Death By Adjectives.

Death By Adjectives - TKAM Creative Task

Noting his 9-year-old sisters' terse breaths and wide eyes, Akos Cohen felt the burden of fiasco more than ever.

In theory, it was a simple task – throwing a paper plane for his twin sisters, Loa and Merle's, fourth grade science experiment. But, to him, it was so much more than that.

Leaving for six months at a time, to complete military duties, Akos knew too well how these small moments could be the last memories his sisters ever had of him. Pondering the ardent existence of death, seemed quite morbid, but Akos wasn't oblivious of the risks that came with his occupation. It was always the tiny things that they'd remember, like the way the floorboards creaked at absurd hours in the morning as he moved from foot to foot waiting for his pot of coffee to boil or even the way he would gently braid their long, golden curls unwearyingly whenever they fancied it.

It was these benevolent thoughts that finalised his decision in that moment:

"Okay, I'll be your pilot."

A small, disbelieving silence followed suit to his words before a questionable 'really?' came from the youngest of his sisters, Merle. Dropping to one knee and putting his hand animatedly across his chest, Akos articulated that it would be his 'absolute pleasure and utmost honour to pilot such an aircraft!"

Giggling at their brothers' tone, the girls threw themselves into Akos' awaiting arms and cuddled into his chest. Pressing a tender kiss to each of their foreheads, Akos murmured a simple sentence that made their hearts swell:

"I'd do anything for my girls. I would rather spend time with you than anyone else-"

"-more than Gryphon?"

The question caught him off guard for a second. How could he respond honestly to that? It was a known fact that not many people were better company than Gryphon. Looking over at the sleeping Belgian Malinois being mentioned, Akos let out a slow hearty chuckle.

"That's mean!" The sisters giggled again at his exasperated expression. "Gryphon is a devoted boy. I rely on him to always have my back out there on the field, he's considered to be the best explosives dog out there. He knows what his job is and that it has nothing to do with playing games. I can't even braid his hair! But you girls? You are family and family always comes first. So, instead of questioning how much I love you, let us go fly a plane!"

Grinning at the response Loa and Merle ran up to the porch stairs to grab their experimental plane labelled the 'Cerulean Interstellar' (as per Wiki-how suggestions on how to name a plane).

It was quite a judiciously, fashioned paper plane with auburn crayoned flowers decorating the wings. A scribble of green defined to him vaguely as the vines and a single ambiguous blue jay sat somewhat haphazardly on the otherwise white body. Breaking him from his prideful thoughts Loa spoke up with hesitancy evident in her tone, "do you think the C.I will fly very well in this breeze?"

Akos responded good-naturedly as always, "That's a part of your experiment, isn't it? To see how well it flies in certain weather conditions."

"Yeah, but I would really hate it if it got stuck in a tree or something. Merle spent a long time painting it!"

Nodding Akos said, "noted" and positioned himself to fly the plane, evidently attempting to ignore his sisters' elusive optimism regarding the C.I.s genuine capability of flying successfully in subtle wind. Finally, letting the plane fly, Akos held his breath as the plane quickly caught a gust of wind.

Up. Up. Up. Oh no-

Mumbling quiet profanities under his breath, Akos felt varying levels of guilt churn inside of him as the plane lodged itself between tree branches. His sisters had predicted the event perfectly. Turning his head away from the disheartened gazes of his siblings, Akos let his mind turn rapidly with plausible solutions. Just like his military training, Akos knew had to keep a level head. Quickly reminding himself that this situation was not life or death, Akos felt the need to draw inspiration from his dear neighbour Mrs Maudie (the chameleon lady across the street who often wore a yellow sunhat tipped too much to one side) that everything would be fine if he stayed positive.