"Wings" by Samantha E Fortie

Ellie yawned, stretching out her arms, almost touching the sloped ceiling above her. She stared annoyed at the blaring alarm clock on the bookshelf beside her bed. It had woken her once again for a boring and long day at school. Reaching over she switched her alarm off and then turned it back on for tomorrow. Bored and still yawing she dressed for school, as any day before. ‘I wonder what boring lecture Mr. Bernard has cooked up for today’s class…’  Ellie thought as she pulled a brush through her long thick brown hair. Tying in back in a sloppy pony, she put her brush on her desk, beside her laptop and a few books that she needed to read, but had been left unopened. Descending the stairs slowly, Ellie silently wished her life wasn’t mediocre. ‘God please make my life more exciting…’  Once downstairs, she kneeled to reach into the cereal cabinet and pulled out a box of Frosted Flakes. After she put it on the table, she walked to fridge and pulled out the ice cold jug of milk and grabbed a bowl out of another cupboard and a spoon from the silverware drawer at her side. With these three items in hand, she made her way back to the table and made herself the breakfast she had every morning, cold cereal

Staring out the window, Ellie zipped up her pale blue parka and wondered if it would rain again, requiring her to bring her umbrella with the smiley faces on it. She shouldered her backpack and opened the door. “Mom, I’m going to school. Have a good day and be safe.”

            “Bye Dear,” her mom mumbled over a ceramic mug of coffee and the morning newspaper.

A cold wind tugged at Ellie’s hair, trying to pull it free from the hair tie that held it in place as she made her way to school. “Another day,” she murmured annoyed. “Jen forgot again….” A huddled form appeared in her path cutting her off. Without another thought, Ellie ran to the form’s side. Upon further inspection it appeared to be a boy about her own age. His eyes were closed, one arm was bent in an impossible angle, and he seemed to be bleeding from a few different areas. “Stay calm, Ellie…what do you do in a situation like this?” She asked trying to keep herself under control. “Hmmm,” the boy muttered.

            Biting back her tongue to not ask any questions, Ellie picked up the boy, she found that the boy was a lot lighter than he looked. ‘Mom should be at work now. I’ll just call in sick. She won’t know and if anything will understand.

Once inside, Ellie laid the injured boy on the floor. “Sorry, but I can’t stain the sofa,” she apologized to the unmoving boy. She dashed into the bathroom and snatched the first aid kit. Back in the living room, Ellie kneeled on the floor beside the boy and opened up the kit. After pulling off his shirt, she began cleaning and bandaging every cut and scrape. Satisfied, Ellie felt it was safe to put him on the sofa. “I hope this is a bit more comfortable.”

Moments later, the boy stirred “Who…are…you?” he croaked.

            “Ellie,”

            “How did I come to be here?”

            “I brought you here after I found you injured.”

            ‘What happened…why can’t I remember my name?’

            “Are you okay? What’s your name?”

            ‘Should I admit that to her?’ The boy thought again. “I do not recall my name.” He said admitting defeat to himself.

            “Do you remember anything?” Ellie asked putting a hand on his shoulder.

            “I’ll be fine once I remember everything.”

            “Well I will give you a temporary name…at least for the moment. Until you remember your real name.”

            “It will have to do.”

            “How about Michael?”

            “That is just fine.” Michael answered, making an effort to stand. ‘Need to check my wings…’ Standing, but weakly, he stretched out his aching wings. Ellie’s clear blue eyes widened and she fell back in surprise “You…you have wings….”

            “Don’t you?” He asked sincerely.

            “No…you are the only person that I have ever met that has wings.”

            Michael sighed, letting out the breath he had been holding in. Staring at the pure white feathers he noticed that his wings had not sustained any damage. ‘At least one part of my body has not been harmed…’

            Click, the sound of a door being unlocked met the ears of the two standing in the living room. “Quick! Hide your wings. I really do not know how my mother is going to take it. Mom is going to kill me for the fact that there is a boy in the house and without a shirt on.” Michael nodded and pulled his wings in. The door heaved open and the slim figure of Ellie’s mom appeared in the doorway. “Hi mom,” Ellie said quickly, trying hard to not sound suspicious.

            “Well, what do we have here?” Ellie’s mom asked as she set eyes on Michael’s bandaged body.

            “Mom this is Michael.”

            “Hello Michael,” she put her hand out to invite a shake. Michael stared at her hand unsure what to do.

            “Michael is a foreign exchange student and they don’t shake hands where he is from,” Ellie said coming to Michael’s defense.

            “Where could he have possibly come from? Why is he here?”

            “Umm… he is going to stay here, but we have a small problem, he got in to a fight and well he needs to get registered at school. Could you help?”

            “I’ll see what I can do, but are you sure he has to stay here?”

            Ellie took one look at Michael’s sweet face “Yes, and I think that we need to take him shopping…”

****

Two weeks later

            “Why can’t I tell anyone about my wings?”

            “I told you Michael, the government might capture you and people won’t treat you the same.”

            “What about you?”

            “I’m different. I love wings. I always wished I could fly. How does it feel to fly?”

            “The thing is I can’t remember.”

            “You can’t remember?”

            “I don’t remember much about what happened…” Michael answered his head down.

            “Who is this cutie? I can’t believe you would be caught dead with this loser,” A girl with long blond hair and deep green eyes said among her posse of popular girls.

            “Who are you?” Michael asked in a way to make her feel like a loser.

            “You don’t know my yet? Well I am Angelica.”

            “My name is Michael.”

            “Well maybe you do have some credit to you after all Ellie. See ya later Michael.” Angelica waved and walked off with the other girls around her giggling.

            “Argh I hate girls like that,” Ellie began shaking her head in a disgusted way “But I suppose you are taken in by her looks. Most of the guys I know drool over her.”

            “Nope not one bit. There is someone though.”

            “Who?”

            “That is for me to know and for you to find out.”

            “What I ought to…” RING RING. The bell rang signaling the beginning of school went off.

            “Time to go to class…”

****

            “Here it is,” Ellie announced, standing at the edge of a cliff looking over the town.

            “It’s a beautiful view,” Michael admitted.

            “Nobody for miles,”

            “Are you sure?”

            “Believe me. I come here to think all the time and occasionally imagine I can fly.”

            “I will try, but if I plunge to my death. I swear I will come back to hunt you.”

            “Fine by me, but I don’t think that you would make a very good ghost…”

            “Here goes,” Michael closed his eyes and opened his wings. They came through the slits that Ellie had cut in to the back of his shirt for him. The feathers shone in the early afternoon sunlight. He made a running start off the side of the cliff. His wings immediately caught the updraft, remembered what they were meant for. Michael soared and laughed. Then the pain hit ‘You are never going to save her!’ a cruel voice snarled. ‘I am going to mess you up so bad you wish you could die!’

            ‘You have to find her! There is no telling what will happen if anyone finds out what she really is!’ another much kinder voice called…

            “What’s my name? Why can’t I remember anything and this all of a sudden,” he thought and hoped that the voice would answer. ‘It matters not what your name is, all that matters is that you love that girl and you want to save her as much as we do and before any thing else. Her wings and everything will be appearing soon. If anyone especially the wrong people find out, disaster and the end of the world could ensue…’

Before Michael could think of anything to ask everything returned to focus. Fixing himself in midair, he turned to check on Ellie. She was no longer standing and watching him, but on the ground and she seemed to be crying out. Flying to her call he landed on the ground in front of her.

“Why am I in such pain?” She cried through her tears of pain.

            “Umm…” Was all Michael could mouth. ‘This happened a lot quicker than that stupid voice implied. What am I going to do? I figure we are going to have to run away after this.’

            With these thoughts in mind golden wings began to appear at Ellie’s back. Michael winced as he at her shirt ripping. At last Michael could tell that Ellie had a wing span of about twenty feet and could hear her tears louder than before. Once at her side, he pulled her into his arms, his own wings draped around them both.

            “STOP RIGHT THERE!”