Flying on Broken Wings: Chapter 5

“Hey, are you alright.”

I looked over at Aiden, standing in the doorway. I shrugged. “I’m fine.”

He sat down on the ground next to me and put his arm around my shoulder. “You’ve been out here for hours.”

I nodded. “I just needed to be alone for a bit.”

Aiden laid a soft kiss on my head. “Well, come inside, go to sleep, and tomorrow we can take a short hike.”

I nodded and then leaned into Aiden. “In a few minutes?” I pleaded.

After a second, he consented. “Alright. Just a few minutes.”

We stared up at the sky, one of the only parts of my world alight. The stars were stunning in the almost cloudless sky. And then something huge and black streaked across the sky like a bird. But it was bigger than any bird I had seen.

“What was that?” Aiden asked, pulling us both to our feet.

I shook my head. “I have no idea.”

And then suddenly it was spiraling back into the sky, a dark arrow against the night. And then it stopped and wings opened wide. They looked huge and majestic. “It’s a bird!” I breathed in awe.

Aiden nodded beside me. “That must have been the birds Theo was talking about.”

I nodded again but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the bird. It looked almost like a human would from this distance. It was still in the air and now it was flying slowly across the sky. Something dropped from the bird, falling down before it opened its own wings and drifted along below the larger bird. It was still larger than a normal bird but not nearly as large as the first bird.

“That’s amazing,” Aiden whispered. He shifted to stand behind me and pulled my back to his chest. His arms were wrapped around me as we watched the birds fly through the air. After a while, the smaller bird flew up to the large bird and both flew out of our sight.

We stayed watching for any sign of them for several minutes but they made no other appearance. Aiden lowered his chin onto my head. “Come on. Let’s get to bed.”

I twisted in his embrace to face him. “Okay,” I whispered. I went up on tip-toe and kissed his cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” he said, not letting me go.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly and he hugged me tight, as well. “We’ll figure it out,” I told him. “It’ll be okay.”

He pulled back and kissed my forehead. “I should be telling you that.”

I shrugged. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

I pulled away and walked back into the house, him following me. I slipped into my room and he continued down the hall while I flopped down on my bed with a sigh. Maybe Theo and his father wouldn’t stop hunting, but if seeing those birds tonight told me anything, it was that I couldn’t let that stop me.

Sunlight filtered in through the off-white curtains and I turned over to look at the clock on my bedside table. 6:01. I climbed out of bed, throwing the blanket off of me and dangling my feet an inch above the floor.

I poured a cup of coffee a few minutes later. I was dressed and I had brushed my hair to make it look halfway decent. I took my coffee out to the porch where Roger was sitting, nursing his own cup.

“Hey, Little Bird,” he said, making room for me on the seat. “How you doing?”

I smiled and sat down next to him. He had given me the nickname when he noticed my fascination with birds. “Morning. I’m alright. A little tired but fine.”

He squeezed my shoulder and sipped the warm, bitter drink. “Well, if you slept in for once in your life, you might not be tired.”

I nudged him back. “Well, you always complain about being tired but I don’t see you sleeping in.”

“I’m old and so I’m always tired no matter what.”

“You’re not that old.”

“I had to deal with Aiden and Atasha as babies and they took probably thirty years of my life, making me much older than I seem.”

I laughed and we fell into a contented silence, enjoying the still morning before everyone else got up. It was a nice morning ritual we had started shortly after they found me. Roger and I were the only ones who willingly got up at dawn.

After a while, when my coffee was almost finished, Roger broke the silence. “I could go talk to them, Crystal.”

I shrugged. “What’s the point? I’m pretty sure you’ll get the same response we did. Aiden and I will still go hiking. We’ll just have to be careful and face the gunfire.”

“I don’t know if you remember what gunfire does to you, but Aiden and I and the girls hate seeing you like that.”

I shook my head. “And I hate feeling like that, Roger, but I don’t want it to stop me from doing what I love.”

Roger sighed. “Are you sure?” he asked after a minute.

I nodded. “I want to go hiking.”

“Fine. If Aiden says he’s okay with that risk, I won’t stop you.”

I twisted to look at Roger. “He isn’t risking anything.”

“He has to see you like that. And it hurts. It hurts us when we see you like that because we don’t know what we can do to help other than hold you and make you feel safe.”

I bit my lip. “I know. Okay. I’ll talk to him and make sure he’s okay with it.”

“Good,” Roger said. We fell into silence.

A crash came from inside the house, and then a yelp. Roger stood up and stretched. “Sounds like Mama’s making breakfast,” he said as I climbed to my feet.

We heard something else fall and then Mama Jo’s voice followed. “Well, clean up the egg mess, Atasha.”

I nodded. “Yeah, it sounds that way.”