Fire Flyers: Wings of Passion

Chapter 4: Grief

It was the middle of the school year. The Kestrels were ranked pretty well in the season. It wouldn't be long until they became the best fire flyers in America. Kevin was sitting next to Marcy at lunch one day, and he asked her a question.

Kevin: Marcy, haven't you noticed that our squadron isn't really numbered?

Marcy: ...Elaborate.

Kevin: Star-Stag 1, Warhawk 3, Panther 4, all the other squadrons have numbered positions except us. Why is that?

Marcy: ...Technically we do, but after Kristopher's death, we never spoke our numbers.

Kevin: So who's who?

Marcy: ...On paper, Jeremiah is Kestrel 3. I'm Kestrel 2...

Kevin: Then that would make me Kestrel 1, right?

Marcy gave a disgusted look.

Marcy: ...You will NEVER be MY Kestrel 1.

Marcy took her tray of food and sat elsewhere, far from Kevin. Understandably, this made Kevin upset for the rest of the day. He ran into Mavis after school.

Kevin: Hey Mavis, you got a second?

Mavis: It's about Marcy, isn't it?

Kevin: She told you?

Mavis: Yeah. She's in one of her depressive episodes today.

Kevin: I know she's hurting bad but I didn't know it was that bad.

Mavis: We can discuss this in my office.

Kevin: Your office?

Mavis: Yeah. Ms. Pearson lends me her room so I can help people with their mental health. Come along.

She took Kevin to Ms. Pearson's chemistry classroom.

Mavis: Hello, Ms. Pearson.

Ms. Pearson was typing on her keyboard. A female robotic voice came from the speaker.

Ms. Pearson: Hello, Mavis. Have a new client?

Mavis: Yes. He's the flight lead of the Kestrels. We're here to discuss Marcy.

Ms. Person: Very well. It's nice to meet you...

Kevin: Kevin.

Ms. Pearson: It's nice to meet you, Kevin. Please take a seat. Don't mind me. I'm doing my work and whatever is said here will stay in this room.

Kevin: Thank you, but like Mavis said, we're here to talk about Marcy.

Ms. Pearson: In any case, I'll be here doing my work.

Kevin: I-If you don't mind me asking...

Ms. Pearson: My voice box was permanently destroyed in a car accident. Thus I have to speak through this Text-to-Speech program for the rest of my life.

Kevin: I'm so sorry to hear that.

Ms. Pearson: Oh it's alright. I kinda like having to speak like this.

Kevin: Well, that's good.

Mavis: Kev, we're here to talk about Marcy, remember.

Kevin: Oh, right. My bad.

Mavis: It's fine. Anyway, I promised Marcy to not tell anyone about this, but if it affects our performance in fire flight then I have no choice but to reveal this information, especially to you.