the burden of wings

1

“Hey Tryla, wake up,” I said poking my little sister's leg. She groggily lifted her head from her crossed arms on the dashboard.
       “Uhhh… come on Emerson ten more minutes” Tryla moaned.
       “Come on Try, let's get some food.” She opened the car door and jumped from the truck. We walked through the front door of the gas station and ordered two mini burgers at the ordering station. Then we each picked a soda from a shelf. Tryla sat down at one of the small tables to the side of the ordering station, when I came to the table with our tray of burgers. She opened her Mountain Dew and smiled at me as I took a bite.
       “So where are we going?” 
       “I… I don't know.”
       “Well we broke out of a top secret lab, so we should probably get our story straight.”
       “It's not like they're gonna send out an A.M.B.E.R alert, be on the lookout for a 14 year old girl who is five feet tall with dark blonde hair and grey eyes. Oh yeah she also has a twelve foot wingspan and two red speckled wings.” She punched me in the arm and took a bite of her sandwich. 
       “So six years, that was a long time to not see you big brother.”
       “Yeah they kicked me out when your feathers started changing, I had tried to escape with you.”
       “Believe me I remember,” she turned her head and saw large men dressed in red suits with Octopi badges entered the gas station. “We need to go now,” She urged me. I turned around catching the attention of the men. 
       “HEY,” they shouted. Tryla and I hit the ground running slamming chairs and tables as we ran. One of the men gained on her grabbing the collar of her white shirt, but she kicked him in the groin and he fell to the ground ripping the collar of her shirt. With quick instincts I slammed open the front doors and we quickly scrambled into truck and drove away.
       “Do you think they saw the truck?” I asked.
       “No but I think they saw the giant freaking Octopi logo on my shirt.” She ripped off the shirt and pulled on one of my sweatshirts from the floor.
       “Hey be careful someone might see your wings,” I reminded her.
       “Relax anyone driving this late would just think they're seeing things.”
       “Alright buckle up, last thing we need is to be pulled over for not wearing seat belts.” She buckled the seatbelt and leaned on my shoulder closing her eyes.
       She started stroking my hair. “Hey stop, your obstructing the driver.” She lifted her head and leaned against the window. I sat my hand on her back just above where her wings started. “Don't worry, Octopi isn't getting you back. I'll keep you safe, no matter what.” I lifted my hand from her back and placed it back on the steering wheel focusing on the road. 
       “So are we not going to talk about the evil agency that experimented on me? Because I thought that would be an important conversation.”
       “Another time little sister, I'm still trying to process that you're in my truck right now. I don't want to jinx it by talking about such horrid things.”
       “Yeah well one of those horrid things is our own father.”
       “I know,” She tuned the radio until she found a station playing her favorite song. “I bet you missed me bringing that song to you everyday. When you were in that “secure room” and they still let me visit you.”
       “I use to missed those days. But lately those days seem just as horrible, but at least you were allowed to see me then.”
       “Yeah, but… you were so little then. You had no clue why nobody else had wings until they started do tests and experimenting further.” I looked over but she was already singing along to the beginning of the next song.
       “I'm really happy to have you back Try, I missed you.”
       “I'm happy to have you too Emmie.” 
       “You know Octopi used to be a good organization…”
       “Emmie, I'm not interested in your stories anymore.”
       “I'm serious when dad first took us when you were three and I was eleven it was a cute place. Octopi used to be so small, nothing like today. They studied human irregularities like you and your hollow back bones. They said you would never walk if you didn't get some weight on your back.”
       “Is that really true?”
       “I would never lie to you Try, you were such a cute little thing you were hunched over in his tiny wheelchair with this big grin. But our dad went crazy saying he wasn't having a wheelchair in his family and he started feeding you experimental drugs in your food. Then you started growing these adorable little wings, they were seriously tiny then. And you no longer needed that little wheelchair.”
       “Well thanks daddy, you really know how to make a girl feel freaky.”
       “I would have loved you whether you were in a wheelchair or flapping your wings.”
       “If I were in a wheelchair I wouldn't be able to sleep in your truck, and you wouldn't have to break me out of top secret labs.”
       “Yeah well breaking you out of a lab in a wheelchair wouldn't really work out anyway. You know they're gonna be pissed that we left.”
       “Good,” She said grinning. “They deserve to be pissed for a little bit.”
       “Not when it's at us.” I turned the truck into an empty parking lot. “Look for a map or something, because I have no freaking clue where we are.” As I searched the floor I thought back to before I left Octopi, they had put her on a treadmill with probes on her forehead saying to run. She had run for hours until I begged them to let her stop, then they locked me in my room while they operated on her wings.
       “Hey buddy,” came a shout from outside my door. “You're not allowed to park here.” I climbed out of the truck.
       “Didn't know you cared so much about your parking lot.” He pushed me up against the truck. “Come on, please don't wake up my sister.”
       “Do we have a problem.” I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the truck where I stood.
       “No we don't, me and my sister are going to leave now. Sorry for parking in your parking lot.” I let go and of his shirt and jumped into my truck starting the engine.