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.