You Can't Fly

Chapter 1

"What if at will people could grow wings?" Kristen, one of my best friends, spoke breaking the uncomfortable silence that surrounded us.

What?" I bit my lip and dug my fingernails into my palms. What was Kristen getting at?

"You heard me." Kristen tilted her head up toward the sky. "If you could grow wings whenever you wanted-" She continued to gaze up at the sapphire sky. "Imagine what you would see, feel. You could find out what the clouds tasted like." She lifted up her arms as if she was attempting to fly herself.

"Water, probably." Alex, Kristen's cousin, chimed in.

"You two are no fun." Kristen reared back and punched me in the shoulder.

"What was that for?" I rubbed my arm. I was always the one that was punched.

"It's okay to daydream every now and again." Her face fell and the excitement drained away. "I suppose now isn't the time for that."

"Are you going to finally tell us why you brought us all the way out into the woods for?" Alex folded his arms.

"You know exactly why. You two have been friends forever and now all of a sudden you won't speak to each other?" Kristen's raven wing hair bounced as she spoke. "I brought you out here to knock some sense into the two of you." She punched me once more.

"Ask him." Alex's face contorted into a scowl as he gestured toward me.

"I don't want to talk about it." How could I explain this to the two of them? There is something that I have been keeping secret from you? That, if you knew, could put you in potential danger? Alex got to close to it and I needed to push him away to keep him safe and by association Kristen.

"You told me that we couldn't be friends anymore! All I asked you was to take your sunglasses off. What's the big deal?" Alex took a step toward me and I leaned up against a tree in response.

"We just can't." I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. Why had I allowed myself to get close to someone? Why? This was bound to happen eventually. Why did I allow myself to get hurt like this?

"How can you say something like that?" Alex's shoulders relaxed and he ran his fingers through his sandy blond hair slicked back as if he were from the 1950s.

"I can't explain." I began to slide away from the tree. This was getting dangerous.

"Sure you can."

"No."

"Guys. Come on." Kristen kept looking back and forth at the two of us. She was losing the battle and she knew it.

"Can't or won't." Alex reached out to grab me, but Kristen stood in his way.

I stared at Alex from over Kristen's shoulder. It killed me to stay silent, but I had to.

"So, after all, that, you are just going to throw away our friendship? Is it because of the swings?"

"It's not that." True. It had nothing to do with the fact that the first time we met he pushed me off the swings. If it hadn't been for that we may never have become friends. All I could think at the time was please don't press. It sucked. If it could have been different, I would have seen to it.

"Amolas, stop being unreasonable." Kristen turned to face me. Her eyes attempted to search my face, but I looked away. I couldn't stand the look in her jade eyes.

"I'm not." Kristen was right. She always was, but this time, I had to fight back. If they dug any deeper, it might be too late. I couldn't stand the idea of their reactions. If I was going to lose either of their friendships, I was going to do it on my terms.