Birds of a Feather

seven

  We loitered on the Empire State building for maybe thirty minutes longer before deciding to make our way back to the hospital. The flight was short, five minutes tops. Though to drive would have taken twice the amount of time, even without the usual surging of traffic.

  I landed rather ungracefully on the rooftop, eliciting an explosive laugh from Kace. Once I had righted myself and tucked in my wings, I turned around to flick him off. I was smiling, a real smile. I couldn't tell at that very moment if it was just the euphoria of flying to the top of the Empire State Building via my wings or if it was just that for once, I was happy. Plain and simple. Kace seemed to notice me losing myself in my thoughts.

  "You good?" he asked concernedly. 

  "Oh, yeah. I'm good," I nervously laughed. "Better than good, actually."

  As he had noticed a shift in my demeanor, I noticed a sudden shift in his own. His usual confident stance had been replaced by a ghostly projection of it. As if he was feigning his confidence. He ran his fingers through his head and I could tell that he was deep in thought. I chose not to disturb him, but to instead let his mind lead him to where he needed to be. I wondered what he might be thinking about. It could be a lot of things. Despite the fact that we both had wings, and obviously that the same person had abducted us, we knew nothing about one another.

  "Question?" I posed awkwardly.

  "Answer," he replied, clearly a knee-jerk reaction.

  I rolled my eyes at him admonishingly before speaking. "Can you do weird things? Like, equally or even more weird than having wings and being able to fly?"

  If he really was abducted by the same person as I, it seemed highly likely that he did. Every other thing fell in to place congruently: our wings, where we woke up afterwards, the face we have no memory of anything that happened to us. Kace raised a bushy brow in slight disbelief. "I think you already know the answer to that,"

  As if to further prove my theory, Kace put his arm out perpendicular to his body. He raised his index finger to face the sky. Like a candle flame being born unto the world, his fingertip sprouted a small but jittery flame. I felt butterflies ravage my stomach and my body go into a fit of nervous laughter as I raised my finger perfectly adjacent to his own. Just like Kace's, my finger spontaneously conjured a tiny flame. We made eye contact at precisely the same moment, our eyes equal parts confused and excited. His head was lit from behind by the bright lights of New York and his face was aglow with the dull orange of firelight. That moment was so intimate in a lot of ways. Sharing a part of one another that no one else could ever understand or possess. We stood that way, staring oddly at one another before Kace broke the silence, putting out his finger flame.

  "So I guess now that it's confirmed that we're fellow outcasts of the human race, it must be the perfect time to ask for your number," he spoke with humor and certainty in his tone.

  I smiled wide. We exchanged numbers, said our goodbyes, and went our separate ways. I was feeling much lighter and happier. I made sure to text Dr.Lanelo that not only was I safe, but I was happy. And that I had a lot to tell her in the following day's session.