BIRDS IN A CAGE

The reflection wasn’t clear. We didn’t know why the mirror was outside. It had been like that since we came there. The castle was just as mesmerising inside as it was outside. It housed more than 140 girls. Hawk had been there for the longest. She was blessed with long chestnut hair and always wore a silver key around her neck. All the girls shuffled around her, asking questions about the castle. They didn’t know why they were in there and I didn’t either, but I wasn’t one to jump around Hawk and make a fool out of myself. I stayed at a safe distance from everyone else and waited for someone to come to me. Wren had it easier than us. She could go to bed after us and she always got the most time to spend outside the castle. She was allowed to walk around the entrance, while we were forbidden to even look past the fence of the garden. Sunset gold roses and sea green daisies grew in the garden. We were forbidden to touch them, but we had to water the flowers once every week. This week it was my turn. The girls chewed on their sweet marmalade biscuits, their giggles echoing through the marble gazebo. My arm shook from the heaviness of the water filling the watering can. I pulled the watering can away from the bottomless well that was filled to the top with fresh water. We weren’t allowed to drink from it. This water was firmly for the flowers. I carried the heavy watering can with my head held high when I passed the other girls. They were sitting around Hawk, their dresses fanned around them. Lark was another girl the others looked up to. That’s why I was extra surprised when she joined Raven, who had arrived at the castle only a month ago. They chatted, though their voices never reached my ears. I strolled to the sea green daisies a few feet away from them and pretended I wasn’t listening to them. The water slowly drizzled the thin petals, traveling down the stems and over the leaves until drops reached the ground. 

“Luckily the sun is out today,” it had been raining for four days straight and we weren’t allowed to go out during that period. It rankled me that we couldn’t dance in the rain or feel it on our skin. The flowers were lucky. They were treated better than us. They felt the rain, soaked in the sun while we had to hide in the shade. The castle took care of the shade for us, casting an immense shadow over the gardens, but giving enough time for the flowers to bathe in the light.

“I like the rain.” Raven’s voice was different than I imagined it to be. It was harsher and firmer. Her hair was always pinned up, but she didn’t have any trinkets from her old life like we did. Lark had her polished pearl hair pin that was always stuck in her golden hair, even when she was sleeping. She was one of the girls that was trying to hold on to her past, which was also forbidden in the castle. We had to only think about the present and never the future or the past. that were direct orders.Their conversation didn’t escalate. It stayed as boring as all the communication in the castle did. After Lark left Raven alone by the dragon tree, I dropped the watering can by the flowers and watched another girl approach Raven. I easily slipped into the background with my eyes while Sparrow easily stood out with her auburn hair and her appointed onyx dress. 

“Watch out. You’ll smudge the secret camera.” 

Lark jumped from her leaning position on the tree to look at Sparrow. The auburn haired girl only offered her a smirk and pointed to the tree. Lark turned around, to look at what Sparrow was pointing at. True to her word, there was a camera in the tree. 

“I didn’t even notice that there.” Raven admitted, her voice far away from wherever we were. 

“That one is not the only one. There’s hundreds outside and in the castle after you know what you’re looking for.” My eyes shifted to the flowers, noticing a faint little red light. Another was hidden in the daisies. I took a step back, already making too much noise. My eyes locked with Sparrow’s. 

“Are you lost? The shadow ends a foot away from you.” She was right. I took a quick step back, my skirt taking the fall for me and shifting into the sun when I turned.

“Sorry.”

I didn’t make another mistake after that. I kept my eyes keenly on them until we had to turn in for the night. There had to be a reason those cameras were there. They probably didn’t even work or they made sure that no one tried to come onto the premises and hurt us. My stomach was growling, but we were only allowed to drink a glass of Moon’s Tears. That’s what Hawk called them. They made our dreams more vivid and my head a little heavier. I skipped a day, so I wouldn’t have a headache the day that followed. That night I tried to stare at the ceiling for as long as I could keep my eyes open. I tried to imagine a star and thank her for another day of sunlight. I wanted to apologise for my slip up with the sun and not drinking the Moon’s Tears, but stopped before I could think of the words to say. We weren’t supposed to ask for forgiveness either. They said it made us look pathetic and weak. At least that’s what Hawk told us. She made sure we were sleeping until she went out for a stroll in the night. Other girls said she was a saint for waiting until after we were asleep to relish her freedom and not rub it into our faces. I could say she was the kindness out of all of us. She made sure we followed the rules so we didn’t get hurt and told us about the cruelty of the ones who were in charge. Hawk said we were safe here in the castle and she was right. There was a war brewing outside the walls, it was all over the weekly papers that arrived every monday. 

A bare foot hitting the floor snapped me out of my half dream of a talking star. I quickly sat up in my bed. All the girls were neatly pressed into their soft mattresses, covered with silk blankets, except Hawk and Raven, whose bed’s were empty. Soft violin played in the background, begging me to go back to sleep. My curiosity got the better of me and I stood up. The stone floor was cold, but I hurried over to the window. Slight rain drizzled outside and a glow of lightning appeared in the distance. A shadow came into view. Raven walked out of the castle and stepped into the rain. She shouldn’t have done that. Something bad was going to happen. Breaking rules wasn’t something a girl in the castle does. I waited a few moments, my breath caught in my throat, but nothing happened. Raven hadn’t drank the Moon’s Tears either. That was another rule broken. I watched as her fingers caressed the petals of the flowers. It was like she was begging to be thrown into the war outside the gates. She stopped in front of the mirror. I don’t know what she saw inside, but a faint smile graced her thin lips. The mirror was always blurry. Maybe the rain cleared it. She must have seen something captivating in the reflection. Perhaps the mirror was magic. It must have been with the size of it. Hawk tried to make us move the mirror the first week I was here. It was too heavy for us to carry. She said the people in charge told her we had to cover it. The wind sometimes rips the cover from the golden masterpiece and Hawk is sure to cover it as soon as she sees it’s uncovered. 

Raven was sure in her movements after her visit to the mirror. She started running toward the fence that protected us from the outside world. My heart stopped. I had to stop her. She wouldn’t be safe outside. Just like millions of soldiers she would be shot dead, before she realised she was wrong. 

I ran out of the castle after her, my feet hitting the floor in a musical pattern. I wouldn’t make it in time. The stairs to the entrance took up most of my energy. Opening the door, Raven was already over the fence and running away. I tried to yell out her name. She didn’t even know me. The mirror was calling out to me, begging me to stop in front of it. I did. My eyes narrowed at my figure. Something was different. The drizzle of the rain continued and my mind was turning. A light shadow of a white bird appeared in the mirror and disappeared so quickly, I was sure I imagined it. A whistle of an arrow sang in my ears and pierced Raven’s heart. I turned to see what happened to the girl who tried to run away, only to see her on the ground. Hawk was by my side and we watched the terror before our eyes. I barely noticed a quiver full of arrows on her back.

“I told you all, you were only safe here with me in the castle, but you never listen.” A croak of a dark creature echoed through the gardens. I looked up to see a black bird fly over our heads, bearing the same name the fallen girl carried.