faces.

“Ok girls, why don’t we take the cake down to the kitchen so Ellie can get dressed?” Mrs Taner smiles, winking at the princess as she ushers the children away, promising them all cake for breakfast.

Elika stands in the doorway for a few more seconds, watching as the children all giggle and play on their way down the stairs. It was a beautiful sight, but one that caused her heart to ache. She often wished that her childhood had been filled with laughter and love, but she wasn’t as lucky and the children here.

Mrs Taner loved each and every one of the kids, and she easily remembered what each one liked, whether it was their favourite thing to eat, or what new colour they decided was the weeks favourite.

Elika admired her, and adored how committed she was to making sure that each child a happy home to remember. She wanted them to have good childhoods, Elika only wished that she had been loved like that.

But her family was much different to humans, her bloodline was coated in betrayal and hatred. Atlas was not a good father, and Darkous was an even worse uncle.

She loved her brothers but they were also caught up in the war that consumed her home, that is why she could never go back, not even when Jake came for her.

Elika didn’t want to fight, not for any of them. She just wanted to live a peaceful life away from the war, one where she would never need to use her powers to hurt another creature.

She walked back into the bedroom and quietly shut the door, picking out a pair of black skinny jeans and a blue button shirt, butterflies of all colours scattered across it. Back home she was only allowed to wear massive gowns and expensive dresses, but not here, here she could wear whatever she wanted.

The clothes she found also fit her much better than anything she got back home.

She got dressed quickly and pulled on her white trainers, tying her hair into a tight ponytail. It was how she wore it most days now, it didn’t take much time or effort, and she hadn’t touched an ounce of makeup since before her uncle kidnapped her. She probably never would again.

Mrs Taner said that she didn’t need it, she called Elika a natural beauty, and her friend Sarah agreed. It was the fist time anyone had ever complimented her, and after blushing and stumbling over a simple thank you, she realised that she had missed out on a lot of things back home.

She missed out on love.

Her family didn’t know how to love one another, and they never would, they were too busy fighting each other to realise that taking lives was wrong.

Maybe it was because they had done it for so long that they didn’t know how to do anything else.

Elika watched herself in the mirror as she buttoned up the last few buttons on her shirt, she looked the same, violet eyes and cheeks coated in hundreds of tiny freckles. She was still thin, thinner than most humans her age, but she had put on some weight since she started having regular meals. She had curves now too, and small breasts. She was becoming a woman.

She didn’t feel the same however, she wasn’t so afraid anymore, she didn’t have to worry about being tortured or beaten.

She didn’t have to live every second of her day in fear, or step on eggshells because she might be thrown into a cage for disagreeing with her uncle.

She was free, THIS is what freedom felt like, and she loved it.

She would never go back, she’d rather die than go back.

Elika smiles, grabbing her jacket and heading for the door, last year on her birthday she was attacked in her own home, this year she was going to spend it with her first ever friend.

She was going to make this the best birthday she has ever had, just in case it is her last.

Just in case the darkness come back for her