The Boy Who Could Fly

Part 2

They let me keep the diary. I guess to write down my future adventures.

I'm free! All the anticipation is gone, and now I just feel ready. A little bit excited, but also somewhat nervous. What will I do? Where will I go?

That will come later, I suppose. Anyway, the nurse had a little incident while she and the doctor were leading me into the treatment room. I guess my 'gift' flared up a little bit, and she slapped me. I didn't mind though. From the bitterness I saw in her eyes, she could've hurt me a lot more.

After the treatment, which was entirely painless, (I really have no idea what they did. I just heard a really loud ringing in my ears afterwards) I was led to the front of the building, which I'd never even seen. We stepped outside, and I breathed in my first fresh breath since God knows when. The nurse gave me a card with an address on it, a train ticket, and two twenty dollar bills. She told me how to get to the train station where I would be riding on the next train to the address on the card. The people weren't my family, but they had agreed to help get me back on my feet for a couple weeks.

I gave her a hug and she went stiff, and then slowly wrapped her arms around me in return.

"Thank you for everything," I said, after we released each other.

"Take care, Edwin. Good luck." She went inside. I turned my back on the building and took another deep breath, filling my lungs as full as they would go.

I didn't look back as I made myself down the almost abandoned sidewalk. Where was everyone?

A couple of smells wavered in the air, seemingly around me, waiting for me to take my best guess at what they were. Of course, I had no idea, and ignored them, until they grew stronger and eventually I broke down one of my twenties for a salt pretzel and a milkshake.

It's strange. I know how to read, though I don't remember being taught, I know how to write, (though that should go without saying), and I know what a milkshake is. I know math, and how to make sure the vendor guy isn't cheating me out of a dollar. And I know that normal people only eat their salt pretzels with mustard and not ketchup. (However, ketchup seemed like a good idea, and I didn't regret it.)

After my snack, I hurried down to the train station with a few minutes to spare. The place was somewhat crowded, and I could instantly appreciate the strong smells of smoke, gravel, and something else that I couldn't identify. It smelled home-y and I associated it to the souvenir shop.

I got on my train. It was quite the experience. I'm sure that any other person would've found that sitting in the middle seat between two other people unfortunate, but I gladly made the best of it, and spent most of the time conversing with the older man on my left. He was naturally a talker, and happily answered my questions about the world that I was a stranger to.. He wasn't even bothered by my lack of seemingly common knowledge.

I had just asked him a question about how a President was elected when I saw her. She was coming down the center aisle. She didn't even glance at me, but I couldn't look away from her.

Even now I cannot use words to capture her... perfection. She wasn't a looker. Not straight out sexy if you know what I mean. But I could tell that beauty was there. It was subtle, and somehow that makes it even more perfect. I wanted to know her. I wanted to talk to her, and learn more.

Why did she bite her thumbnails and not her other finger nails? Why did she wear blush when her eyes were already her most noticeable feature? Why was she on the train in the first place? Would she be visiting friends or family? Or was she doing that in the last place she'd been and was now headed home?

Would I meet up with her by chance? Would she be weirded out by me since I didn't know anything about this sort of stuff? Chemistry, as they called it?