'There's a light inside all of us
It's never hiding you just have to light it
It's the one thing that you got to trust
It's like a diamond, you just have to find it
So if you ever feel like giving up
Yeah, let's remember that… we were all meant to fly
Spread your wings, across the universe
It's your time to, it's your time to shine
There's a light inside all of us
Soon, you'll find that it's your time to fly
Your time to fly'
~ 'Fly', Avril Lavigne
'Humans have evolved throughout the ages, developing weird mutations, like extra height or weight, extra toes or fingers, or different eye, hair and skin colours. Just like that, years in the future, after a mass freak accident, humans have developed wings, linked with the feelings and experiences of the individual.
A child is born with no wings, but the bones stored at the very top of the skin on their back, forming an almost impenetrable barrier beneath the skin of a newborn. When the child shows the first sign of personality, the wings forming beneath the skin and breaking out, being of any shade and type, depending on the individual personality. These wings grow in at about age three, almost like teething. However, the wings are useless and have no muscle, and hang limp from the back.
The muscles develop over a week after the child makes it first friend, however, at this age, are very weak. The wings can now make small motions forward and backwards. They continue gathering muscle until the individual meets their best friend or soulmate, at which point one of the wings grows tremendously and acquires the ability to fly, if one has met both. If either of those people should die, the wings will slowly lose strength until they are purposeless and limp, constant reminders of what used to be.'
That's what my grade six health textbook said about that anyway. It did NOT mention anything about malfunctions or disabilities, which it would have been nice if it would have. I closed the book and rolled over, staring at the ceiling. I barely winced as I felt my wings crack, and I rolled each one in turn to ease the pain, then laying spread-eagled on my bed, wings included, looking at the thousands of words I had written there over the past thirteen years. They were all adjectives, as big as I could find to describe my possible soulmate and best friend, from 'pompous' and 'well-rounded' to 'admirably tall' and 'caramel brown haired'.
I had these words written because I was an abnormality, never allowed to see more than my step-mother and father, and yet still my wings were fully developed and if upright almost constantly flying. I had no way to control it, hinder it or diminish it without damaging my wings. I played my game that I played every night before dinner, picking five words and putting together a mental picture of my soulmate or best friend, tonight was soulmate night.
"Albino, petite, pierced, rosy-cheeked, chronic liar," I conjured up an image of a pale boy, on the scrawny side, with watery red eyes, eyebrow, lip and nose piercings, with pale red cheeks. He wore black, with ripped jeans, scuffed black Vans, a black 'Guns 'n' Roses' t-shirt with a black leather vest over the top, leaning against a Harley Davidson motorbike, tooth pick in mouth and icy white windswept hair.
The image fizzled out as my step-mother knocked on my door, indicating it was dinner time. I rolled off my bed, wings automatically spreading out to catch the air and right me, moving the loose papers in my room as I hovered over to the door and opened it, flying out.
My parents didn't like abnormality, and almost always left me at home whenever they went out, leaving me pale and more often than not lonely. I fluttered down the stairs, toe tips touching the edge of each step before flitting to the next, counting the seventeen toe taps from my room to the kitchen and dining room. I moved to the island bench, grabbing my already full plate and migrating to the table, sitting down in my normal seat, my wings folding almost instantly. My step mother entered, along with my father, and we ate in the usual silence. I bade them goodnight, and they nodded simultaneously, as per normal, and I fluttered up the stairs, re-entering my room and picking another book to read until nine, at which all the lights turned off and I fell asleep.
My morning was as usual, eating a silent breakfast, having lessons from a tablet computer, lunch and dinner, then bed. In only a few days, my life was changed forever.
I woke up in the middle of the night, jumping up at another bang on my wall that faced outside. Another blast of sound, and I flew over to the corner of my room, high as I could go, trying to slow my currently coal-black wings, showing I was afraid. Another abnormal thing about me, is that my wings change colours according to how I'm feeling. Sometimes, if I concentrate really hard, I can change colour, but it drains me a lot so I normally don't.
I was jolted out of my thoughts by a slab of my wall whoomphing onto the floor, someone having done something to destroy my wall without 'destroying' my wall. My breathing went very irregular and my wings flapped even less than they were before as a figure emerged out of the wreckage, wings flapping majestically as the light of the moon outlined their silhouette. My breathing stopped as they stepped into my room, and green eyes passed over me, then the person must have done a double take because suddenly I was falling into an ocean, sea green and blue with flecks of grey, swimming and changing, enchanting my senses until I shook my head and came back to the current situation.
I could see it was a boy, with hair the same colour as my wings, and I studied the scrawny figure I realised my wings were changing hues and I was slowly fluttering to the floor, stopping a centimetre from touching it and hanging suspended.
"Hey, sorry about the wall. I'll get someone over here later to fix that, maybe Leo, or doesn't he do walls? Maybe Beck, oh, I wonder how he's gonna react when Silena finally gets back, ha, that's gonna be funny..." he trailed off, looking to the ceiling before turning back to face me. "Sorry, ADHD gets in the way sometimes. Look, you're different, so am I, there is a safe place for us if you just come with me." He said, looking me straight in my dull grey eyes.
"I-I need time, to think and-"
"No," he said sternly, cutting me off. "No time. Go or stay."
{AN: Hi guys, new story, please let me know if you want me to continue, and any ideas. ~myaw}