Running • Iggy

Control

I woke up to a curly-haired boy jumping on top of me, grinning like a lunatic. "Oh... Jeez-" I groaned, sitting up. "You're wearing the top!" He said excitedly, blue eyes sparkling. "Yes Gazzy, I'm wearing the top." I found myself chuckling, running my hand through my soft hair. No one else seemed to be awake, aside from Iggy and Fang. Ah, I was surrounded by testosterone. Great. "How long was I out?" I murmured to Fang and Iggy, who sat on the floor next to the old broken door.

"An hour, tops." Fang nodded, his long black hair now dry and silky smooth. Gazzy had also taken a shower it appeared, his hair was shining and several shades lighter than it had been the day before. He was wearing a green t-shirt we bought him the night before, yet it somehow felt like several decades ago. He wore grey jeans that were ever so slightly too long on his skinny legs. I found myself putting my hand around my necklace's pendant absent-mindedly, smiling at the hyperactive 9-year-old boy who was bouncing on my legs excitedly.

"We have plans to walk around the city from 2 to 8," Iggy informed me with a small smile, his hair flopping forward as he tilted his head down and to the side to face me. I felt heat flare in my marked cheeks, remembering the strange possible dream as I fell asleep an hour ago. "Then we fly til midnight, stop, and then start flying from 8am to 2pm. Stop in a village for 2 hours, fly until we get tired, but we stop flying at 10pm. Keep doing that until we're around the area of the School." Fang recited the instructions from memory. Max had probably pestered him with it multiple times.

"Yes sir." I smiled at the ravenette. "Tell me if you need me to repeat." He rolled his eyes, probably referring to how Max had told him about it 7 thousand times. "Will do," I responded, but I didn't need to be reminded. I had a mental map already laid out. I pulled out some lined paper from my old, greying backpack and started to write. This format had always been easier for Fang to understand, I used to write out his chore list in a way so there were scheduled times for him to do them.

Today:

14:00 - 20:00 - Collect supplies and rest wings for the flight ahead.
20:00 - 00:00 - Fly North.

Tomorrow / Repeat:

00:00 - 08:00 - Rest.
08:00 - 14:00 - Fly North East.
14:00 - 16:00 - Rest in village.
16:00 - 22:00 - Fly North(ish)

I tore the page from the notebook, careful not to rip the page, and folded it. "For memory-sake." I grinned at the dark-eyed boy, who opened it to read the contents. He nodded at me gratefully, refolding the note and sliding it into his jeans tight back pocket. I had a thought, about the fact that I might know Fang and the rest of the flock better than they knew themselves. I watched them grow up and grow up with me, yet I was the only one who remembered the entire thing in painful(ly accurate) detail.

I could remember every time Fang got upset over the coldness of his cage, complaining about that instead of the massive incision they had cut into the side of his head. I could remember every time Max had to cover a smile when Gazzy tripped over his shoelaces, having to comfort the small boy despite the fact she found the repetition of his actions funny. I could remember how Iggy hummed along to every single song he heard, even if he didn't know the tune. He even did it when the music was loud enough for everyone to hear from the whitecoat's lounge room. How Nudge would pick up random little stones and rubble off the floor in Recess, building pillars of them inside her cage when she was forced back in, something I doubted she remembered doing. How Angel's eyes flickered to the left whenever she was lying, for just a split second, enough for my overly sensitive vision to pick up.