Through Her Eyes

Chapter 9

I woke up to Dad screaming three nights in a row. But instead of rushing in like I did the first night, I stayed in my room, listening to him yell. It made me cry. I wish I could rush in but I knew it made him feel uncomfortable. He was so use to being strong that when someone caught him otherwise, it crushed him.

One night, Pepper had stayed late. Later than usual. I had no idea what she was working on but she was typing away furiously on her laptop. That night, I woke up again to the sound of Dad screaming. I couldn't stand it any longer. I was just about to jump out of my bed when I heard Pepper come up stairs and run into his room. Somehow, I think she would be able to help him more than I could. I could hear her talking softly to Dad.

After that night, the nightmare's decreased dramatically.

We talked a couple more times about Afghanistan but he kept it sketchy on the details. I didn't know whether that was because he simply didn't want to talk about it or because he wanted to spare me some of the more... 'gory' details.

It took us five more days to complete the boots and arm stabilizers enough for another flight test. Many of the minor components needed to be tested to take sure they were safe and could be used in the flying process. So now when Dad stepped back on the grid, boots and flight stabilizers in place, I knew this time, it would work.

"Test 37, Configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety." Dad quickly looked over at the machine. "You douse me again and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college!"

Dummy lowered its arm sadly.

"Okay, we're gunna start out real slow here. One per cent thrust."

He took a deep breath, and suddenly he was airborne. I could feel my eyes widened in amazement. He was actually flying. He was hovering four feet off the ground but I could see some strain on his face as he tried to stay upright. Dad told me later it felt like trying to learn how to ride a bike all over again.

Steadily, he lowered his arms slightly and his body followed. As his feet touched ground again, the repulsors in his boot turned off. It took his a second to maintain his balance but when he did, he looked over and grinned at me. During this, Dummy had slowly wheeled forward, with the extinguisher ready.

"Please, don't follow me around with it either. I feel like I'm going to catch fire spontaneously."

I let out a little giggle and watched as Dummy wheeled back to his original position, his arm lowered.

"Okay, let's bring it up to 2.5 per cent," Dad steadied himself again and prepared to take flight.

He was in the air again, but this time is was slightly faster but smoother. My hand stabilizers were working. He brought his knees up slightly but accidently angled his ankles wrong, sending him slowly towards the other side of the room. As he went over our work desks, papers went flying ever. Thanks Dad.

"Okay, this isn't where I want to be," He admitted nervously, trying to find the right angle to send him back to where he started. He tried to steer using his arms but that sent him flying dangerously close over his Hot Rod. "No! Not the Car! Not the Car!"

I cringed as I watched him fly over my Audi and Mustang. He better had not done damage to them.

I could see he was getting more control over where he was flying, he was getting use to the feeling and was slowly learning how to make it go where he wanted to go. He brought his hands together and was hovering over his start position. He lowered the power using his hand controls. When he was just above the floor, he killed the power. He looked like he was going to fall backwards but he caught himself.