The girls, Glaw, and Simon halted their actions and sprinted towards the smell of food eagerly. Well, Glaw merely speed walked, but they were all excited for dinner. We passed out tacos, everyone taking a seat somewhere to eat.
Asaph and I presented our sleeping quarters to Joseph, provided him with blankets, and set up a spare cot. After asking if it was all right that he introduce himself to the others alone, and receiving a positive response, Asaph headed outside, making a small comment about checking our hunting traps while out for a walk. I told them that I would catch some early shut eye. Not one person cared to waste their time asking us about the child, this kind of thing had happened before. It was the same way Glaw came along, and we all knew Joseph would be useful for something too if he wanted to stay.
I headed up to my "room" up on the second floor. It was my favorite place throughout this gigantic building. It used to be an office off of the actual factory itself, but something happened to the roof that caused a whole corner to be missing. There were some areas along the edge that remain, however, creating a balcony feel and providing some shelter for my belongings in the chance of rain. Sort of risky, but worth the view, and the relieving feel of the wind.
I used an old file cabinet leaning against the wall as leverage, reaching over the top of the roof and pulling myself over, swiftly. I had become adjusted to the series of moves after awhile, combining them all together into one big one. I walked along the roof edge until I reached the spot where Asaph sat, staring into the cloudless night, legs dangling over the edge of the nearly flat rooftop. I quietly took a seat next to him.
He didn't even glance at me when I leaned back to lay on the roof so I could star gaze. Forgetting of today's incident, I wasn't prepared for the sharp pain that came with it. I felt a few face muscles twitch, not fully able to completely hide the pain at first, even after jolting back up into a sitting position, but then quickly adjusting to it.
Asaph let out a sigh, finally looking at me. "Jeez, Ciro," he lifted my shirt slightly, enabling him to view my back, "When are you going to learn that kindness isn't always the best way to go in this world?" It sounded as if he was asking himself more than me. He frowned after examining my back. I wasn't sure if it was from today's bruises or past scars. Either way, he gently pulled my shirt back down, looking away again, almost as if he couldn't bear to look at or think of them any longer.
"Why'd you call me up here?" I questioned.
His eyes turned to me, he stayed silent for a moment before opening his mouth to explain, "You did it again."
I waited a few seconds to see if he'd further explain before asking, "Did what?" He knew I needed specifics when it came to stuff like this, it sounded like he was speaking his thoughts however, just only the ones in words. He wasn't explaining the vision of memory he saw in his thoughts that moment, only the comments he had made on it.
"You blanked again," he stated, turning to fully look at me, "You seemed pretty much detached from your surroundings. Your eyes lacked any emotion and your moves were so zombie like. What was going on through your head?"
I felt this was the chance to spill all my thoughts about satisfaction in life, it would've been my only chance to do so with someone I trusted. So I basically repeated my thoughts from earlier and continued them.
"So after that thought kept resurfacing, I began unconsciously brainstorming things that could give someone satisfaction in life and I sort of stuck with a few of them. I've always found pleasure in aiding those in need, or just others in general. I'm not sure why, but their satisfaction brings satisfaction to me, which is where my earlier statement came in. Also, I've found much satisfaction in all my freedoms in life, which are plentiful considering the situation. Even so, I'm not quite sure I'm satisfied with things as is. I know all of us here find satisfaction in thrill, danger, living on edge. I think I do too, it's just, I think I learn more towards the danger of the wilderness, our rather, the wilderness itself. We don't need to keep setting traps up out in the woods, I just keep doing it because it's something I love. Not the killing part though, my traps are very avoidable. I make them that way on purpose. Only the ignorant could fall into them, even then there's not a likely chance of game. Setting and checking the traps also provides an excuse to go scourge the woods. As I've said, I love it there. I also find fascination in the stars. Their seemingly random scattered formation is amusing, considering everything had some sort of pattern to it, no matter how you look at it. Even the one thing that mathematically has no pattern or repetition to it has a code, therefore it has pattern. It's like the pattern of no repetition. The thought alone of patterns brings satisfaction to me. So I ask- when will one have true satisfaction in life? In other words, when will we soar? When will we truly be free? When will we fly?" Asaph seemed baffled by my explanation. I smiled.
"I don't think that I'll ever get used to the way you think."
I titled my head.
"Not that I don't like it." he said quickly. "When will we fly, huh?" he stared at the sky.
After a while he spoke. "First, we need to grow wings." We looked at each other with grins on our faces.
