Icarus and The Magpie (Short Story)

(3) Ophelia

Storms had always been.

They existed long before the light touched down over the quiet waters, and they rumbled through the valleys never seen by man. Storms simply were. They were as complicated and righteous. or as godless as one would like. But still, they were. Iris, always loved them. Even if she couldn't quite place the feelings they gave her. It was something between a gasping joy made of plants with deep veins stretching to take it all in; and a darkness. A deepness. A cavernous void that felt no warmth; knowing only what the earth was made from. Breeding in the depths of itself an unnamable listlessness. She felt it still and she wondered if after death, exactly what a storm was, would be laid out to her. Why they had to come, and what they would scream from every shattering sky above her, and thousands of lightyears away. Storms weren't bound to this planet, and neither was The Magpie. She wondered what storm would sweep him away and when it would come. She wondered if she would be strong enough to hold on.

Iris waited, for the first time, in so long, at a bus stop not by herself. But with someone. And that someone was meant for keeping. Her mother had joined her many times before, but since her passing. Iris, was alone.

"What are we waiting for?" Magpie leaned out of the covered stop, looking up and down the quiet road. Still, he had no shoes. He didn't seem to mind, all things considered.

Iris could tell he didn't care. Not much seemed to bother him, so long as he was visible. "The bus, then, we leave town."

"Ah." He said it as if the obvious had escaped him. "Have you ever flown?"

"Flown?" She tightened the strap on her satchel and with questing fingers, worked away at freeing a bramble from her shorts. "I haven't."

"Then you must."

Just then Iris wondered what version of flying he meant. She never drew a plane, so birds, must have been what he meant. That's impossible. The bus rattled down the street and came to a screeching halt ahead of her. She grabbed Magpies arm and with him behind her stepped inside. A gust of air from the drivers dashboard fan blasted the hair from her face in a flourish. She tamed it down quickly.

"Same place?" The man mumbled, before looking to her tag along. "You?"

"We're together." He spoke with a smile. "Thank you for taking us."

The bus man scoffed and closed the door as they found their seats. Compared to the weightlessness of Magpie, the man was a stone and he spoke the sturdy language well. Together? Together?!? A smile was so firmly planted on her face that her cheeks could barely handle the weight of it. She lowered into the farthest back seat. Magpie, did the same, and nestled himself quite closely on the old vinyl stitched seat.

"You can let go if you'd like."

Iris hadn't noticed just how tightly her grip held him. "Oh- sorry." She pulled away and he adjusted the sleeve on his shirt. She watched his edges flirt with the light. Catching it in the way the feathers of a bird did. Or the inside makings of a shell... A mallard, with green and blue wingtips all mingling together, a bubble with a pearlescent rim. Together... Magpie, sat closest to the window, he had weaseled past her to better watch the cityscape bleed into fields that became woodlines the further they went.

"Wow-" He spoke pressing his face to the window.

"If you like it, try this." She stood reaching over him and undoing the windows fasteners, it clunked down and he stood. They were both cramped side by side, him kneeling on the bench seat, and her, above him. "Now-" She took his hand "-put out your hand." Iris let go and he did. At first, it seemed that the resistance was too much and he jumped with the feeling. "Spread your fingers..." He did.