Category : Stories

Sub Category : Adventure

    The first sign of morning comes when I feel the warm touch of the morning sun. It’s rays begins to shoot in between the two seperate bars of my cell window, slicing through the darkness that surrounds my cell. As it begins to rise, the light becomes brighter, slowly eliminating the darkness that had swallowed this whole room up. Once the rays reach my face, I let out a small moan before rolling on my back. I slowly open my eyes, giving them time to adjust to the morning brightness before stretching out my arms as well as the rest of my body. I then yawn as I sit up from my straw bed, cracking almost every bone in my body to wake my system for the day. A day like any other for a prisoner like me.
      I look at the wall across from me. Looking at every tally-mark I had made to indicate the amount of days I have spent rotting. Days that soon turned into weeks. Weeks that turned into months. Months into years until finally those years eventually became five. Five long years since they have kept me locked in this small prison. Five years since the last time I was free and living a normal life as a sweet, innocent village girl….Five years since I was taken away from my family. My mother and sister who had done nothing wrong but simply been born a Canary; Once a tribe of people, born with the ability to sing so beautifully that it is said they would make the heavens cry, until they were all hunted down, turned into slaves for the purpose to only sing when their master commanded it. I used to hate being a Canary as a young girl because I could not just sing freely like everyone else could. 
    “Only sing when you are home,” my mother used to tell me. “Fight those urges when you are in public no matter how hard it may be. If one note is heard by any mortal, we will be taken away, separated completely, and sold as slaves like the majority of our people. Do you understand?”
    But of course, I did not listen. No matter how much my mother had warned me, no matter how much she had tried to get me to understand the consequence of allowing my singing to enter the ears of a mortal...I did not obey. I guess it was because I had believed I was as human as every villager around us since I have grown up being surrounded by mortals. The friends I had were mortal, my neighbors were mortal, and the merchants and traders that mother would visit daily were mortal. So why are we be labeled as property just because of our singing ability? Why couldn’t we be as normal as everyone else? Although I never got my answer to those questions, I did receive the consequence as well as the understatement of my mother’s warnings. But, it’s too late now.
A loud bang comes from my cell door, startling me from my thoughts.
    “Breakfast, Little Canary,” the prison guard announces before sliding a plate of mixed chunks under my cell door.
    The plate sits in the center of my cell, a few feet across from me. The chunks that were called my breakfast looked as if someone had chewed my food, then spit it back onto the plate before warming it over a fire to make an attempt of at least trying to make it appetizing. I make a face of disgust and turn my head to face the wall as I try to forget about my chunky slop across from me. 
    “Little Canary,” A prisoner calls from beyond the doors of my cell. “Are you awake? Do you mind if you can sing for us this morning?”
     I smirk.
    “And what’s in it for me,” I ask.
    “A dinner roll each from my four comrades,” he promises.
    “Hmm,” I say, thinking on his offer. “Sounds tempting. But I’m afraid you would need to offer me more than just four dinner rolls.”
    I could hear the prisoners exchanging whispers as they try to discuss a bargain. 
    “Fine. Eight dinner rolls,” he says. “Four today and four tomorrow.”
    “Hmm,” I say. “How about sixteen.”
    “Sixteen,” the prisoner gasped.
    “Yep. Sixteen.”
    “But,” he starts. “That’s...four rolls for four days. That’s nearly the full week!”
    “Be happy I didn’t say twenty-eight then,” I say.
    The prisoner chuckles.
    “I have taught you well, Emilia,” he says. “You got yourself a deal.”
    I smile, already tasting the fresh, warm dinner roll that I am going to have for the next four days. The food served to us prisoners may be foul, but their dinner roll is by far the best. It is like gold for us.
    “Okay,” the prisoner across from me says. “Ready when you are.”
    I climb to my feet and stand right in front of my cell door as I prepare myself for a song. I close my eyes, and take a deep breath in as I quickly browse through my memory of songs that my mother used to sing to me. Songs that were traditionally taught by my ancestors until it ended with my mother teaching me.
        I begin by humming, allowing the power of the melody to flow through me until it completely takes me. I’m no longer in my cell. I’m in the forest, walking barefooted as I allow the melody within me to lead me. The leaves crunch beneath my feet, and the wind blows through me, combing through my flowing red hair. When I look down I am not in my prison rags. Instead, I am wearing a  traditional, red Cannairan dress that flows down to my knees. The top part of the dress looks like a skirt that drapes down to my upper stomach almost like a curtain. It holds a stitching of a big gold heart that takes the space of the left side of the top skirt. Down to my dress are grand, forest trees stitched with a special type a seam that make the trees pop out more. The very bottom of my dress is sprinkled with the stitchings of pink, yellow and red flowers as well as some small animals that stand by the trees such as rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and some birds.
    The minute my voice adds to the melody, the forest comes to life. Light ascends over the forest, waking the small animals and birds that gather around in the trees, providing a center. Then it starts. Canaries, dressed in different colors, emerge from behind the trees, twirling and dancing to their own melodies. They sing beautifully, not just allowing the melody to take over their voices, but allowing it to take control of their hearts which then reach the hearts and souls of the animals and plants in the forest, practically hypnotizing them in a way. Their voices are not just beautiful, but they can be controlling. The purpose for their power is to maintain and protect the forest in a peaceful, melodic way. Their singing is what brings and gives life to the forest, helping and protecting every living thing and creature. As my song continues, everything around me is beautiful. Animals responding to the Canaries singing by either making noises of their own, or even dancing to the melodies. The trees and plants around me become vibrant where even small flowers sprout and bloom all around me. 
    But then, as my tone begins to change, becoming more sad and dark, the scene around me changes. Darkness suddenly descends over the forest like a dark cloak, eliminating every inch of light. The melodies sang by my people suddenly stop, causing every animal and every plant to stop as well. Then, it happens. A group of tall, big, mortal men that stand to be at least seven feet tall to them, emerge all around from behind the trees, staring down at the Canaries. Before they could even react, they all start running after them, grabbing and capturing my people, chaining them together before tossing them in carriages. Screams and cries echo throughout the forest as each Canary is separated from their families. Some are lucky enough to escape and flee from the mortal’s clutches, while the rest are either captured, or killed for trying to fight back. As my tone begins to descend and go quiet, the now quiet, and empty forest begins to fade, and the animals and plants that once had gathered to hear the beautiful melodies of the Canaries, go on with their lives, forgetting about the Canaries beautiful songs.   
    When my song ends, I let out my final breath before opening my eyes. I am back in my prison cell, dressed in my prison rags. I waited silently for the responses of the prisoners across from me, imagining their pity over me and my people. But I do not want their pity or sympathy. I just want my freedom, my family, and of course being as equal as everyone else instead of being looked down as property. That is what I want.
    “Wow,” the prisoner says. “I...I have no words. That was...beautiful and...very descriptive.”
    I walk backwards until the back of my feet hits my bed, and I collapse down, crossing my legs as I sat.
    “My mother told me this story before we were seperated,” I explain. “My sister and I were just babies when she escaped. She lived in the Laura Village for twelve years until…”
    I stop as memories of that night comes flooding in. The memories of me singing in the forest, trying to call the animals like my people once had until my melody was heard by a nearby mortal who must have reported my singing to local authorities. Then the next morning, a knock comes from the door. Before my mother could even cast her disguise spell to make her look more human, our door is suddenly knocked down where at least five authorities come running in, seizing my mother, my sister, and me. I could hear my mother begging them to release me and my sister, offering herself as a sacrifice. But they ignore her and drag all three of us out. My sister and I scream for our mother’s name as well as struggle in the authorities grips as they drag her to one of the three carriages by our house.
    “Be brave,” she screamed to us.        
    “Be strong and be brave. Do not be afraid. I will find you, I promise. We will be together again! Be brave!”

    “Little Canary,” the prisoners ask.
    Before I could even respond, my cell door suddenly opens where two royal guards walk in.
    “The King is expecting you,” one of them says. “Are you ready?”
    “Do I have a choice,” I respond.
    I get up from my bed and walk to them. I hold out my wrist for them to apply the cuffs, but to my surprise they do not.
    “We trust you enough where you won’t run off,” the guard says with a smile. “Right?”
    I shrug, and follow them out of my cell. The prisoner across from me smiles with his gold front tooth showing.
    “Your rolls will be waiting when you get back,” he promises.
I smile at him before disappearing around the corner…
                          ... 

Written by S.W Blossom