Weather Control

Chapter 21

"So," I said, breaking the long silence that had settled over us now that we had left the city, "do you know how to swim?"

He looked taken aback at the question. "Well, I haven't tried since I lost my leg last year, so I suppose I don't know. And," he added, knocking on his wooden leg, "it shouldn't get wet if I can help it."

"Oh," is all I said. I'd have to change my plan, then. 

"Why do you ask?" Sunshine questioned.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure how we're getting back to earth."

"Well we can't just jump off the clouds and hope to fall into a river. We would hit the water too hard."

"I wasn't planning on it," I told him. 

He limped along behind me for quite some time before I stopped. 

"Here we are," I said.

"And where is here?"

I rolled my eyes. "Exactly where we need to be."

He looked around trying to find what I saw. it was empty clouds in every direction except for the city so far off in the distance it could have been just a trick of the light.

"Take off you leg and give me anything that can't get wet. We're going to find out if you can swim today."

His mouth dropped at me. "And what happens if I can't swim? Are you just going to let me–"

"Shut up and do it," I snapped. If he was scared before, now he was terrified. Still, he sat down and pulled up his pant leg.

I didn't want to watch. As curious as I was, it still made me uncomfortable. And I had my own things to do. 

I pulled off my jacket and stuffed it into my bag. Luckily, Sunshine wasn't watching. 

I had already cut slits into my shirt long ago and it was nothing new for me to put my wings through them. I lifted my shirt so I could unfold my wings from my torso and I slid them through the back of the cloth. 

I stretched out my wings. It felt so good. I sighed.

"What is that? What are you? A monster? A demon? Are you going to kill me? What are you?" Sunshine gasped.

I cringed at "monster". The thing I feared I might be. But not because of the wings. Nothing with those.

"Calm down Sunshine. Just... calm." He was still sitting down and now his breaths were coming in short gasps.

"What are you?" he repeated, but his emotions had changed. It was a sudden difference that didn't happen. It made me uncomfortable.

I twisted my face into a snarl. "Shut your mouth. I'm helping you aren't I? I expected better from you. I thought you were better than the rest of them, but you're not. So shut up."

He closed his mouth. I knew the regret he felt, but he didn't say anything. 

I held out my hand. "Give me your things."

He handed me a few garments and his false leg. I put the garments into my own bag.

Peering over the edge of the cloud, I looked for the lake. We were in perfect position.

I helped Sunshine up, but with out a false leg, it was more obvious how dead he should be. People didn't survive those type of injuries. People like Sunshine didn't exist.

We stood at the edge of the cloud, Sunshine leaning on me for support.

"So now you just have to jump," I said.

He looked at me with fear. "Thorne, I don't even know if I can swim."

I graced him with a cold smile. "You can't go back and you can't stay here. Looks like you're jumping."

He looked at the ground below us and grimaced. He may be scared of jumping, but even more terrifying it would be if Weather officials caught us. 

I made my decision. I pushed him off the cloud.

He screamed, but I had better things to do besides listen to him. I had to make sure he landed in the water.

I dove after him and propelled myself. He was falling faster than me. Somehow I managed to grab him under his arms. There was no way I could be strong enough to stop his fall. That wasn't the plan.

I only hoped to make sure he landed in the water as slow as possible. 

I beat my wings, but sunshine barely slowed. I tried harder. This had to work.

There was not going to be more innocent blood on my hands. And we were not  falling towards water. 

I dragged our decent to the left. I continued to pull up to slow us, but the water was coming fast.

When Sunshine was close enough to the water, I let go. I steered myself out of reach of the water and crashed heavily to the ground. Bloody bones was the ground hard for being so close to a lake. I shook myself off and looked back at the water. 

There he was.

Sunshine was trying to swim, but with no noticeable success. I sat down to watch. Falling had hurt and I wasn't going to get near any large body of water anyways. That fact didn't make me feel like a much better person.

He was still about ten yards away from the edge of the water. I held my breath every time his head bobbed under. Hurry up Sunshine. 

And I knew what was going to happen. Sometimes risks don't go as planned.

His strokes were moving him slower and slower and I knew he wasn't going to make it. He said a few more words to me: "Thorne, please. Help."

A saying rang in my ears. "If you don't want to see, don't look."

And I turned away so that I wouldn't have to watch him drown. Because I was a coward, and that's what cowards do.

Sorry for the late (by almost 4 months) update. Hopefully I can get back into it.