Flight School: Prey

The Eye in the Sky

It was the hottest day of midsummer when his neighbors had invited him to climb the trees at the edge of the forest.

The sun scorched the earth, lazy waves of heat rising from the roads that piped hotter than a stove. A half-hearted breeze swept across half-hearted hills and narrow roads—meant for bicycles, not for cars. It failed to cool the merciless heat that the sun raged, boring into the land below.

This was the day—the day where we would feel slightly bothered, fairly hot, and completely useless.

Iolani Tori felt the same.

But it wasn't entirely due to this reason that he decided to decline the offer put up by his friendly neighbors. In fact, it wasn't due to this at all.

Not the heat; not the stuffy air; and certainly not the thought that he was a useless being rotting away in the middle of a heated summer.

"Why not, Io?"

"We'll let you go first! Don't worry, we'll catch you if you fall," They nodded, egging him on with blinding smiles brighter than piercing sunshine.

Io laughed awkwardly. He shook his head, a white lie slipping past his lips in effort to decline politely.

Like he had done so the many times before.

"Mom wants me to pluck the weeds today."

His neighbors smiled in understanding-the innocence of eight-year-olds shining through.

"Next time then!" One of them waved in an unsuspecting manner, dashing off to catch up with the rest who had begun to head to the edge of the forest.

Io nodded;

But no one was there to see.

He thought about this familiar scene, just how many times he had played it over and over in his mind and in reality itself. He saw this—even—in his dreams; be it climbing trees or simply glancing over a bridge, Io would refuse. Politely.

Now, this was particularly strange for the curious boy.

Like any other child in his quaint little village, Io had an imagination so vast it filled the spaces of every little corner in the invisible sky scattered with stars and—oh, and the moon. The moon had a quiet, special place in his heart; almost as though it smiled for him and him only, but of course Io wasn't all too sure about that.

It might have been his imagination.

_______________________________

It had been a week after his fourth birthday when Io decided to pose such a question.

Mom, what is a sky?

The sky, dear. There is only one sky in the world.

Io narrowed his eyes at the sheet of blue that stretched out above. He was a little upset that his mother hadn't answered his question.