As a gust of wind blows them both across the sky, Herbie looks down at the forest far beneath his little, kicking feet. Shaking his head, he covered his eyes with his paws and let out a squeak. The squeak couldn’t be heard, but it made him feel somewhat better, and as the beads of moisture that clung to his twitching whiskers shone in the glare of the moon, he looked out in wonder at the land of trees and the sea of stars that stretched before him. Never in his life did he ever think he’d see such sights. Most other hamsters lived their lives in cages. They spent their days curled up in balls of furry dreams with full bellies and content hearts, far, far from harm. And yet here he was, flying through the sky on a cold winter’s evening. At the beginning of the day, he’d been just like any other hamster. In the pet store on the high street, he’d been eating his treats listening to his brothers and sisters in the other cages next to his. The chatter had been nothing out of the ordinary, and yet they’d been something in the air. None of the others had known it, or if they had, it hadn’t been touched upon. But it had been there- the taste of something strange. A certain lightness of being that made his paws tingle. He may have been just a plain ol’ hamster, and yet he knew magic when he felt it, and when she walked in and prowled the store, he was sure it was him she was looking for, and when he saw her beaming eyes gazing at him through the curls of her hair that spilled down before her face, for better or for worse he knew he was in for an adventure. Truth be told, he would of much rather have stayed in his cage sleeping, and yet there was a part of him excited to have been caught in her storm. What she was, he wasn’t certain. When he’d first seen her, she’d been a beautiful yet sad girl, and now up here, she was something else entirely. With her claws digging into the scruff of his neck, she spread her wings and lifted them closer to the moon, and as her black and white feathers ruffled in the harsh wind, his tiny heart beat like a bomb inside his chest.

A Journal for Damned Lovers UK

A Journal for Damned Lovers US

Anthology UK / Anthology US