The Perceptions Of An Observer: A Short Story Collection

I. The Hawk

They said he was too loud. Too bold. Too much to handle.

And sure, he was most definitely intense. He always came off quite strong and hard to encounter for those on the outside. He was made of a bold, harsh exterior, but he was also multilayered to a considerable extent.

It may not have been something he showed to everyone, but he had a huge heart under an armor of steel.

He knew who his people were, and he knew how to reach them. He knew his people had their broken pieces and turmoil deep down in places they never let see the light.

And he knew how to love every broken piece of those close to him, and that he wanted them to know that they would always be loved by him, unconditionally.

Take The Flame, as a particularly notable example. A bitter boy with a temper that could scorch the sun, a bitter boy with a blazing temper to melt a broken glass heart and make it appear whole. A bitter boy who The Hawk saw right through and wanted nothing more than to help fix his broken, melted glass heart.

And The Hawk loved every broken, melted, bitter, burning piece of him. He acted as the guardian angel on The Flame's shoulder, a source of comfort for when he was burning with the heat of a temper stoked by those around him, or for when he was being stabbed with the pieces of his own heart, bleeding from internal wounds he didn't know how to fix.

The Hawk was there through every struggle, always supportive, always there to make sure The Flame knew that through every struggle he would always have someone there for him and someone who loves him.

The Outcast, too, was a broken boy The Hawk felt a protectiveness towards. A boy that didn't belong in the world he was in and just wanted to feel a love like the love he had to give in his heart.

The Hawk truly did love him. Even when The Outcast never wanted to admit it, even when The Hawk was acting as not much more than a thorn in his side, the understanding that they'd always be there for each other and would always love each other was there.

And by God he loved the Outcast more than he had ever loved anyone else. That boy was his everything and he would never, sworn on his life, let anything or anyone hurt him.

The Hawk was there through every struggle, always supportive, always there to make sure The Outcast knew that through every struggle he would always have someone there for him and someone who loves him.

And then there was The Stormy Sky, his kin in soul and his brother in spirit. The one he knew better than anyone in the world.

The one who trusted him with his story of broken trust.

The Stormy Sky never told anyone the story of his usage and abuse, how he became the storm he was known as in recent times. He didn't trust anyone with his story, never wanting to be touched again, never wanting to draw anyone closer than needed and not wanting to be hurt the way he was for the rest of eternity.

The only exception to his rule was The Hawk, the one person he knew could protect his secrecy and protect his heart from the damage done. The Stormy Sky was broken, and The Hawk loved him through the cracks in his composure, loved his kin, his brother, through the damage done to him.

And he always would, no matter how broken The Stormy Sky was.

The Hawk was there through every struggle, always supportive, always there to make sure The Stormy Sky knew that through every struggle he would always have someone there for him and someone who loves him.

But loving as strongly and as vividly as The Hawk did came with a price.

He always tried to be a beacon for everyone else, but no one said a thing when he flew away. The one who loved with his whole heart never got the love he gave back.

Everyone instead chose to regard him as too much to handle.

And even when he didn't show it, this cold dismissal rooted itself in his heart and broke him the way everyone else was broken.

Unneeded and unwanted, he withdrew within himself, quieted down and became part of the background while his heart slowly killed him. There was even a point where the fear of him hurting himself became prevalent, bleeding out through self inflicted wounds, just wanting to release the feelings he felt too strongly.

He was slowly, silently dying of a broken heart of the type he always tried to fix.

And maybe he would've let it kill him, if it weren't for the excessive damage being done to those closest to him, the way they kept breaking and bending beyond their control and being pushed closer and closer to the edge.

Even if they didn't act like it, they needed him.

And so The Hawk came back to life, came back to himself, came back to the broken pieces of everyone he loved dearly.

Being The Hawk was a thankless task, one that often went overlooked, but it was something that needed to be done. Someone needed to love the broken when they couldn't love themselves, and help them put themselves back together.

Even if doing so broke him.