Day 3 - restless A note about Sin’s pronouns: Sin refers to themself with male pronouns, as does Jay. Scott and Anya use gender neutral pronouns. Chris, Gordon, and pretty much everyone else uses female pronouns. Sin actually prefers male pronouns, but feels bad correcting people. --- Doctor Arian was the creator of the Paragon Counter, the machine that could heal and resurrect. He was a Healer, a gifted individual with the powers to help others, and when Arian built the machine he used magic, letting some of his powers flow into it. His granddaughter, Anya, was the only other Healer left, and Arian hoped that she would continue with his work and on pass on the line when he eventually died. Anya didn’t care about any of this. She never wanted to be a Healer, but it was in her blood so she had no choice. Or at least, that’s what her grandfather told her. He never asked Anya what she thought about it all, whether she thought she had a different purpose in #life. But she did. Anya wanted to leave the island, go to the mainland, and have a normal #life. She wanted a normal job where she didn’t have to use her powers (although she might use them occasionally, if it made things easier). She had always dreamt of being a professional swimmer, and maybe helping out at an animal shelter in her spare time. One day, when she was in a particularly bad mood, Anya told her grandfather all of this. Arian just laughed, and told her that jobs like that didn’t exist. He reminded her yet again that the mainland was a dangerous place, and he was just ensuring Anya’s safety by keeping her on the island. “People don’t trust magic users,” he warned her. “Remember what happened to your parents? They were burnt at the stake for using magic, regardless of the fact that they were only helping people.” “But that was centuries ago! Times have changed, Grandfather, and people have changed. You know as well as I do that magic is much more acceptable now. Just look at Jay! He built a career out of it!” Anya tried pleading with him, but Arian simply shook his head and ignored her protests. It’s not that she didn’t want to help people. Anya had been brought up being told that she was born to help people, and that’s pretty much the only thing she knew how to do. But like any teenager, she got bored. She was bored of being told what to do, bored of using her powers for the same thing over and over again, bored of the tiny island she’d lived on her whole #life. And she was lonely. The only person her own age she’d ever met was Sin, and ze never stayed for long. In fact, the only people Anya had met at all were patients, Sin, and Jay, who was technically a patient because he only turned up when he was injured or dying. Anya finally decided that enough was enough. It was her 16th birthday, and she was determined that she was old enough to leave the island. Jay and Sin were stopping by to say hello, and Anya had a plan. “Happy birthday, kiddo,” Jay grinned, ruffling her hair. Anya glared at the older boy and swatted him away, before turning to Sin with a smile. Sin returned it, and pulled Anya into a hug. “Happy birthday,” ze said, then stepped back and handed her a small rectangular box wrapped in silver paper. Anya eagerly began opening it, but Sin stopped her, saying “Open it when Arian’s not around, he’d kill me if he found out what it is.” Anya felt her heart flutter with excitement, and said in a whisper, “Is it something from…the outside world?” Sin laughed. “Sometimes I forget you’ve never left this island, then you say things like that and remind me. Yes, it’s a piece of modern technology from the mainland. It’s mobile phone -” At Anya’s blank look, ze hastily added “- a communication device, but I’ll explain what it is and how to use it later.” Anya thanked zir, slipping the box into the drawstring bag she carried everywhere. Noticing that Jay and wandered off to talk to Arian, she decided to put the plan into action. “Soooo…you and Jay are going back to the mainland later, right?” Anya asked as casually as possible. Sin blinked at her, thinking that Anya was clearly up to something because that was the least casual question they had ever heard. “Well, yeah. We live there.” Anya nodded, pretending to be lost in thought. “Right, right. Hey, here’s an idea. Why don’t you take me with you?” Sin sighed. “Look An, I know you really want to leave, but your granddad has a point. You’ve never left the island before, and you probably wouldn’t survive in the real world. You wouldn’t be able to handle it.” Anya glared at her friend. “I thought you’d be on my side, but you’re just as bad as him!” She huffed and folded her arms like a toddler, and Sin almost expected her to stamp her foot and pout. He coughed, trying to hide his smile. Jay and Arian started heading over, so Sin nodded at them, mentioning to Anya, “Why don’t you ask your granddad? I know you haven’t bugged him about it for a while. Maybe he’ll think you’re old enough now you’re sixteen.” “I doubt it,” she muttered, but Sin pretended not to hear her. Arian had a smile on his face as he approached. “Anya, my dear,” he began. “Jay and I have been discussing your birthday present. It’s a joint effort from the both of us, although it was mostly his idea. I know you’ve always wanted to leave this island and see the world, and I think you’re finally old enough. You can go and stay with Jay and Sin for a week on the mainland. Just a week, to see if you’re sure about leaving. I trust Jay to keep an eye on you, and I trust you to stay safe.” Anya stared at her grandfather in shock. “Thank you,” she managed to choke out, stepping forward to hug him tightly. “Thank you so much.” She pulled away to look at Jay. “Thanks to you as well.” “Ah, it’s nothing,” Jay grinned, looking slightly embarrassed. Anya hugged him anyway, before turning to Sin. “Did you know anything about this?” she asked, although she could see that Sin was as surprised as she was. Sin shook zir head. “I had no idea. They clearly don’t trust me enough to tell me,” ze shot a mock glare at Jay, who smirked. “But it’ll be great to have you around. I can’t wait to give you a tour of The House.” Anya couldn’t believe that this was it. She was actually going to leave the island. It felt like this was the first step to achieving her dreams, however cheesy it sounded. So she hugged her grandfather again, and whispered into his chest, “This is the best birthday ever.”

Day 2 - accusation Jay had spent the day catching up with Ryan, and old friend he hadn’t seen for a couple of years. They’d easily lost track of time, and Jay arrived home tired but cheerful. However, his good mood soon died when he found Chris waiting for him with a scowl on his face. “Where have you been?” Jay blinked in surprise at Chris’ tone. “I met up with Ryan. You know that, I told you this morning.” Chris snorted. “Oh yeah, I forgot. One of your ‘friends’ from the good ol’ days when you were a groupie – sorry, I meant roadie.” “Seriously dude, what’s up with you?” Jay was taken back by his fiancé’s attitude. Chris had always been the jealous type, but this time there was no reason to be. “I can’t help being worried that this week you’ve been meeting up with half of the many band members you’ve slept with.” Chris seemed genuinely upset, and Jay stared at him in shock. “That’s what this is about? You do know that that was a long time ago, right?” “It was last year!” “Year before last actually,” Jay couldn’t help adding. Chris glared at him. “Whatever. The fact is, I don’t feel comfortable with you hanging out with those guys. Not on your own, anyway.” Jay sighed and stepped forward, gently wrapping his arms around the other man. Chris froze, before accepting defeat and resting his head on his lover’s shoulder. Jay kissed the top of his head and pulled away, looking into his eyes. “Love, I’d never cheat on you. Just trust me. I know my eyes may wander, but I don’t want anyone else. I love you.” Chris smiled. “I love you too. And I’m sorry. I do trust you, really, I just…I can’t help getting jealous sometimes. To be fair, you have actually slept with a ridiculous number of band members.” “Yeah, and they were all one-time things,” Jay shrugged. “We’re getting married, Chris. Surely that says a lot?”

Day 1 - beginning I was 4 years old when I met Jay for the first time. He came to me in a dream, disguised as a character from my favourite tv show. My favourite character in fact, which was probably why I instantly took a liking to him. But I knew it was a dream, and I told him this, thinking he was just a figment if my imagination. He simply smiled at me, and that was that. Several days later, I spotted a boy my age sitting by a tree in the playground at school. I’d never seen him before, and no one seemed to be paying him any attention, so I decided to befriend him. It wasn’t until I sat down next to him that I realised he was the same person from my dream. I don’t know how I knew, as he looked different yet somehow similar. Blonde haired, blue eyed, and with gentle features, I thought he looked like an angel. I told him this and he smiled, the same mysterious smile he had in my dream. This led me to believe that he really was a figment of my imagination, perhaps an imaginary friend to keep me company. For some reason, I asked him if he lived in the tree we were sitting by, and he told me he did. I said that only magical creatures lived in trees, as I was going through an obsession with all things magical at the time. He replied that he was a magical creature, a guardian angel to be exact. He told me his name, and I sceptically said that it didn’t sound very angelic, to which he replied “That’s because I like to be different.” It wasn’t until many years later that I discovered he had Fallen after disobeying his superiors. Since then he had tried to distance himself from his kind as much as possible, instead choosing to follow the path of the humans, and attempting to commit every sin along the way. Now, I feel that I should establish that I was always very imaginative, and was more aware of the world than most children my age. Although I had often created imaginary scenarios and characters to entertain myself, I knew that this strange young boy was real. My name is Sinkia Parfeit, and this is the story of how Jay Tracy saved my #life.

Writing Challenge I'm currently attempting a 30 day writing challenge, where I have to write a drabble using a word prompt every day. I'm up to Day 4, so I'll post my previous ones here and the others when I write them.

A Prayer To One Who Loves Keep me safe as I sleep Hold me as I gently weep Shelter me from raging storms Hide me until sunlight dawns Stay with me when nights are long Retrieve my mind when it is gone Soothe all of my aches and pains And guard me as I sleep again.