Birds of a Feather

TRUTH

How can a person be content when their happiness lies in someone else's hands?

Jamie is utterly distraught by what she's seeing.
What do I do? What do I say? What can I say?

Her mind racing.
What can she do?

Jamie begins to tear up at her feelings of helplessness for her friend.
She wraps her arms around his lower back, pulling him close and careful not to squeeze to tight, and tried to hug him as best as she could.

"W- What do we do now?" Jamie sniffled and stuttered, trying her best to bring herself back.

Frankie put his hands on her shoulders and held her up straight.
Jamie's arms fell to her side and Frankie began, "I'm going to try my best to explain everything."
"Are you sure? Please. We can go get help. Call somebo-"
"No." He interrupted. "No calls. please. other people involved will only make things worse Jamie."

"What do you m-"

He interrupted her again. "Just listen. please."
This isn't like him. This is real.
Jamie thought, still shocked by what she's witnessed.

Frankie looked back out the open window again.
"Let me start by introducing myself. My real self.
My name isn't Frankie. It's Enshrin. Before i was born, Jamie, my real father left my mother in shame. i've seen him only twice since then; but i'll tell you about that when we have more time.
I'm not a normal human Jamie. I know this going to be hard to swallow. I'm what you would assume is impossible. I was born of a human mother and an Avian father.
Avians are mostly human, but they're mixed with qualities of a bird; such as wings, talons and feathers.
History says Avians are in few tribes isolated and evolved into these qualities hundreds of thousands of years ago. I believe it's much more than that. i believe they're not even born of this world. but nonetheless: It was forbidden love and now they've created a problem for humans and Avian alike.
In short: I'm being hunted. And not by one. By many. Your government wants to keep me in a cage and study me. The Avians want to destroy me for disgracing their bloodline. Some of your humans want to skewer me and sell me to the highest bidder. Others want to protect me, but in the end, I know all they want is money. Humans want money and experiments, Avians want purity and secrecy. So it should mean a lot to you that i'm trusting you with any of this information."

Jamie took a step back after hearing all this.
Like a flying person? I don't see any wings on him, feathers or claws? How have we never seen any of these so called "Avians" before? Am I going crazy?
She pinched herself and closed her eyes in disbelief. Only to find herself back in school.
"So, this is real..?" she mumbled.
"Yes Jamie." his reply was gentle.
"Okay so I have a billion questions.
In 4 years why have I never seen or heard or noticed anything happen to you? We've known each other forever and now you're being hunted? How come you don't have feathers, wings, or talons? Or why don't you just run away? why stay here? Why am i important? how can i help you i'm just, well i'm just Jamie. i don't have super powers or anything."

"that's where you're wrong." he said. "i'll start from the very first time we met. You were 6 years old."

What?? she thought. I thought We met in 8th grade??

"You see, bird brains aren't such a bad thing. I can remember facial structures of any individual and recall that decades later, like you. My wings were stripped from me at an incredibly young age. They can be reattached, they'd just have to be the right size for me. My night vision is also near perfect, so traveling at night isn't a problem.
Your mom used to work with mine and they became friends very quickly. And as parents do, we spent our first moments together in living room of your house playing with cars and dolls and houses like any normal kids would. Except i wasn't normal, and neither are you. you were a genius for your age. your creativity and imagination were unreal. You are like me in a way but i hadn't known it yet, and I'm sure you can't remember now because someone in your life is suppressing your abilities.
i didn't know that until i saw you 7 years later and instantly knew who you were. i remembered us playing together while our moms gossiped about work. it was strange for me but that's when i started to piece together my true identity and yours. but yours has proved to be much much more difficult
Mom never found someone like my real dad Jamie, however she did have many boyfriends. each new one slightly more of an asshole than the rest. I always tried to keep my distance and for the most part, it worked. some few would try to single me out and control me but it never lasted long because my mom loved me too much to let someone come in our lives and try to mess it up. But none of them ever found out what i really am.
So. to answer your question, 'why are you important' is that you're different too, Jamie. I don't know how, who or what. but i feel that you are. i haven't been able to decipher it quite yet but one of your parents is not who they present to be, and i mean that in the best way possible. and i need your help to get away from them. it's almost been two years of running and i'm tried of it."

Jamie began to feel lightheaded while he was talking.
This isn't possible. this is real.
She kept thinking this to herself. she tried to lean on a desk nearby but her hand only caught the corner of it and slipped and Jamie fell to the floor.

Her vision went black.