Nobody's Drabbles

by Mikell

A series of 200 word, narrative drabbles. I've deliberately left out names and dialogue (in most), to practice and improve my narrative characterization. ("Tell" is the exception, being 100% dialogue.) Random topics. Mostly set in the 2k3 series, with occasional references to the 2k7 movie.

28. 27 Skies

~Skies~

The sky was different in North Hampton. The faint, constant haze over the City, creating halos of the streetlights and hiding the stars, did not exist here. There was nothing between him and the larger universe. He could lie in the grass and lose himself amongst those dots of light, twinkling so far away, but as close as if he could reach out and touch them, almost.

Three years later, the world shifted, and he found himself under another new sky. Bluer than his mask, and pitch black at night, with the stars closer still, wilder, less friendly. It hid from him behind the canopy, peeking through only occasionally, like one of the wild things that roamed the jungle below. He caught glimpses of the stars, and wondered if his brothers could see them through the streetlight halos. He wondered if they thought of him, and if they did, if they knew that he had failed in his mission. He wondered if he'd ever see them again.

Gliding over the water, he glanced up, and saw the stars twinkling above, before the plane dropped down toward its destination. The streetlights' glow masked the stars, as always, and welcomed him home.