Wings and Steel

Chapter III - Ten seconds

When I woke up, it was already close to mid-day. I didn't feel much better than the night before, but I decided not to dwell on it too much. I was determined to keep my mind busy and leave the house as little as possible for a while.

Days were passing by slowly. The news about the explosion at the factory had been spreading like wildfire. A cloud of chaos was hanging heavy above the city as the arguments between those in favor and those against Power Juice grew more and more fervent. I suppose bringing down the main factory was the match needed to ignite their fuses. Protests were everywhere and law enforcement officers had trouble keeping up with them. But that was working in my favor. Having to work tirelessly to keep things under control on the streets meant they lacked the time and resources required to investigate.

I kept myself busy reading – an activity which I very much enjoyed. It kept my mind busy, trapped in an adventure far away, on beautiful lands. Books made me feel empowered, almighty, like I could achieve anything. And it was my only way to fly again. I had given up on history books, completely embracing fictional human stories instead, to my great shame. I refused to watch tv or read the newspaper. I needed time to heal physically and mentally before attempting to do anything else.

As much as I tried, however, to distance myself from whatever was happening, turn a blind eye and mind my own business for as long as possible, it was starting to be harder and harder. Soon enough, as fate would have it, I realized I'm out of food, so I decided to make a short trip to the closest convenience store for the bare minimum. And as fate would have it, I decided to stop by the mail box on my way out – a thing I don't do often. I stared quite surprised at the simple white envelope with no return address written on it. I shrugged and placed it in the pocket of my jacket before going about my business.

A short while later I got home, not expecting to be leaving my apartment again any time soon. Little did I know, however, how much the small decision of checking my mail box will change my life.

I decided to cook something and clean the house that day, feeling a bit ashamed of how lazy I'd been over the past weeks. It wasn't like me to spend all day reading and doing little else. I liked to keep my surroundings tidy, I liked to train tirelessly everyday and work as hard as possible, whenever I had a job. At first, I thought a break would help, but it only made things worse in the end. I didn't know why, but something about not being productive made me really miserable. But I didn't feel up to doing anything either. I sighed at the thought and started by cooking a stew that would last a couple days. After that, I started scrubbing every little nook and cranny in the apartment. Once I was done with that, I decided I had not trained in quite some time, so I went for a run around the neighborhood.

As I ran, I was able to check out what was happening in the city. It was already dark outside. The street lamps were completely outshining the stars – something I could never understand. I found the stars so beautiful, and I knew for a fact that humans did too, yet they chose to cover them up with their migraine-inducing artificial lights. I sighed at the thought as I ran past each and every lamp.

I would lie if I said I didn't notice the weird looks people threw me. I suppose rumors had surfaced about a Fairy being behind the explosion at the factory and I never kept my origins a secret from the people who lived close to me. I never understood why humans were like this. The second they heard about someone in a specific group having done something they don't condone, they would throw piercing looks and grow weary of every individual even remotely related to the group in question. It didn't seem fair, but I never had the time to be bothered by it. After all, everyone can choose what they want to believe. And if they want to believe something specific, they shall do so regardless of any proof you bring against it. There was no point in even attempting to reason with them. I sighed again as I passed an old lady neighbor who always seemed to throw judgemental looks at whoever was so unlucky as to pass by while she was taking a random walk.