So, guess who's internet crashed for three weeks! Mine. So yeah, sorry about the long wait. I really wanted to start updating sooner but I couldn't access my word account or update this story without internet. Everything's fixed now though, and I tried to make this chapter a bit longer and more interesting to make it up to you all. As usual, I hope you enjoy!
"You said his name was Alfred Williams right?", Gilbert asked as he was searching the files on one of the police station's computer systems. I nodded my head while I cracked my fingers and nervously looked down at the floor. It's been so long since I've heard of anything about my brother, and I suddenly don't know how to feel now that I have information of him right in front of my fingertips. I listened to the tap of the keyboard as Gilbert searched for records.
"I think I've found something!", Gilbert exclaimed as he stared at the large computer screen. "He was put into an orphanage here up in the country right?" I looked up at him and nodded yes. He gave me a bright smirk and jerked his head in the direction of the screen for me to look. I took a deep breath and slowly walked over beside Gilbert and examined the picture. In front of me I saw an old photo of a young blonde boy wearing a grim frown on a document that gave information about him marked at the top with the words, "Alfred Williams, Horizon Orphanage. Adopted by the name of Alfred F. Jones by an Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy. Newly a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America."
The face is saw was something I never thought I'd see again. I brought my hands over my mouth and I started to cry. Soon enough I had a stream of tears running down my cheeks and was over thrown by happiness. I turned over to Gilbert and, without really thinking about it, wrapped my arms around him in a shaky hug.
"I found him!", I cried into his shoulder. I could feel him hug me in return and form a smile. He looked around and saw the other officers and staff staring at us, whether it was because I was crying or the fact that they still haven't seen me and my bird-like state yet, I didn't know. Gilbert eventually pulled me out of my impulsive hug and walked me back to the room by the hand past the audience I had created.
"People were staring," Gilbert said to me sheepishly as I stepped through the door and sat down on my temporary bed. I rubbed at my tearing eyes and laughed with the biggest smile I think I've ever made. I flapped my wings around excitedly and almost hit Gilbert in the head with them.
"I have to go see him!", I announced. I beamed at Gilbert to see his response. Certainly he'd help me find him, after all, I don't have a home, so there's no point in staying here, and I figured he was a new friend. What I didn't expect to see was his sad frown that ran across his face. That disrupted my laughing and I lowered my wings so they could lay down on the bed still spread out. I was concerned at this sudden mood change. "What's the problem?"
"Matthew," he started grimly, he was reluctant to tell me at first, but then he took a breath and looked me in the eyes. "Chief Anderson has decided to take you to the federal government. He's … he's giving you away for them to...study you." I sat there for a while in confusion, trying to get where this was coming from.
"He's just sending me away?", I whispered in disbelief. What was I, some kind of object? Gilbert seemed to lose some of his courage at my remark and looked away from me then nodded. "When?", I asked. Gilbert shrugged and still refused to look my way. I sat in silence for a bit, but then I decided to do something. After living my entire life captive, I wasn't going to give up the freedom I had just received. I quickly sat up, stared Gilbert in the eyes, and then ran out of the room.
I watched in surprise as Matthew suddenly started to run. I quickly followed suit and ran after him. He ran through the halls blindly finding his way around since he doesn't know the layout. He was like mouse in a maze, running around for an exit. He ran much faster than I anticipated and he soon found a door outside the building before I could catch him. He pushed through it and made his way out in a field of grass. It was dark outside and slightly humid because of recent rain. He stood in the empty grass, breathing in the air and looking up into the sky, but as I could see him spread out his wings, I knew he would try to fly away, so I sprinted towards him and jumped up at him right as he was taking off.
I managed to grab on to his ankles right as he left the ground. I could hear him yell as I pulled him down to the ground. "Where are you going?", I yelled. I held him down to the ground and he tried to force his way out of my grasp. I'm a cop after all, I should be able to keep someone down. He started to scream, and it hurt me to see that he was scared of me at this moment after the time we spent bonding. After a while of squirming, I pulled him up to a position to sit up in the grass and look at me. I held him there by his shoulders and looked into his vibrantly purple eyes. "Were are you going Matthew?"
"I'm not staying here to be pricked and prodded!", he hollered in a voice louder than I've ever heard him use before, it was almost as loud as a normal person's yell. "Let me go!" He thrashed his arms and legs around violently. I tried to hold him , putting my whole weight on top of his smaller body, but he remained relentless. I kept him down for a while, and I was about to start drawing him back into the police station, but then he suddenly stopped moving, fell limp on the ground, and closed his eyes. I quickly got up in worry because he wasn't moving or speaking.
"Matthew! Are you okay?" I shook his shoulders. I was about to pick him up when in the blink of an eye, he jumped up back on his feet and flew off into the air faster than any bird I knew. I reached up into the air uselessly as I saw his body fly away and grow smaller and smaller into the distance. I sat down defeated in the grass as his figure became a dot in the distance. I pulled at the collar of my shirt and sighed in disappointment. I'm usually awesome at this sort of stuff, what's thrown me off of my game?
I knew that I had only just met Matthew only about a day ago, but my head was telling me I needed to find him. There's no way that he could go out into the city alone and not get hurt, and it's my job to protect, so that's what I was supposed to do. I stood and marched off into the station. I printed out the information sheet on Alfred, assuming that Matthew was heading to find him, and found my way to my police car.
I could feel the cold wind bite against my skin and the bandages that Gilbert had applied as I flew. I never wore a shirt because I could never fit any over my wings, so it was very cold around my chest and back. I had never explored the world outside of the basement before, so I had no idea where I was going. I knew where I needed to be though, Indiana. That's were I knew there's someone who could help me. I didn't know exactly where Indiana was though, so I was going to have to find a map of some sort.
I flew for a few hours in the darks but the sun was starting to come up and shine it's blinding light on me. If anybody sees me out here, they might want to study me as well. I decided to just land somewhere forestry to hike on foot away from the public. I spotted a nice scene of high trees and a flat area of land that I could head for. I slowly maneuvered myself around the tree branches and landed on the flat clearing. I looked around to at least find a path I could take somewhere. I couldn't find one at first, so I decided to take a break and I sat down on a rock nearby. I was tired of flying, and I felt pretty sad. I thought I had made a friend with Gilbert, but I don't know why I even tried to put trust into anyone. I don't know why I expected him to help me escape after he'd only just met me and had been a cop for a while longer. I sighed and held my forehead in my hands as I could feel tears start to form. They were struggling to break the barrier of my eyelids and fall out like little waterfalls.
I got up and pulled myself together by smacking my cheeks lightly. I'd done enough crying lately, I had to focus on what to do next and how to find a place to go. I wrapped my arms and wings around my body to keep warmer as I started walking into a random direction, hopefully one that brings me closer to my destination, and by the complaints coming from my grumbling stomach, somewhere with food. I pushed past the low hanging branches and thorns that surrounded me. I tried to listen for anything of use, but I was basically lost at this point. I probably should have thought this through. I kept on walking for a while until I came across a strange muffling sound. I walked closer to where it was coming from, and eventually broke my head through the tree barrier to see several cars parking around some kinds of pumps. Some of the passengers from a red truck, what seemed to be a little boy and his father, walked into a small building that was behind the pumps. The sign on the building said Gas Station.
I could see windows surrounding the walls of this gas station, so from my distance I tried to make out what was inside. I was too far away and couldn't make out anything inside, so I would have to get closer. I looked around for something that could help me out, and I saw some sort of black tarp covering one of the cars in the back of the parking lot. I swiftly tiptoed over to it then pulled it off the car to wrap it over my back. It made me look like a hunchback, but at least my wings were concealed.
I didn't really know if wearing car tarps over your back was a normal thing or not, but I opted to play it safe and keep a low profile as I walked into the gas station. Immediately I was hit wit bright lights and the smell of baking breakfast items. I walked around and I noticed that there were many varieties of food to eat, a lot of which I don't thing I've ever tasted, let alone heard of. I excitedly grabbed lots of different snacks and drinks and formed a small pouch from the extra tarp that wasn't hiding my back to hold all of my items. I walked around a little more and sure enough, I found a shelf full of maps. The Professor had taught me some about maps, not much because he figured I'd never need to use them, so I tried to remember what North America looked like, since I needed a map that also listed Indiana as well as Canada. I flipped through my options for a bit and found one that I was pretty sure was what I wanted. I took it and also found a small bag in need aisle that I could put all my things in.
Content with my haul, I carried myself towards the front door. As I was stepping out, the man that was standing behind the front counter called out to me. "Hey! You need to pay for those!" I turned around and realized what he meant. I forgot that people used money to get the things they wanted.
"Sir," I replied, trying to sound nice, "I don't have any food or money right now. I really need these things. Could you just help me out?" His face showed no signs of sympathy for me as he glared.
"Can't do that young man, I got bills to pay and children to feed, so you're gonna' have to pay up." He looked at me expectantly, but I didn't even have a few cents to my name. I needed this food though, and I needed a map to find my brother, so I had no choice.
I pushed through the front doors and made a run for the woods. I tried to keep very thing from falling out of my bag, but I think I dropped a small bag of chips. I could hear the man yelling at me and chasing, and I could tell he had a weapon in have hand as e was gaining on me, so I threw off the tarp and flapped my wings to fly away. When I made it into the air I looked down and watched as the man stared at me in wonder, but then anger returned on his old features. He lifted his weapon, which I now could tell was a gun, and he shot up at me. I quickly averted the aim and turned around to leave.
"I'm sorry!", I called out towards the man as I flew farther and farther away. If it was this hard to keep myself hidden just to get food and a map, I didn't know how I was going to make it all the way to Indianapolis.
Author's Note
Okay, that was the chapter. I want everyone to know that the only reason I picked Indianapolis for this story is because I live in Indiana and have never seen the rest of the world. I haven't even seen Indianapolis, but I live in a boring small town and thought that would make a horrible setting for this. I hope you guys liked this and forgive me for my little hiatus. See you later!
