Forbidden: Book One of Wild Sky Saga (2 page)

Her grandparents had married and bought this property when they were eighteen. Driving up the long winding driveway of 66026 Kawkawa Lake Road sat a small, three bedroom house surrounded by massive trees. The property was huge, and the backyard actually led right up the mountain. It was there she always felt free and wild, and would run like she was. Wearing the lip balm reminded her of the long hot summers she had spent digging in her grandmother’s garden for radishes and eating them, dirt and all. It also reminded her of when she had listened to the birds making songs, never knowing where they actually were, and watching through her grandparents large kitchen window as deer came down off the mountain early in the morning. It reminded her of the people she loved and the days she had spent with them that meant everything to her. It reminded her of who she was, a free spirited little girl who loved everything about life, a time when everything seemed
magical.

It’s funny how one thing can help hold onto things like that and make them live
forever.

Aira’s grandma had passed away just before Aira’s seventeenth birthday. She had been a heavy-set woman with short brown hair that
she used to get permed all the time. She had had vibrant green eyes and an infectious laugh. She had been beautiful, her spirit full and everybody had loved her. People had gone to Freda for anything. She helped anyone, and
when they went to see her, they felt like they were going home. She used to play the guitar and sing and Aira loved her voice. It had been strong and when she sang you could
hear the inflections in her voice which was very
distinct.

She had been a paramedic for many,
many years. She and a few other people had secretly started running an ambulance service for the first few years. Before then, Hope didn’t have one. Aira wasn’t sure if it was her grandmother’s bad dreams or just that the things she had seen, but it became too much for her that she had eventually
quit.

Both of her grandparents had been very spiritual. They had believed in it wholeheartedly, which was probably why Aira is the way she is, always trying to make sense of anything, always thinking there’s more to
everything.

A man had been hang-gliding and had gotten lost for quite a few days in the mountains. No one
could seem to find him. Aira’s grandmother kept having dreams, the same one over and over. She saw him stuck in a mountain ravine. She told her husband Phillip she believed she knew where he was, and told him about her dreams. He told her she should call the police and tell them, so she did. They looked, and he was there. Aira always believed her grandmother had magical
powers.

Losing both of them had been really hard on her. She felt alone in a way that no one else really understood, a deepness in her like they had possessed, her
soul.

After her grandma’s passing, the house was put up for sale and strangely burnt down only a few months ago. Aira still goes there sometimes just to put her feet on the ground, like it’s the only place that really knows her, and where she can still feel close to them. One of the last things her grandma had said to her was that everything happens for a reason, and if it ever happens without reason, it’s always
corrected.

Aira was startled by her phone vibrating and dropped her lip balm in the sink. She picked up her phone and read a text message. It was from Jaidas.
I can’t wait to see your beautiful
face
.

Jaidas Mane was a very handsome, very charismatic young man who came from a wealthy family. His hair was dark caramel blonde, his eyebrows dark and prominent, shaping his perfectly charming face. He loved tattoos. Every one he had had specific meaning to him. He was definitely what most would call a pretty boy. His eyes were deep hazel and his smile was where he carried all of that
charisma.

Jaidas lived in a very small, secluded town twenty minutes outside of
Hope
called

Rosedale
.
He had been born in Hope and started off his first six years of school there, but then his parents decided to move to Rosedale just before the beginning of seventh grade. He had wanted to continue going to school in Hope because of Aira and all of his friends. His parents
agreed.

The thing between him and Aira had started off in Kindergarten. He had chased her around, pulled at her hair, basically been a bratty little boy trying to get her attention. His actions fit to the old saying, if he’s mean to you that means he likes you. It irritated her, and not much changed over the years. Their relationship was, though, endearing in a way. By the time they had gotten into high school, the feelings between them became stronger
.
They were a part of each other, and no one really saw them any other
way.

Jaidas, as a fifteen-year-old boy, still did quirky things to get her attention. He was a show off, loud and abrupt. Though they weren’t officially together in any verbal way, there was one day in particular that he finally made it known, that yes, she was his. Another boy had sat down beside her, simply asking her a question about a science project that they had to do together. Jaidas had been wrestling around in the grass with his friends. He stopped, looked over, and jealousy flooded him. He quickly got up, walked over to them, pushed his way in between them and sat down. Aira knew what he was doing. She shook her head and let out a light half-way embarrassed
smile.

“You know she’s my girlfriend, right?” He spoke at the boy in a matter-of-fact kind of
way.

“Jaidas, we have a science project to do,” Aira replied like he was being
ridiculous.

“I’m just saying.” He smiled at the boy, making sure he knew not to get to close, then he got up and walked back over to his friends. They had been fifteen at the time, it was an innocent kind of act. Aira loved his unintentional charismatic personality. It made her smile, but sometimes it could also get really
exhausting.

Two years have gone by, and they’d had their ups and downs. The older Jaidas got, the more handsome he grew, and he loved the attention he got
from many girls. It became the biggest problem between them, causing arguments, and a lot of breakups. He became so involved with himself that he only gave her enough of himself to keep her around, and even though she couldn’t prove it, she knew there was no way he was being faithful. Perhaps she stayed with him because he was familiar,
comfortable.

Over this past summer they had argued, which ended up in them spending most of their time apart. She wouldn’t talk to him, having grown tired of his
games.

Two weeks ago, somehow, he once again convinced her to give him one more
chance.

Aira let out a small smile, hopping out of her bathroom into her room and into her tight fit jeans. She grabbed her book bag and ran
downstairs.

Maddy, her mother, was in the kitchen eating breakfast, drinking coffee, and reading the newspaper. Their kitchen was light and airy. The table was round and made from dark maple. It had four chairs around it and a crystal fruit bowl in the middle. A glass sliding door led out to their large back
deck.

A 52” television that sat on the floor blared at her nine-year-old brother who sat in front of
it.

They had a huge, dark-brown, micro-suede couch in the living room and a Lazy Boy chair sitting right by their large living room window that looked out to the front yard. Aira lived a few minutes outside of town in a small neighborhood surrounding Kawkawa Lake. Her mother and Barry had bought the house only a year ago, because it was average priced, modern, lived in,
comfortable.

Maddy was a lot like Aira — soft-spoken, loving, happy, very real. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. She was beautiful for her age, and wore her years well. The only other difference, other than the color of their hair, was that Maddy was more of a realist. Aira wasn’t. Aira was a deep thinker, a day-dreamer. She’s always been that way, even as a little girl. Perhaps she did it now to escape the repetitiveness of the mundane town she had been born and raised
in.

Aira was about to run out the door when her mother spoke up.
“Aira.”

Aira stopped, turned around and walked into the
kitchen.

“Are you not even going to eat? You know breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” Maddy spoke at her daughter in a playful
way.

“I’m gonna grab something when I pick up Avery,” Aira answered, seemingly in a
rush.

Maddy smiled, reached into the fruit bowl in the middle of the kitchen table and threw her an
apple.

“Thanks.” She smiled at her mother and walked out to her truck — her grandfather’s truck which he had left her in his
will.

It was a beautiful day. Being September, there was a warmness in the air. There was still some life left of the sun, but it would only last so long, then fall would shortly make its presence felt. She loved these days, but she loved the smell of autumn
more.

She realized she had forgotten her keys hanging in the kitchen, and when she turned around to go back inside, she dropped all of her books on the ground. Irritated by her lack of having it together, she walked back into the kitchen, and with an embarrassed look on her face she grabbed them and walked back
out.

Maddy shook her head and let out a light
laugh.

“David, please go grab your bag.” She spoke over the sound of the television and took another drink of her
coffee.

Outside, Aira picked her books off the ground, opened the truck door, threw in her books and phone, and drove to
Avery’s.

Avery lived in town. Half way between town and Aira’s house was a bridge she had to cross. A couple years prior the town people had decided to tear down the old wooden bridge and build a new one. Aira missed that bridge, it was sentimental in a way. She used to walk over it when she was younger to go to her grandmother’s, and she would stop in the middle just to watch the river
pass.

If one turned right after the bridge towards town, he would go down a small hill onto a nature trail. Eventually the trail led out to a street, up a large hill, reaching another small trail that came out at the train tracks that divided the town. To and from town, that was the path she had always
taken.

The bridge has always been her half-way
marker.

As Aira pulled up to Avery’s house, Avery came out waving excitedly to her. Avery was very beautiful. She had long ginger hair and brown eyes. Sometimes she wore glasses to read, and most of the time she wore a ponytail. Avery’s house was also a two story home, white with green trim. They had a lot of sleep-overs
there.

Avery opened the truck door and got
in.

“I’m starving. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, besides, if I don’t eat like right now, you know how cranky I get – why don’t you fix
this?”

Aira smiled as Avery as fought with the seat belt that seemed to need a hundred yanks before it clicked
in.

“What do you feel like? We have twenty minutes.” Aira pulled out of Avery’s driveway and started to drive downtown. Wallace Street was the main drag. Down each side were random small shops and stores: the Buy and Save grocery store, one of only two grocery stores in town, the CIBC bank, Memorial Park, the cinema, a few restaurants and The Blue Moose. The Moose was a local coffee shop where they all hung out. It was across from the town hall and the park and had a small gated covering with chairs and tables outside. The main drag was right there. Hope wasn’t large, so seeing someone you knew was
guaranteed.

“What the hell is that sound?” Avery asked, looking around. The truck windows were rolled down and all you could hear was womp, womp,
womp.