long piece 1

short story... 3 pages

Feathers And Glass



By: Taylor R. Vangclear






The beautiful mosaic square reflected in crystalline eyes as Dove stared out her window. The warm summer sun was shining bright outside and the warmth washed over cool, pale, skin. A tinkling sigh escaped between chilly lips. Slowly Dove stood. With great care she picked up her right foot and set it carefully down in front of her left. Then she slowly moved her left foot to complete the step. That step took her close to the window and the entire square was now visible. With the up most care Dove set her cold hand on the stone sill and a small tink rang out at the contact. People were dancing in the square for the midsummer festivities. Longing beat in the princess’s heart as the music played through her head. How lovely it would be to not worry about your every step. After sighing again Dove turned her eyes to the sky. Pigeons flew there and cooed in mid-flight. A lone white dove flew among them. “I wish I could fly with you.” she sigh to the birds. “It would be so much better than watching time pass me by. I cannot remember my youth, but it must have been horrible. Having to watch my every move. For if I don’t I suppose I shall break… as all glass things do when they are treated carelessly.” Dove lamented.


With small careful steps Dove moved away from the window. Every step made her heart beat fast for she was afraid that she would shatter into pieces. But she liked to hear her heart race because the sound reminded her of bird’s wings meting and parting. After many long minutes Dove sat in her study. Birds flew around her window as she began to sing. Her voice sang of the sweetest thing, love. Something that she had never had and never would have. For the first kiss would surely kill her. Yet she sang on because it was such a beautiful concept to her.


Many hours were spent in front of her mirror as she wondered why people feared her so. “If I were to break and disappear would I ever be missed?” she mused aloud as she slowly tilted her head to the left. Then she carefully ran a thin finger over her arm. To the touch her skin was smooth and cold. “Am I truly alive? Will I ever grow old? Am I just magic? Or is there a heart inside this glass cage?” she asked the birds that flew around outside. They answered her with light cooing. Then a white dove sat on the stone sill. “Shoo. Don’t come in to my dreadful prison!” Dove called to the bird. It cocked its head sideways then flew off. Then her heart felt sad and she did not know why.


The same thing happened again the next day. The white dove sat on the windowsill then Dove shooed it off. It happened again the next day.


And the next.


And the next.


Till one evening as the sun was setting it flew into her silent prison. “Please you must go. You cannot stay here. I am so still and you move so quick. You must fly free so you do not die. I cannot help you free for I am glass and will surely shatter…” Dove stood and started to walk toward the fluttering dove. “Please leave. You must go fly for my days are nothing if I cannot watch you in the blue sky.” the dove landed on the seat she had just left and it looked at her as if it understood her every word. “Please pretty dove. You must leave.”


It seemed as if the dove understood her for it spread its wings. Then the sun flared and blinded away all sight for an instant. When the sun faded there standing where the dove had been was a handsome young man with hair a deep mahogany and eyes a fresh green. Dove’s heart beat fast with an emotion she had never felt before as he hoped down from the chair. He spoke in a whisper as if his voice alone would shatter the princess. “I have watched you for a long time now and I had to see if what my heart tells me is real.” he said in a voice that was simply enchanting. “I think I’m in love with you.”


“I am a princess made of glass. Whatever your heart tells you must be false.”


“How can my love be false if I feel my heart beating with it?” the dove boy said as he took a step toward Dove. She carefully took a step backwards.


“But what hope is there for a dove boy and a princess of glass? Our love would only last till our first kiss. Then I would shatter and break and it would all be for naught.” she said in a tone filled with sadness.


“If you want me to leave then I shall leave you here in this prison of yours.” the dove boy’s face fell.


“I am so sorry… but it does not seem fair. You can move about without the fear of breaking while I must watch my every move. Everything I do brings me fear.” Dove’s eyes filled with small crystal tears.


“But if it was for love would it be worth it?” he pleaded.


“I know not. I fear death as much as any. Perhaps even more because everything I do could be my end. Every step might be my last. It is no way to live a life.”


“As you wish my love. I will admire you from afar.” And with that he was a white dove flying out the window.


Dove’s heart felt heavy and crystal tears trickled to the floor only to shatter into pieces. Her only chance for freedom and she had thrown it away. “And for what? This quiet hell? I live here and watch time pass day after day. Perhaps shattering would be a small price to pay for a kiss.” she looked to the window that the dove boy had flown through and she knew that there was no chance for love now.


Dove sat very still in her chair by the window day in and day out. It was the only place in her lonely tower that she could see the white dove perched on the roof across the way. The sun rose and set over the mosaic square and Dove watched with a heart full of longing as the dove boy would flutter away at night only to reappear the next dawn. She would sing to the birds and to the dove boy. But he never came back. After many cycles of the moon Dove stood from her chair and set one glass foot carefully in front of the other to walk away from the window. That was when she heard the flutter of wings. Slowly Dove turned to see the white dove hopping around on the floor. After a flash of light the dove was a handsome boy once again and her heart beat fast. The dove boy smiled as tears filled his emerald eyes. He spoke in a whisper. “I have watched you now and I know what my heart tells me is true. You cannot live hear bound by your fear. For when you listen to your heart what is it you hear?”


“My fear is very real. I’m a princess of glass and I’m destined to shatter. But I shall answer your question since you’ve been around so long. I dream I’m a bird and this glass but a mask. So when I listen to my heart I hear the beating of wings.” Tears filled her eyes as she looked at the handsome dove boy. Slowly he stretched out his hand. Although she feared his touch she longed for it.


“My heart burns for you as I look into your eyes. If I cannot have you then I am willing to die, to shatter, to taste my first kiss. I will regret nothing, and I have nothing to lose. So please don’t hesitate.” she whispered and took careful steps toward the dove boy. He took her face ever so lightly into his hands and guided her close till their lips met and she felt bliss like nothing she had ever felt.


Then the pain seized her body from her lips to the tips of her toes it tore her apart. The thin shards cut the dove boys fingers and lips, leaving them bloodied and scraped. Her last scream gripped his heart like an iron fist, leaving it no room to beat. The glass hit the floor in shards of death.


But her heart was still beating, it was all that was left. And as he had known in his heart it would be, there sat a dove as white as could be. She was a dove and now she was free from the glass cage that had bound the her for too long. Out of her prison together they flew, to cast off all fears and shatter a lie.