by Aaron Slade
My aura was gone and I had no idea how we were going to get home if I couldn’t fly. “Why are you so calm about it, then?” My voice sank into a futile tone. I stood up, pacing the beach and kicking the sand.
Evee followed me. “My number was up the day I was born,” she said. “It was only because of my mom that I got a second chance at life.” She moved in front of me to look in my eyes. “I’ve shared something so strong with you that dying doesn’t scare me. I only worry for you.”
I felt tears build up behind my eyes, fighting them with every bit of willpower I had. I couldn’t believe that as soon as she came into my life, she would be leaving. It wasn’t fair that she might die. If anyone deserved to live, it was Evee.
“We don’t know when it’s going to happen,” Evee said. “Everyone has to die someday, Casper. For all we know it could happen ten years from now.” She pressed her lips against mine for a small kiss– it felt empty. “This doesn’t change anything,” she said. “Even if you knew that I could only be yours for a year, you would still want that year, right?”
A year would never be enough, but I would want it just the same. “I can fix this,” I said. “I’ll protect you from anything.” The words sounded every bit as desperate as I felt, and I had no way to back them up.
Evee whimpered, but I could tell she was hurting for me. “There’s nothing to fix, Casper. The future isn’t something you can avoid.” Her smile still hadn’t faltered. “Whatever happens, I’m just glad we found each other. I need you to accept this, so I can accept it.”
“You’re giving up?” I shouted.
“No.” She shook her head. “When that moment comes, I’m going to fight for life with everything I have… but I can’t spend the time I have left worrying. I can’t let the fear of death rule my life.” She gripped the locket again.
Knowing the future was going to make me– us– crazy. I had to have hope though that the future wasn’t set in stone, and that this seer-lady didn’t know what she saw in Evee’s future. I could feel in my heart that Evee wasn’t going to die, because I would do anything to prevent it.
We sat on the beach and watched the stars for a while in a solemn silence. I played with the sand, building a mound-like sand castle as I attempted to work out the future in my head, but I didn’t have that extra-human trait. The future was a mystery.
“I think it’s time to go,” Evee said. “I want to make sure I get home before my dad.”
I stood up and walked to the edge of the water with my back turned to Evee. I wasn’t going to let the fear of her possible death ruin this night for me. I turned around and held out my hand for her to take.
“Let’s go,” I said, half-smiling. She walked to where I stood and placed her hand in mine. We lifted off the ground at the same time as the weightlessness spread over us, and we flew over the water. I watched our reflection on the water’s dark surface. Evee stared at the image of my face in the water and smiled at me.
She reached out so that she could touch the lake’s surface with her hand. Her fingers grazed the lake, causing water to sprinkle on our feet. I mocked Evee by placing my free hand in the water as well and watched as the image of us was disrupted. I began to take us higher so that I could find Fallon and the base. I flew at a ninety-degree angle into the sky, hoping my sense of direction wouldn’t fail me.
We finally found Fallon. There weren’t as many lights on as when we left. The base proved to be even harder to find, but I knew where it should have been in relation to Fallon. I slowly lowered us towards the base, looking for Evee’s house and keeping a lookout for patrolling soldiers.
“There it is,” Evee said. She pointed at her house, but I couldn’t tell which one she was pointing at because all of them looked the same. As we neared the street, I figured out which house she meant, and we were both thankful to see that Colonel Ford still hadn’t returned. His car was gone.
“Does he leave you by yourself often?” I asked. I would have thought he was too over-protective to do that.
“It’s a Military Base, Casper,” Evee said. She gestured to the compound’s tall perimeter fence. “If there’s any place he can leave me alone, it’s here.”
I found it ironic that the safest place for Evee was actually closest to the enemy. I reminded myself that they didn’t pose a threat to her or me as long as we stayed quiet about what we knew. We had to go on pretending like nothing was wrong, and we would be fine.
I found the open window to Evee’s room, holding her hand as she entered.
Gravity hit her hard when she let go of my hand, and she fell. “Ouch!” She turned back to me outside the window. “This has been the most amazing night of my life.”
I hovered in the space between her window and the tree again, letting my feet use a branch for stability. “Me too,” I said. “I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to do it again, though– Uncle Jesse is going to kill me when he finds out what I’ve done.”
“I want to be there when you tell your parents tomorrow,” she said.
“Of course,” I said. I’d rehearsed what I would say to my parents several times in my head, and I had always pictured Evee being there. “Just come over to my place after school.”
“I’ll probably come here first and come in my phantom body,” she said.
I liked her extra-human trait, but it meant that I wouldn’t be able to touch her. “Okay.” I often forgot whether she was in her phantom body or not. I usually had to be reminded several times because my urge to hug her got the best of me, and I’d go straight through her.
She reached out for my hand and I gave it to her. She pulled me towards her, wrapping an arm around my neck, so that we could share one last kiss before I left. “I love you,” she said, her cyan aura flashing with the words.
“I love you too.” The phrase was easier to say the second time, but the meaning had doubled, losing none of its potency.
I backed away from the window and waved goodbye to her. She reached out to shut the glass.
I sped off into the air until Fallon came into my view. I made a direct course to where my house should be. I couldn’t see any vehicles on the roads so I decided to fly lower. I wanted to be closer to the building tops and really see the town. I flew over the school, half tempted to time how long it would take to get to my house. I raced down Main Street, running all the stop signs from above. I was depressed this would be the last time I would ever fly this freely. Maybe I was stupid to risk flying tonight, but I hadn’t been seen.
I let myself in my window, and as gravity gripped hold of me again, exhaustion hit. Flying all night used a lot of energy, apparently. I collapsed in bed and waited for a knock on my door, but it never came. I guessed Uncle Jesse wasn’t going to try and lecture me. I thought that maybe he had actually managed to fall asleep when I heard silence from his room. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide it from him for long. He would probably discover what I had done tonight or at breakfast in the morning.
I closed my eyes and fell asleep, thinking how I would never let something happen to Evee. I was ready to fight the future.
HEADLINES
Evee:
I hummed a soft melody. A part of me was unaware of my voice’s dulcet tones as I dried my hair in my bathroom. I still had ten minutes to get ready for school according to my clock. My night with Casper allowed me to escape all my worries, but I was sure they would catch back up with me once the magic of our evening faded. I was almost ready for school, putting on the last of my make-up, when I heard noises downstairs.
I heard Dad stir in the kitchen as he made his breakfast. He’d been absent when Casper brought me back to the house last night, and I had no clue when he arrived home. The important thing was that he didn’t discover that I had snuck out with Casper, which would have been the end of my dating life and quite possibly the end of Casper’s life. There was a small rush in defying Dad, which also contributed to my good mood.
The light clinks and clanks of silverw
are against glass bowls carried into my room from the kitchen. I checked myself in the mirror, smoothed a few wrinkles out of my shirt, and headed down the stairs. As I walked down the steps, a loud crash of glass shattering erupted, followed by Dad’s heavy footsteps, which vibrated the whole house. I paused halfway down the stairs, unsure whether to enter the kitchen or not.
“DAMMIT!” Dad yelled.
His voice made me jump, scaring me so bad I felt my heart skip a beat. His tantrum was just beginning when he cursed again and a trembling wind of frozen slush and snow exploded out of the kitchen.
“Evee, get down here!” he demanded.
I wondered if I was in trouble, but there was no way he could know about last night. I entered the kitchen, where a thin layer of frost covered the walls and tile floor under Dad’s feet. Something was definitely wrong. Dad rarely lost control of his extra-human trait. Frozen air circulated the kitchen with a few snowflakes settling to the ground. I stepped on the cold, slippery tile floor, trying to keep my balance. I shivered, but I didn’t know whether to attribute it to the cold air or Dad’s rage.
“Yes?” I answered.
He didn’t look at me. He hovered over something on the bar I couldn’t see. “You’re staying here today. Use your ability to go to school if you want to go.”
“But Dad…”
“No buts,” he interrupted. “I’ll call James Vance and make sure he knows you’ll be attending school in your phantom body today.” He walked out of the kitchen. I knew there would be no arguing with him when his car started and he drove away without me.
If I used my ability to go to school, I wouldn’t be able to interact with anything. I wouldn’t be able to hold my books or use a pencil to take notes. What bothered me most was that I wouldn’t be able to touch Casper, who would be equally disappointed he couldn’t touch me. Since I’d arrived in Fallon, I’d barely had to use my ability at all. I felt a semblance of what Casper must have felt when he thought he was human.
I walked over to the bar to see what had upset Dad, half-expecting to find some classified documents, but he knew better than to leave something important lying out. I was surprised to find it was only a newspaper, barely unfolded, but it was obvious what had upset Dad. I gasped when I saw the front-page picture. There was a shadowy figure flying above a street in Fallon, just above a roof top on Main street– obviously flying– obviously Casper. I skimmed the article, only catching a few phrases: Person witnessed flying... Identity unknown… First person on record to fly… Four eyewitness accounts.
I rushed up to my room, not bothering to clean up Dad’s mess in the kitchen. I threw my backpack in a corner and got back in bed. I concentrated hard on the school building, and as if I had teleported, I appeared under the shaded, green oasis in a crowd of students, who looked at me with shocked faces.
None of them had ever seen me use my ability. Their bewildered expressions increased when I ran straight through Allen Young’s body to get out of the herd, but something distracted most everyone from my odd behavior. Everyone had a copy of the paper, reading the front-page article and acting eager to show anyone who hadn’t seen it as if it were contraband. I ran towards my first period class, hoping to find Casper. I had to warn him. His ability had been exposed, and my father knew it, which meant that Zana knew it too.
Casper:
The house was unusually quiet while I sat at the bar having my breakfast. Mom was already gone, but I could hear Dad stirring in his room. Uncle Jesse’s door was shut and I was sure he was mad at me for using my ability. He wouldn’t be having breakfast with me for a while. I felt guilty for disobeying him and making him worry, but at the same time, I couldn’t regret the experience of flying.
I had mixed feelings about the previous night, keeping me awake for several hours. In many ways, flying with Evee had been the most romantic experience of my life, but it was also shrouded in a darkness that troubled my mind and chilled my heart. Evee believed that she would die as the psychic lady predicted. It wasn’t just Evee’s life I was worried for now. It was both of our lives. Evee was predicted to die, and her father would kill me if he knew I could fly. There was a duality to his personality, and I hoped that he cared more for Evee than his job. I no longer trusted him.
The fear of our deaths caused a sick, gut-wrenching feeling in my stomach, dimming my aura. What worried me most was that Evee had accepted the prediction as if it was unavoidable. Dad walked into the kitchen, straightening his pastel green tie. His ruby aura shined brighter than mine and covered the kitchen in its glow.
“Have you seen the paper this morning?” he asked me, sipping his coffee mug.
He rose with the sun to get the paper– his morning routine. I was incapable of waking up any earlier than I already had to for school, so it was silly to think I knew where the newspaper would be.
“Haven’t seen it,” I responded. “Maybe the paperboy missed our house this morning.” For as long as I could remember, I couldn’t recall a morning when the paper wasn’t delivered.
Dad shrugged, considering my possible explanation. “Do you know what’s wrong with your uncle? He’s been in his room since yesterday. He hasn’t come out.”
I tried to look surprised that something was wrong. “I don’t know.” My aura blinked with my dishonesty. “Maybe he just needs some alone time.” I knew the reason he was upset, but I wanted to wait to explain the reason to my parents after school. Dad didn’t question me any further.
He finished his coffee and placed his mug in the sink. “Well I’m off to try and find a paper.” He disappeared from the kitchen.
The sight of him teleporting made me wish that I could use my EHT to travel.
I checked Uncle Jesse’s door before I left the house. It was still closed and I wondered if he was sleeping or avoiding me.
I’m telling them tonight, I thought for him to hear. His room remained silent. I would have to wait until after school to talk to him. I knew he would still want to be there when I told my parents.
The seven-minute trek to campus this morning felt longer in my mind when I considered how fast I could fly there. As soon as I exited my car, I could feel that something was different at school. The students were still sitting around waiting for the bell to ring, but there was something weird that drew their attention.
Adam and I spotted each other on opposite sides of the crowd of students, and he teleported to my side in a second.
“Have you seen the paper this morning?” he asked with a serious tone. The dark bags under his eyes made his face difficult to read. His complexion looked pale, and he’d lost more weight in the face.
“The paper boy missed our house this morning,” I said. I wondered what I had missed and considered the odds of the paperboy failing to deliver the paper on the morning something interesting happened. I noticed that nearly everyone had a copy of the newspaper.
“He didn’t miss your house,” Adam informed me. “The paper was late this morning because there was an emergency printing last night. Some guy just dropped off a stack here.” Adam pulled the paper from his back pocket and held it up for me to see. My heart sank as I saw the blurred picture of a figure flying above Main Street.
I grabbed the paper out of his hands to make sure I was seeing correctly, panic consuming my every thought as I examined the photograph. My aura was gone and I could feel the fear take over. Adam pulled me towards the Shoal statue. I couldn’t think: I couldn’t breathe. The headline was obviously the topic of everyone’s morning.
PERSON WITNESSED FLYING
An unknown person was witnessed flying by four civilians of Fallon last night. People have been told that the ability to fly is impossible. It has always seemed odd that among so many gifted people around the land with a wide diversity of extra-human traits, that the ability to fly has never manifested in a person. There have been rumors over the years, but never any proof. History changed last night! But the question everyone will be asking is: Who changed it?
Jin Young, a professional photographer and camera builder of Fallon, was working late last night when he saw something fly over his shop on Main Street. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. All I knew was that I had to get proof.” He took his camera to the press immediately after snapping a single photo. After the editor, Homer Allen, saw the picture, he ordered an emergency printing with the picture on the front page.
The identity of the person in the picture has yet to be determined. “It was dark, and the person could fly very fast. The person did loop-de-loops and figure eights in the air. Luckily, I already had my camera in hand.”
At least four people had eyewitness accounts of seeing a person flying above the city. Each of them contacted soldiers and the newspaper.
“It was important for this picture to get out,” Allen reported.
Military officials and Doctors have not been available for comments. Editor Homer Allen commented that he works hand in hand with the Military on many stories, and he was sure the Military would be releasing more information once they found the person.
I folded the paper up, instantly regretting my actions from last night. Adam talked to me as we walked past the Shoal statue, but I couldn’t focus on his words. I stopped in the shadow of the giant stone Shoal. My reality crashed and burned around me, and for a few seconds I felt completely detached. My heartbeat and breathing were the only sounds I could detect as if all noises outside my body were eerily silenced. The face in the picture was too blurry to determine, but somehow I could tell it was mine. Hopefully, nobody else would recognize me. Would this one picture be the death of me?
