Dream Journal

Flight and Freedom

I shivered when my feet touched down on the pavement. I pulled my aching wings in toward my body and pressed them tightly against my back, letting them settle into the divots behind my shoulder blades.  I let out a pent-up sigh and my breath swirled in front of me. The city below was just as frigid as the air above it.

The sky was darkening overhead, to provide us enough cover for the night, but there was still the faintest strip of yellow and marmalade orange in the east, poking from behind the distant skyscrapers.  Next to me, two more feet touched down. It was Matt.

He bent over and released another little body that stumbled out of his arms and clung to my legs. Tyler. I brushed the little boy’s fine, dark hair out of his sleepy eyes and gently rubbed his back around the stumps of his wings. As the back of my hand brushed one of the bony stumps and Tyler jumped, I remembered when I was as small as he was. I could still see my old bedroom in the back of my mind, and my mother standing in the doorway with a candle in her hand. She was aged beyond her time, but I only know her face now from my memories. I hadn’t seen her since I was as old as the youngest in our group, the one standing at my feet.

I shook my head and pulled Tyler into my arms effortlessly. I cradled him gently until the Matt had tucked away his wings and pulled on his jacket. He reached his muscular arms out and took him from me while I pulled on my own jacket, which I’d kept in a small satchel I strapped to my legs. I slipped the jacket on my arms and sighed with relief; it was warm from being pressed against my thigh while we flew. 

He held Tyler back out toward me with arms outstretched. The boy grunted at he hung limply in the air, nearly fully asleep.

“It was only on loan. Your turn,” Matt said.

I sighed, cracked a tiny smile, and took him back into my arms. My back was stiff and sore, and I longed to lay face down on a springy, cushioned mattress. I sniffed and shifted my weight to my other hip. I doubted my luck would be that great tonight. Three others touched down nearly in sync behind me, making a ruckus.

“Quiet down!” I hissed behind my shoulder. “Not only is the baby sleeping, but you’ll get us caught.”

The three tiny silhouettes straightened, and their lips sealed immediately. Two of them were shoeless, like me. The reason for our shoelessness varied; we didn’t have time to buy shoes, shoes were lost, shoes didn’t fit, we didn’t have the money to afford shoes… there was always some reason. Those of us who did have shoes, one guy- Matt- and one girl- Penny- did have shoes. And they cared for them religiously.

Then again, Matt, the oldest of us all, cared for everything religiously.

“We have to get moving. If we stay in one place for too long, we’ll attract attention,” he grumbled, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking ahead.

“Hurry up and get your jackets on, it’s cold,” I added, racing to catch up with his long strides. I could hear grunts and strains as the kids behind me tried to wiggle into their clothes, tuck their wings, and stumble behind at the same time.

We headed down the deteriorating back alley. Everyone looked exhausted, but no one complained. The girl in the group about my age, Sarah, caught up with me and we walked side by side. I waited for her to offer to carry Tyler, but she never did. I sighed. He was like a bag of bricks in my arms.

Suddenly, a gasp tore through the silence of shuffling feet. Matt and I spun around, our hearts racing.

“What’s this?” Penny asked. I narrowed my eyes and sucked in my breath.

“You almost gave us all heart attacks!” Matt growled, fists clenched and jaw throbbing. His bloodshot eyes were burning with frustration. “What is it?”