Marked

"Miss Baker, I am sorry to say that it seems you have committed this crime."

Oh, no, please no...

"I pronounce Miss Claire Baker..."

I didn't do it... They can't send me to jail! I'm innocent!

"...Guilty of all charges."

That was the moment everything shattered.

"But... I'm innocent..."

I could only manage one weak protest.

My life was ruined.

Everything, all my hard work, all of it...

It was all for nothing.

That was the moment I realized what a hateful world I lived in.

That was the moment I decided that laws were worthless if they couldn't find the person who really commited a crime, and that if they didn't work then there was no point in trying to do my job within them. Well, it wasn't my job, but I had always hated those who broke the law. Still...

...Maybe they didn't break the law. The ones who didn't break the law, were the ones who had truly broken Law.

Before I knew it, I had gotten up from my seat.

"Stop her!"

I couldn't really get away, of course. Policemen were everywhere.

I slammed the door and ran into another. With the cell guards chasing me I rushed down to my cell. I was panting hard. It had been a long ways to run. I sighed and slumped against the cell bars. Sweat rolled down my forehead as I clutched the cold metal in a death grip. The prosecutor's smug face as I was pronounced guilty haunted my mind.

Very short brown hair. Green eyes. Lips curled into a sneer. He had leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head. He had been so happy to ruin my life. I hated him. I hated him more than I'd ever hated anyone.

I hardly noticed as they opened my cell door. I didn't know quite how I got inside. It didn't matter anyway. I sat on the bed, wrapped my arms around my knees, and cried.

I didn't know how long it had been when my attorney came down to talk. I slowly turned to face her.

"I am afraid I cannot get you out of this."

I knew that, but hearing it said just made it worse.

"However, there is another option."

I brushed my light brown hair away from my face and stood up.

"What other option? Tell me!"

My attorney smiled.

"I am not of this world. I will send you somewhere else. All I can tell you is that you will be able to help fix a world beginning to break. Others were also sent there."

She's crazy, but what do I have to lose?

"Okay."

"Hold your horses, you're going in!"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wait, she wasn't crazy?

I was being sucked through something. Suddenly I was in a tunnel. I felt dizzy.

Suddenly I was on the floorof a tunnel. On the floor of a tunnel with a headache, on the floor of a tunnel with a headache...

I opened my wings to see why they hurt when...

Wait, wings?

I scrambled to my feet, my paws, pulled up my hands to look at them, and...

Claws?

I looked around for my clothing, as it was not on my body...

Oh catfish, I was naked.

Further inspection found that wasn't quite true. I did have fur and feathers.

I also had what appeared to be a tattoo of a pawn on my flank.

But I don't even like chess!

...

Oh, ha ha, very funny.

I sighed, and with nothing to lose, started walking down the tunnel.