Soar, Part 6 - Statues

"Hey guys!" Skye dropped her bag onto the floor of the dressing room and got a hi from the other girls and a hug from Olivia. "Sorry I'm late."

"You're not," Alex said, pulling her training pants on. Skye checked her watch for the time.

"Oh," she said. "I was sure I was going to be late. I guess I fly faster than I thought."

"Apparently," Roxie said, "And either way, Annalise isn't here yet, so it's not like we were all waiting for you."

"Yeah, good," Skye said, pulling off her shirt and digging another one from her bag.

"So does someone know when Annalise is coming?" Alex asked after a moment.

"Yeah, she said after school she'd have to head home to drop off her school stuff and pick up her training stuff and maybe grab something to eat," Roxie said, "But she said it shouldn't take her too long, and they don't live too far away, so its not like she can spend forever walking there from school and then here."

"So any minute, then?" Alex said and Roxie nodded.

"Ohh, I want to get training already," Olivia said, smiling widely. "I can't wait for the first go-through."

"I know, it's exciting, isn't it?" Skye said, pulling on some pants.

"I think we could go warm up already," Roxie said, pulling her long hair back in a ponytail, off her face. "Annalise will realise we went already when she gets here in two minutes."

"Sure, let's go," Skye said, locking her locker and grabbing her water bottle from the bench.

The girls walked into the big hall, and started moving. They were all doing a little different things. Skye and Roxie flew around carefully, warming their wings after the cold world outside. Olivia was hand-standing and doing push-ups to get her upper body warm, and Alex was skipping around the hall. In fifteen minutes all of them were pleasantly warm but not quite sweaty yet, and Annalise was nowhere to be seen.

"I'll go check the dressing room," Alex said and returned a minute later, waving her arms in confusion.

"It's not like her to be this late," Roxie said, concerned.

"It's not like her to be late at all," Skye pointed out.

"I'm sure she'll be here any minute now. Maybe she just got stuck in traffic," Olivia said.

"She got stuck in traffic walking?" Roxie asked. "I guess it's not impossible, though that wouldn't be my first guess."

"So what is your first guess?" Alex asked. Roxie looked thoughtful for a few seconds before answering.

"Honestly, I don't have one. I just hope nothing bad has happened."

"Ok. How about," Skye began. "Since we can't have a go-through without her anyway, we each train the most difficult parts on our own until she gets here?"

The other girls nodded in agreement and got to work.

"Ok, something bad has happened," Roxie said after another half an hour had passed without a sign of Annalise, and they were having a break to get something to drink and catch they're breath for a minute. "This isn't like her. Half our reserved time has already gone, and the only one of us who's always on time isn't here. I don't like this."

"I know," Alex said. "Something's not right."

"We should go," Olivia said, "We have to find our friend."

"We should stop here and walk to Annalise's place," Alex said, nodding to Olivia, "She must run into her at some point. Or if we don't, maybe someone at their place can tell us where she is."

The others nodded in agreement, and in silence they headed back to the dressing room to change into their normal clothing. Then they were on their way.

"I wonder what's happened," Olivia said as they walked out the door and began their walk to where Annalise lived.

"You shouldn't," Alex said firmly. "Because that's going to make you think about bad things, and she's alright. Of course she is."

No one said anything more after that. They all knew the chances were Annalise was alright, but they couldn't stop the dark thoughts and visions from circling in their heads. They all had the little voice in their head saying what if.

They rounded a street corner half way between the training hall and Annalise's place and came to an unexpected stop.

There was nothing moving on the street. There were a lot of people, seemingly going about their daily business, but absolutely nothing moved. The girls froze too, out of surprise.

"What has happened here?" Alex asked them in a whisper after a moment of silent staring.

"I don't know," Skye answered.

"Nothing is moving," Roxie said.

"This is scary," Olivia whispered.

A noise came from somewhere down the road and they all startled. Olivia jumped almost a meter up in the air and stuck to Skye's arm. A big, white bird took off from behind a corner leading to a short dead-end between the buildings.

"Annalise," Skye breathed and pointed, eyes white. She had just spotted their friend, frozen some fifty meters away from them, on the other side of the road. She was clearly walking in a rush, towards the training halls. Except she wasn't. The others noticed her too. Roxie began moving towards her, almost taking flight, but Alex stopped her.

"You don't know what made them into statues. You might end up the same way if you go out there," she said.

"I won't," Roxie said, "The bird didn't."

She pulled herself away from Alex's grip and half jumped half flew to Annalise. The rest followed by foot as she landed next to her. They all stood around her, in a circle. Skye touched their friend's face carefully. It was soft, but cold. She turned around to look at everyone else frozen into statues, all over the street. Then she turned back to Annalise and the rest of her friends.

"What are we going to do?" she asked.
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Yeah, I still don't like this story.

Your topic for what ever day it is is Trees

~matu