Ch. 1: Part 3

He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Was he really doing this? He balanced on the branch of the tall pine trying to recover his nerve. He stood from his crouch and quickly grasped the branch above him for support. He took another breath. He shut his eyes. This had seemed like a good idea. When he’d been safe. On the ground. He locked his jaw and opened his eyes again, they narrowed with determination. He needed to do this. He was going to do this.
He let go of his safety branch and leapt off the tree. Wind rushed passed him as he fell through the air. His eyes were as wide as golf balls. What had he been thinking? He started to panic and shut his eyes in an attempt to get a hold of himself. Then, in a rush, he quickly unfurled his wings just in time for the air to catch them before he hit the ground. He began flapping instinctively and rose above the green growth into the blue sky. He was in shock. His mouth hung open and his eyes were wide with the enormity of what he’d just done. “Wow” he gasped.
He tried going in a circle. He tilted and the air caught his wings .He spiraled downwards. He straightened back out and couldn’t help but smile in accomplishment. This was so cool! He dove down toward the earth and rose back up again. He could stay up here forever. He soared straight ahead, slicing through the sky as fast as he could go. He slowed and turned around, flying slowly back to the clearing. He dipped under and came up only to dip low again. It was so freeing. Everyone imagines how it might be to take flight. He never could have imagined this.
He floated back to the clearing, riding the wind, when a problem arose in his mind. How to land? His brow furrowed and he bit his lip as he landed, not so gracefully, on a pine branch. He folded his wings and climbed down to flat ground, covered in needles. Somehow it was so dissatisfying now, to be stuck on two legs, a slave to gravity.
He left his shirt off as he planned for the night. It wouldn’t do to sleep on the pine needles of the forest floor. He’d learned that from the previous night. He checked his bag to survey his remaining funds. He still had about 130 dollars. His main expense had been food. Though he had tried to conserve his resources, he’d been eating like a hog.
It’d be nice if he could stay out here in the woods. Leo pulled on his shirt and coat and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He trekked back through the woods and stepped out onto the road. It was a cold cloudy day and it started to sprinkle on his way to town. Maybe there was an outdoors store where he could pick up a tent or something.
The town commerce consisted of a local convenience store, a barber shop, a gas station, a tavern and a pawn shop. He’d try the pawn shop. A little bell greeted him as he stepped through the door. The air was thick with tobacco smoke and incense. Pine wood paneled the walls and a doorway off to the side was hung with beads.
“Hey there, stranger.” said a girl who came out of the back behind the counter. She looked to be about nineteen and had long blonde hair and a cigarette in her hand. She gave him a smile that didn’t comfort him. He shoved his hands into his pockets and licked his lips.
“Um,” he cleared his throat, “you guys have any camping gear?”
“Hey, Dick, we got any camping stuff?” she shouted over her shoulder into the back room. A man of about fifty, who Leo guessed to be Dick, stepped out of the back.
“Yeah I got some gear. You goin’ campin’, son?” He addressed Leo.
“Maybe.” Leo said guardedly. Dick eyed him for a moment.
“Mikey, where we got the campin’ gear?” he yelled toward the beaded doorway. Then he turned back to Leo. “What sort of campin’ gear are ya lookin’ for?”
“A tent, a sleeping bag maybe.”
Dick nodded. He stepped out from behind the counter.
“Mikey! Are you deaf?” He said as he parted the beads and went through. Leo kept his eyes on the floor.
“He’s getting’ it.” The blonde informed him. She leaned forward with her elbows on the counter. The girl shifted her weight to the other hip and put out her cigarette. “So, where you from?” she said as her eyes followed his tall lean figure up to his angular face. He swallowed.
“Midwest.”
“You stayin’ here for long?” She tilted her head to the side and her long hair spilled onto the counter.
“I don’t know.”
“You know, I work nights over at Larry’s. If you wanna stop by, maybe I could get you a couple a drinks.” She said with a grin. He was trying to think of someway to respond to this when Dick came back through the doorway.
“I got a one man tent and a sleepin’ bag I can give you for 80.” When he saw Leo’s hesitation he added, “That’s cheap, son.”
“Yeah, I’ll take it. Thanks.” He just wanted to be out of there.
Leo walked out with the tent over his shoulder and the sleeping bag under his arm. He looked across the street at the bar and read “Larry’s” above the door. He would not be accepting her offer. That was for sure. But at least, she was trying to be friendly.

Ch. 1: Part 2

New England was a good idea, he told himself. Cold, fewer people, trees. He leaned forward in his seat. His wings – his wings, it was still a strange concept – felt cramped if he sat back on them too long. He wished he could stretch them out. It would feel so nice to unfurl them without the restriction of clothing. Maybe he could, after he got someplace safe, take off his coat and his shirt. Just stretch them as far as they could go.
A thought came back to him that had knocked before, but he’d put it aside. Flight. Could he do it? Would it really work? Could these things hold him, carry him through the sky? It seemed impossible, but why else would he have these? There was another thought. Why did he have these? People didn’t just grow wings out of the blue. What had happened to him? He had been thinking of this since he’d recovered the capacity to think, and no answers were making themselves known to him. It was frustrating and kind of scary not being able to go to an authority on the subject. He couldn’t go to the doctor. He couldn’t ask someone – “Hey, do you know anybody who’s, I don’t know, grown wings perhaps?” – or work from personal experience. They don’t teach you these kinds of things in schools. He didn’t know what to do, but to get away from people and try to figure out as much as he could on his own. These kinds of thoughts occupied his brain on the train ride to nowhere.
Leo had done some research on the web and had found the small New England logging town. It was a good place to start he’d thought. A good place to get his bearings, if not make some sort of life. But what kind of life could he salvage? How could he ever tell someone? How could he ever share this with anyone? It was hard to imagine anybody ever accepting anything so weird. Leo sighed and frowned. He felt his humanity slipping away. He was some sort of mutant who could never mix with society.
A dark chuckle escaped his lips. He’d never had much luck with girls. “They’ll be tripping over themselves trying to get a piece of this.” He mumbled sarcastically. He sighed again, feeling sorry for himself, then set his jaw. No, he’d make whatever life he could and try to be happy. He made a promise in his heart that he wouldn’t feel sorry for himself again.
The wheels screeched to a stop on the track, and the train let out a long sigh, as if happy to be done with the chore of chugging over the country side. A cold wind snapped at him as he stepped from the train. Yes, the weather would be much better here, though he still felt he could go without the coat. He took in a deep breath. It was good to be somewhere new. His head felt clearer.
Suddenly, he new exactly where he would start. He waded through the crowd and stepped out onto the road. His legs thanked him for the action. He followed the road for a while. It wasn’t long before it skimmed along the edge of the forest. He headed into the trees without hesitation. As soon as he hit the forest floor, he was sprinting. It was faster than he’d ever run before. He was running to freedom.
He ran for several minutes before coming upon a clearing. He smiled upward as he stepped into the clearing and shrugged off his jacket. He took one quick look around before pulling off his shirt. He exhaled with relief as his wings unfurled. He stretched them as far as they would go. His arms reached up and he stood on the balls of his feet to stretch out his calves. He took a long breath in through his nose and closed his eyes as the scents of mint and pine swirled in his head. A slow grin spread across his face revealing a row of straight white teeth. This was good. It felt good out here. This was a very good idea.

Ch. 1: Part 1

His eyes caught a glimpse of white above his head.
Wings!
“What. The. Fu – ow!” The corner of the counter clipped his wing. He grasped the end of the wing with both hands and with wide eyes stroked the feathers. He pulled the wing further to have a look at more of it.
“Ouch!” His wing wouldn’t have it. Like bending your elbow the wrong way.
He turned his back to the mirror and craned his neck around. There between his shoulder blades, two wings had sprouted their way out of him. He struggled to catch a breath.
He paced the small bathroom, running his fingers through his white blonde hair. His eyes watched his feet, the wall, the shower curtain, searching for answers, refusing to glance at the mirror.
“What do I do? What the hell am I going to do?” he gasped at himself. He dragged his hands down his face, back up and through his hair again. He took a deep breath and burst through the door.
He scrambled through his closet, shoving things into his worn out backpack. He needed to be out of here, he needed to be gone. Who would help him? Not his mother. He didn’t even know where his brother was. He stopped cold in the middle of his room. He had no one. He took a breath and scooped his arm across the top of his dresser, dumping necessities into his bag.
He didn’t need anybody. He’d always gotten along fine on his own. He’d never really had a mother or a family. Not a real family. He knew how to take care of himself. He jumped the three concrete steps to his front door and ran across the yard. No one would miss him. Kids skipped out on their moms all the time. She wouldn’t even call the cops.
He’d worn the biggest coat he could find. A puffy quilted jacket that did it’s job at disguising his… he couldn’t think about it. Not yet. He had to get someplace, someplace where no one would bother him. Then, maybe, he could take this back out and figure out what to do with it.
He pulled up the hood of the hoodie he wore under his puffy coat. It really wasn’t cold enough to be wearing so much, but maybe no one would notice. He was burning up, sweating. His temperature still hadn’t decreased. He began to wonder if it ever would.
The city bus slowed to a stop and the doors squeaked open in front of him. He kept his eyes low as he made his way to the back of the bus. Thankfully, there weren’t that many passengers; a prostitute trying to persuade a customer, a bum clutching a fistful of news paper and staring at the ceiling, and a couple of boys, his age, eyeing the hooker. He didn’t really know where he was getting off, but it was a good place to think. A place where he could plan and still be moving.
He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, but he couldn’t. Why was everybody being so loud? He could hear the hooker negotiating with her catch,
“Alright, honey, 250 and I’ll throw somethin’ extra dirty in.” She said with a smile as she chomped her gum and blew a bubble that popped in his face. Leo heard the boys snicker and nudge each other at this. He heard, with perfect clarity, the nonsense the homeless man was muttering to himself, but no one else seemed to notice. He heard the talk show the bus driver was listening to on his radio headphones and he picked up lines and commercials from every TV they passed. He opened his eyes and turned his head. Could he really hear her conversation? A woman two cars ahead of them was arguing on her cell phone with her boyfriend about commitment. Leo listened further and herd the click of him hang up on her. Leo bent his head and put his hands over his ears. He just needed to think and no one was letting him. He had to get away from here.
He got off at the next stop and checked his watch. 4:45 and still dark. He was so tired. He couldn’t find any permanent place to stay any time soon. That was obvious. But he did need a place to sleep for a while. He walked to the park a couple blocks down. He mopped the sweat from his forehead. He wished he could take off the coat but he couldn’t risk it. Sleep came quickly as he curled himself up in the graffiti spattered playground tube.
Maybe he could think better once he got some sleep. Maybe a new light would come with the dawn. Maybe it would all be a bad dream.

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Prologue

Late at night, on the property of a white-trash home within the outer circles of Indianapolis, three days after his seventeenth birthday, Leo collapsed in his front yard while home alone. He lay there in the grass shaking, sweating, and wishing whatever it was to be over until he slipped from consciousness. His skin flared to a temperature of over 120.
He awoke around 3:30 a.m. and attempted to drag himself into the house. He made it inside the door and crumpled himself onto the floor, slumping against the couch. He shut his eyes and willed himself to pass out again, but his mind could not escape the horrible stabbing pain between his shoulder blades. The pain finally started to subside in slow waves; the opposite of how it had come.
He kept his eyes closed and sat frozen where he sat. He didn’t want to risk the pain coming back. When he lifted his eye lids, he read the microwave clock at 4:06. His skin was still scorching, but the pain had faded to only a lingering soreness. His body was exhausted but he decided to head to the bathroom and take inventory of himself.
When he stirred and stood up, he realized a piercing hunger in the pit of his stomach. He went straight to the kitchen instead and flung the refrigerator door open. He shoved the first thing he saw – a package of hotdogs – into his mouth and scarfed it down, barely missing the wrapper. What was wrong with him? He was still starving but he went to have a look at himself in the bathroom mirror. He looked terrible. The dark circles under his eyes contrasted with the scarlet flush on his cheeks. Wait, what was that? What were those?

Intro

One night I had a dream. In the dream, there were two people talking on a bed. The girl was acting awkward and the boy was being private and secretive. I wondered why, so I listened closer. I found that he was older, a lot older, but he didn't age. I also found that they had been together for a long time and that they were talking about something important. She started to cry and he leaned forward to hug her. Then, I woke up.

So, I thought it was really weird. I couldn't figure where this dream had come from. Usually I can link my dreams back to something in my conscious life. So, I was lying there awake in my bed and I couldn't go back to sleep. When I can't sleep, I think up stories in my head and entertain myself with them until I get sleepy enough to fall asleep. Like watching movies in my head. I think it's really fun. Ok, I know I'm weird.

Anyway, I used my dream as a basis for my head-story.

And that's how Leo was born. This is just the story from my sleep deprived nights. It's nothing fancy, I'm not planning on getting it published or anything like that. I just thought that maybe somebody else would get a kick out of my little fantasies.