My father came to get me from my middle school after a long day of work. His soft brown eyes greeted me when I walked out the door and I took his hand, not at all ashamed. We headed toward the nearby light rail station. Once there, he and I stood in a comfortable silence until I became aware of a faint whimpering coming from my right. I turned my head, and gazed down the street but saw nothing unusual. After a few seconds I listened and could still hear the whimpering. That was when I looked up and saw the strangest thing. A young boy with dark military style hair, jeans, and a black hoodie. It seemed he was trying to look older, but couldn't have been more than 7 or 8. He was also tangled up in the power lines that ran along the street. His torso was wrapped several times with a metal wire and his ankle the same way so he was dangling upside down precariously. His shoulders shuddered and I realized he was crying, with his head down in his hands but his body facing my direction. All I did was stare until I comprehended what I was seeing, several minutes later.
"Dad, shouldn't we help that boy?" I pointed toward the power lines. He chuckled.
"What do you mean sweetheart?" He replied, seemingly amused.
"The boy tangled in those wires." I pointed again.
"What boy?" He asked, his expressing shifting from amused to concerned. "There's no boy."
I sighed, frustrated that he didn't see what I did, but I was positive there was a boy tangled in the power lines. Why didn't he see him? Letting go of my father's hand, I turned and ran to the boy. He was suspended 20 feet above my head, but I still called out to him.
"Are you okay?" I yelled up at him. His crying subsided for a moment and he lifted his head out of his hands to peek at my with curious eyes, the irises a crisp orange. He studied me for a moment before speaking.
"You can see me?" He asked reluctantly, his eyes widening with disbelief.
"Why wouldn't I see you?" I then glanced toward my left and saw my father studying me, probably wondering why I was talking to a power line. Then I understood, my father couldn't see the boy. I considered asking why, but realized there were more important things to discuss. "Never mind. More importantly, why and how are you stuck in a power line."
"Why and how aren't important right now. Can you help me down?"
"Umm..." I glanced at my father, who was started to make his way over to me. "I don't think I can right now." The boy tilted his head toward my father and said.
"Oh I can fix that." The boy snapped his fingers. My father stiffened, turned, and sat down on the curb, staring at nothing in particular. All the awareness had left his body as if all his humanity had been drained from one snap of this boy's fingers.
"What did you do to him?" I snapped.
"He will be fine. Don't worry. Now could you please help me down?" He whined a little bit and I remembered he was still a little kid.
"First tell me your name. I can't keep calling you 'the boy'."
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"It's against the rules."
"Well is there someone I can call?"
"No. You have to get me down."
I was close to done with this conversation. He couldn't tell me his name or who he was, and I couldn't call anyone to help. What was I supposed to do? Leave him?
"Well I can't just leave you but I can't call for help so what do you want me to do? Get a ladder?"
He nodded. "That one over there will do." He pointed to my left and on the other side of the street lay an old, wooden ladder that I swore wasn't there before.
"Fine."
I ran across the, still deserted street, grabbed the first rung, and began to lug the bulky thing back to the power line. Once there, I managed to stand up the ladder and lean it against a pole that held up the lines.
"There, now can you untangle yourself?" I called.
"If I could don't you think I would've by now?"
"Ugh. Very well then I guess I climb up and help you down."
"Before you do, grab those bolt cutters." And he nodded at the ground by my foot. The air shimmered above the ground, kind of like a heat wave appeared momentarily, and then a pair of large bolt cutters dropped at my feet. I stared in disbelief at what had just happened.
"Well," he said impatiently, "pick them up."
Still in shock, I obeyed and picked up the pair of bolt cutters. They felt solid in my hands, as if they had been there the whole time and didn't just literally appear out of thin air. Careful to balance the bolt cutters in my hand and balance on the ladder, I slowly made my way up until I was level with the boy.
"Well it took you long enough."
I found my voice and snapped back. " Be thankful I even agreed to help you." I then glanced down at the ground. "If I cut the wires, won't you fall?"
"Don't worry about me, cut it."
I reached out and raised the bolt cutters to the wire that held his ankle and clamped down hard. I felt the tension release and the wire fell to the ground, releasing the boy's ankle.
"Good, now the next one."
I shot him a nasty look and moved onto the second wire, the one holding his torso.
"Now you're sure you want me to cut this?" I said, knowing he would fall. He was already dangerously off balance from me cutting the first wire. I looked back and saw his ankle was puffy and swollen.
"Yes I'm sure." Ok here is goes. One, two, three! I squeezed the two blades together and the wire snapped.
Everything went in slow motion as soon as he started falling. My vision blurred, and I saw a flash of white. Before I knew it, he was standing on the ground like nothing had ever happened. I stood at the top of the ladder for a moment, giving my head time to clear and then joined him on the ground.
"How did you get down?"
"Shhhh," he pressed a little finger to his lips and turned. On his back, sprouting from two slits in his hoodie, were a pair of magnificent wings. White as snow and as long as he was tall, the wings took my breath away.
"What, but, how? Why didn't I notice them before?"
He turned back around again and with a sheepish smile replied, "People only see them if I want them to."
My mouth wide open, I couldn't stop staring at this little boy.
"What are you?" I asked, still in awe.
"You'll know soon enough." He stated, his orange irises sparkling. And with that last remark, he launched himself into the air, and soared above the houses behind us. Only then did the reality of what I had encountered hit me. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned reluctantly, afraid of what I might find. A ware wolf? An ogre?
"Sweetheart, are you okay?" My father's carefree smile assured me everything was fine but, he didn't seem to remember the boy or anything that just happened.
"No everything is fine." I said, not wanting to seem like an idiot. He led me back to the light rail station, where our train was just arriving. I wasn't sure what just happened, but I knew one thing for sure, I wasn't done with the winged-people. Whatever they are.
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Thank you SO MUCH for reading this first chapter. I am currently working on another book (The Dictator's Daughter) so updates on this might take a while. I am also not totally sure where I'm going with this one, but I have some ideas, so never fear! I appreciate everyone and if you find any typos or a suggestion, please don't be afraid to comment!
Kisses <3,
Stormy McAnne
