I sing as loud as I can, my voice ringing through the bars, through the door, down the corridor, every word screamed in perfect harmony. The bars are cold, the light glinting on them, the few guards posted around me stuffing their hands in their ears to drown out my river of music. Nobody listens anymore; they've given up on trying to silence me.
Nothing would stop me from the one thing I have left, my voice, which they'll never take away from me.

"Shut up!" One of them roared. Oh, they want me to hush, to sit in my cage like a good girl?

Not going to happen.

I stood, my body sore from one night sleeping on a metal floor.

Stretching slowly, I eyed the two men in uniform. They're familiar, though I've never bothered to ask their names. After all, why would I want to know the names of the people who imprisoned me?

After a good minute of me giving the guards the stink eye, I sat, Indian-style, rocking back and forth to the melodies rushing through my head, all different.

Voices combine with beats and tones; they blend in a song of chaos and beauty.

I open my mouth and a stream of bubbling notes pour out, no words just utter nonsense.

"Oh, what's that lovely voice I hear?" I hear the new voice and crack open my eyes. A sharp face was directly across from me.

"I'm Canary." My proud voice rings about the empty corridor.

"Alright, that's enough. Are you her guardian or not?" The officer asks, impatient as ever. The stranger pauses, studying my face. I stick my tongue out just for spite.

"Yes, I'm here for her." He says at last. The guard is just as surprised as me.

"Oh, uh, well okay then. I'll just need you to show me the legal papers and..." Their voices fade away as I ponder this new face.

Just what is he gaining by 'claiming' me?

"-All signed. We'll bill you the rest of the fees."

"Come on, darlin'." He leads me to his car parked behind the building.

"Who are you?" I ask, following him. A stupid choice, following a stranger, but my options were limited.

"Isla sent me." I stopped abruptly. Yeah, I'm grateful for my rescue, but my mom? Out of all the people he could have been, he's her pathetic replacement.

"Something wrong?" He asked. I pasted a sweet smile on.

"Oh, nothing at all, sir. Just that my mother lied to me and sent some stranger as an apology." I sneered. He chuckled at my remark.

"Well you're definitely more of a problem than she warned. Now do you want a bed for the night or do you want to go back in there?" He jerked his head in the direction of the concrete building. I frowned slightly. Just how much did my mom tell this guy?

"Well, my thanks for the 'rescue' but I don't even know your name." I evaded the question. He took a moment to answer, opening the passenger door for me.

"Jackaby." He said. I snorted.

"You hesitated." He slid into the driver's seat, shaking his head slightly.

"And?" I rested my legs on the dashboard.

"And I think you'd know your own name by now." He shook his head at me.

"Maybe you aren't quite what I expected. But it's time for you to go home, to be specific, my home." He started the car. "And get your feet off the dash." I was slow about it, but I knew I had already tested his patience so I slid my boots back to the floor.

"So how much do you know?" I asked.

"Enough to know that your life was pretty rough. Let's see... you've been arrested two times and threatened by the police on six different occasions?" He said, glancing at me. It was true, my past was rocky, though I didn't like people knowing it.

"Yeah. I did some bad stuff. Whatever." I said nonchalantly, shrugging. He chuckled.

"You're a whole lot more than I'd bargained for."

~<>~
So this was written about a year ago and only recently posted. The story doesn't go much further