Story of a Curse

== Prologue; Discovery ==
Manchineel was laughing. He ran in front of his house, chasing a butterfly. It was blue with pretty yellow streaks. It zoomed above him, seeming to tease the dragonet. As Manchineel reached for the insect, a dragon came out of the house. He was deep green with darker green spots, and scattered brown scales. His eyes were as blue as the sky. He held a ball made of sticks and vines. He walked over to the giggling dragonet.
”Hi son, what are you doing?” he asked. ”Trying to catch that butterfly!” Manchinnel screeched, jumping up and barely missing the butterfly. It seemed to wave its wings in goodbye and and flew away into the sky. As Manchineel watched it go away sadly, his father crouched down beside him. “Hey, wanna play ball?” he whispered quietly.
Manchineel nodded in reply. Grinning, he took the ball and kicked it as hard as he could. The ball went flying and flew into a tree. It was stuck. It was barely visible. Manchineel started sobbing. ”I lost it! We’ll never get it back!” he cried.
”Shh, it’s okay. Look, I’ll go get it.” his father told him, crouching down. He stood up and flew over to the tree. He reached his arm in and started searching. Manchineel watched sadly. He sat on the ground and saw a rock. It was small and grey, but perfectly smooth. He reached out and touched it. It felt better than it looked. He smiled and lifted it in front of his face. It was shiny too.
”I bet you could make the ball come back, right rock? You look special.” As soon as he finished, he heard a yelp and looked at the tree. His father had fallen on the ground and was looking at the tree. The tree was rustling and moving like crazy, it’s branches moving around. Suddenly, the ball came zooming at Manchineel, as if an invisible force had thrown it at him. It stopped and hovered right in front of Manchineel, who was confused, but reached out a talon to touch it. It felt like a normal ball, but why was it floating?
”Uh, can you stop flying now?” Manchineel squeaked, not liking flying objects. The ball dropped down on the grass in front of him. He heard a shatter and spun around. His mother was standing in front of the door in shock, a broken plate on the floor. ”Hi Mommy! Guess what, I can make things fly!” he giggled, touching the ball again.
”Fly over to Mommy!” he told it. Again, the ball flew away and hovered in front of his Mom. His mother screamed and ran into the house, slamming the door.Manchineel’s father was behind him, pale. He grabbed Manchineel in the arm. He started dragging him towards the house.
”Ow, Daddy, stop!“ Manchineel cried, trying to escape his father’s firm grip. His father didn’t respond and kept dragging him, inside the house and upstairs. He opened Manchineel’s room and threw him him. Manchineel whimpered as the door slammed shut and he heard the sound of the lock.
Why’s Daddy mad at me? I didn’t do anything. I thought he would be happy... Downstairs, he heard arguing. “What are we going to do? Our son’s an animus, and you know how that other animus went crazy and killed my mother.”
”We need to keep him hidden, that little curse could bring big problems.” ”Then we keep him locked in his room.” Manchineel felt like his parents were mad, but he still didn’t fully understand why. And what was an animus?
After a few minutes of sitting there, his door unlocked and opened, revealing an angry looking Daddy. ”Come over here.” he growled. Manchineel nodded and walked over quietly. His father pointing downstairs, and Manchineel slowly walked down, his father right behind.
They got to the bottom and his mother was standing there. ”Manchineel, we’re renaming you.” she stated, no sympathy in her voice. It was cold and dark. Manchineel’s was afraid. ”W-why? I like my name.” he protested.
”Well too bad!” his father hissed, slapping him. Manchineel squeaked, and started whimpering. ”Stop crying you curse.” his father barked. He paused, a strange smile spreading on his face. “I know. That’s what we’ll call you. Curse.”
Manchineel had a feeling things would never be the same.
== Chapter 1; A Diamond in the Rough ==
Curse lay in his hammock, the bed swaying softly from side to side. He closed his eyes and thought about what he would do today. Everyday was boring. Being trapped in his room for 80% of his life, well, what are you supposed to do? Usually,he would read all day, or make something out or acorns and sticks. But mostly he would sit by his window and watch the clouds go by.
A few years earlier, Curse had found out what an animus was. It had puzzled him the moment he had heard his parents say it years ago. It was amazing to know he could do great things with his powers, but his parents didn’t like them. They made the tribe animus to animi proof his room, so he couldn’t escape.
He used to try and escape. Everyday, he tried. Until his parents found out. Then they reinforced the room. He has actually escaped once, when he was little. He had enchanted an acorn to make things float, so he opened the window and crawled out. That day had been amazing. He had ran around the house, chasing birds, laying in the sun, and he had made a game where he threw sticks at trees. But his parents, of course, had found out and added more protection. So now there was no way for Curse to escape. 
Today was going to be no different than the last 7 years. Wake up, eat, read, build something, draw, nap, read, eat, sleep, repeat. He walked over to his door and crouched down. At the bottom was a small flap. He opened it and looked through. There was a dirt covered fish sitting on a leaf. Curse sighed and grabbed it, pulling it in his room and closing the flap.
He didn’t take a bit. Instead, he got some water left over from yesterday and rinsed the fish, so all the dirt came off. He took a bite, and grimaced as the slimy meat slid down his throat. He wanted to spit it out, but he didn’t; he needed food. When he finished, he stuck the leaf back out and walked over to his window, where a scroll was sitting. He had picked it out the day before. He sat down on a chair and read by the window when he saw it.
In the window, there was a small crack. It had made a tiny hole. Curious, Curse slid his claw over it. Then he pushed it in. The crack widened a bit. That’s when he got an idea. He knew his parents were at the neighbor’s house right now, they had talked about it yesterday. So he grabbed a big scroll and started banging at the crack with it. Crack! Crack! Shatter! On the last one, the crack was so big the window broke before his eyes.
He grinned and slid himself out of the window. His claws touched the floor and he smiled.
”I’m free!” he whispered joyfully, spinning around.
He realized he still needed to leave his house, his parents could find him. So the Leafwing said a silent prayer, hoping he would be safe. He lifted himself off the ground and started flying away, away from his parents.
MORE, COMING SOON!
Category:Literature
Category:Original Stories
Category:Original Stories (Unfinished)