I yawned and stretched, glaring at the computer in front of me. I had tried looking up "Anila" on Google, but apparently that's a woman's name, and I'm not into porn. I played with the flower that guy, Rhondon, tossed to me, and wondered what in the world I had encountered that morning. 'What was that guy in the car doing drive on the sidewalk, and why was he screaming? How can someone have wings?' I sure as hell didn't believe in angels, besides the fact that angels don't usually own ankle long black trench coats. As far as I know.
I sighed and opened up my binder. "Damn English homework," I muttered under my breath, "This has got to be one of the most pointless assignments ever." The assignment was to go to find out what your name meant, then write a two-page report on it, along with your middle name, if you had one. I already knew what my name meant. Inakayla was actually two names, Ina and Kayla. Ina meant 'pure' and Kayla meant 'wise child'. So, out of boredom, I was looking up random meanings for names. I typed in 'wind', God knows why. Skimming down the page (most of the names were either boring or something I couldn't pronounce), I stopped at one. Anila. Children of the Wind. It was Hindi.
'Oh-kaaayy. Why in the world was he calling me Anila. He kinda made it sound like a title or something,' I thought, confused. Just then the bell rang. Cursing, I logged off the computer and headed to the gym for PE.
I wasn't actually taking PE, I had no class that period so I was the teachers assistant. Fun. I went into the bathroom and washed my face off. A girl with short black hair and clear blue eyes stared back at me through the mirror. She- I, looked miserable. Then again, I never look too happy. People generally think everything's honky-dory then. When is it ever?
I mainly ignored all the kids and the teacher that period. 'Thank God this is the last class of the day. I don't know how much more of this I can take,' I thought, rolling my eyes at the boys playing basketball, who were missing and hitting a couple of sophomore girls sitting behind the hoop. Why do they sit behind the damn hoop if they don't expect to get hit?
Things continued to be blissfully normal for the next few days, and the weekend came, like it usually did. Sick of my dull, empty apartment, I left my house for a walk at about three a.m.
The wind felt cold on my bare arms, I get cold rather easily, and it didn't help that I was wearing a spaghetti strap shirt. Things seemed pretty quiet, I was the only one that was insane enough to be awake and walking around at that hour. I walked to a small park I liked to play at when I was younger, and for old time's sake I sat on the swing. A voice rose out of the darkness. "Aren't you a bit old for that, Anila?"
A man stepped out of the shadows, a hood casting shadows over his face. "Hello. A lady should not wander out alone at night. You never know who you might meet." His voice sounded mocking. I stood up. He gave me an uneasy feeling in my stomach and he advanced towards me. I felt something release in my head, and my hand stretched out in front of me. Winds started picking up everywhere, and I screamed.
The world had suddenly gone from blissfully quiet to agonizingly loud in two seconds flat. My mind didn't feel my own; someone else took over, shouting at me to get down and not make such a target of myself. Another voice screamed at me to keep it up, whatever I was doing, if I was even doing it. My head seemed full of different Me's, all with different thoughts and decisions. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't act.
I felt cool hands fall on my shoulder. The winds died down, and my mind seemed whole again. "Can't you stop getting in trouble for a minute?" a voice behind me said. The owner of the voice, and the hands, was Rhondon.
"I'll try." I exclaimed sarcastically. I looked around for a moment before realizing that the hooded man was gone. "Hey, where did that creepy guy go?"
Rhondon whirled me around. "What 'creepy guy'?" he said, his storm cloud colored eyes furious.
I shook his hands off me. "Don't touch me. It was just some hooded creepy guy. he called me 'Anila' like you did."
Rhondon cursed. "Bade has broken his way into this plane. Shit. Lovely. Just what we all need. Listen to me, Inakayla-"
"Kay," I interrupted, "No one calls me Inakayla, except for my old granny, when she remembers I exist," I mumbled.
He sighed, exasperated. "Fine. Whatever. Kay, then," his eyes looked dangerous, "If you see Bade again, don't pull a stunt like that again, with using Wind. It doesn't do anything to Him anyway. And I might not be around to save you."
I crossed my arms. For some reason this guy really got under my skin. "Why do you care, anyway?" I said defensively. So many people had walked out of my life that I stopped letting them in. It was lonely, yeah, but hell, It was life.
"I don't care, to be honest. But because of a promise, I am your Kamali." His eyes dared me to ask what it was.
"And what the fucking hell is that suppose to mean!? I mean, you came here, saved my life, and spout off riddles about some bullshit that I don't understand and you know I won't!"
I was pretty frustrated by this point.
"If you really want to know what a Kamali is, ask the Panther. You should run into him, or at least his charge, Namir, soon enough." He looked amused by this point. "You really should learn to control that temper of yours." And again, he left, leaving me alone.
But that's how we come into the world, and that's how I was determined to come out of it. No one cared, really. Least of all me, right?