The Flight of freedom - 2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I started to pace around the room. How was I going to get rid of these wings? I stopped and looked in the mirror, they were still there. What was going to happen when they go? Where would they go? Ohhh God, is it going to hurt!?! I haven’t touched them but I really want to; they look so soft and beautiful. I tried to flex one of the wings so I could run my hand down its length. First I tried to move my arms thinking that it would move the wings, nope. After trying different arm movements, I decided on moving and stretching my shoulders. This didn’t work either! At this point I was starting to lose all hope of feeling them while they were still there.

I looked back to the mirror and sighed. The wings drooped down my back! So they must be in sync with my emotions… I felt happy at the realisation and then they started to fold back neatly at the top of my back. Hmmmmm… now that I knew they would move depending on my mood, I tried to think about how to get rid of them before school started in four hours.

I dropped down onto my bed and rolled onto my side, this was going from bad to worse. I dreamt of flying and kissing Jayden and now I'm wide-awake, feeling horny, and I want to get rid of these amazing wings. And without any real conscious thought I rolled onto my back and I moved them! I didn’t know how but they moved; they moved to cover my body, like a feathery cocoon. Now that I was wrapped in my wings I felt so happy. I could feel them, and as my fingers were cold I slowly stroked my left wing. I shuddered at the feeling of my cold fingers. It was like I was running a feather over my skin but in reverse. It was so hard to even comprehend. I couldn’t even piece all of my thoughts together anymore.

After running my hand over the brown and silver-flecked wings I wanted to see how far I could go, and how much power I had. At this point I was beyond caring. I was living in the now. I would deal with the consequences later. I knew there was more to this than just having wings. Walking over to the window, I began to draw back the curtains and look out into the predawn world.

The sun was yet to show its golden head over the horizon and now was a good a time as ever to see how far I could take this. Could I fly on these wings that adorned my back? Or would I fall to the ground and cause untold damage to myself? With the window acting like the last mental barrier before the unknown, I decided to test my limits.

I opened the window and took in the cold morning air. I could feel every hair on my arms rise to greet the coolness of the world. I shut my eyes and took deep breaths, everything in my body felt alive and free. I climbed up into the open window and sat on the ledge. Could I really fly with these wings? A small part of me really wanted to jump and hope everything would go to plan, but I thought about breaking bones and decided against it.

So I climbed onto the roof instead and took my usual spot. I sat there and let my eyes drift shut. I wanted so badly to understand all of this. Giving up on finding an answer right away, I let my mind go back to the dream. Jayden Pine was there. He kissed me! I let my finger gently rub over my lip. It felt so real.

Thinking of Jayden made things south of the bodily border grow. And in jogging pants it grew without many constraints. At first I was embarrassed, but I'm at home, and no one was awake. I let my emotions wash over my body, feeling everything I felt in the dream in real time. Experiencing everything like it was brand new. The only thing missing way my Jay- MY JAYDEN?! Where on earth did that sprout from? He wasn’t mine nor will he ever be. His quiet “bad boy” persona probably let him have more than his fair share of the ladies. After that thought everything quickly went limp. I wasn’t a jealous guy but the thought of him being with anyone made me feel terrible.

After a few moments of peace I opened my eyes to see the sunrise over the tree line. This was taking too long, the wings were still here and soon my mum would awaken to find her only son looking like some sort of fallen angel. I didn’t want to freak her out, yet she probably would. As the panic started to rise within me like a tidal wave, I felt a small tickling sensation run down my spine. I looked over my shoulder and the wings were gone. Just like that. No feathers dropped to the floor, no bones were crunched, there was only a small tickly pain that signalled the disappearance of my wings.

Relief flooded my body at the thought of not having to walk around with them all day long. And I did a small happy dance with my hands. I smiled and looked towards the sky. Life was now back to normal. Well, a little more unusual than normal, but still I could attend hellish college and see all the nasty kids that go there. And at least my mum wouldn’t find out about my little feathery side.

Taking one last look at my surroundings I made my way back into my room. With the window now shut firmly behind me, I closed my eyes and let out a small sigh. I felt weirdly lost. I shouldn’t feel this way but I did. I felt nostalgic yet jealous of my dream. I wanted that in real life. I want Jayden Pine. There I've said it, at least to myself. I wanted to hold his scarred hands and kiss his lips while I looked up into his brown eyes.

Shaking my head of the images that involved Jayden, I slowly walked to my mirror and began checking out my back. Other than two small scars that ran down either side of my spine, there was no hugely visible sign that I had sprouted wings. These must be where my wings were hidden.

I pulled on a t-shirt that had been dumped on the floor and crept from my room to the small bathroom that was situated at the top of the stairs. Reaching the sink I let the warm water flow free from the tap. After letting it warm up I grabbed a small hand towel and dunked it into the warm water. Once I thought that the towel was wet enough I slapped it onto my face. The warmth from the towel felt amazing. It relaxed the muscles in my face and removed the evidence of sleep from my eyes.

Leaving the bathroom I walked downstairs to find everything in its place. Ever since I was little my mother liked everything in certain places. I used to move things to see what she would do, but as I got older I noticed her fearful glances around the house like she was looking for signs from the heavens. I couldn’t understand what she was so afraid of so I quickly stopped doing it. Helping myself to some cereal I sat at the table and ate. Pausing to look at the clock I saw that it was now 7am. My mum would be waking up soon. And sure enough, I heard her bed squeak and her bones crack. As she used the bathroom I contemplated going to college or staying home. Deciding against the latter, I walked up the stairs and quickly dressed. I checked myself out in the mirror and decided that I looked all right. Maybe I could even try and talk to the Pine brothers, and ask why they didn’t seem to like me.

I walked back downstairs and went into the kitchen while I thought about talking to the Pine brothers. My newfound confidence surprised me and I blushed at the thought of seeing Jayden. As I was sitting there blushing like a fool my mum came through the kitchen door and made her way to the sink.

“Morning, Emmett.” I looked up at saw her and with the sun shining out from behind her, I couldn’t see her angelic features.

“Morning, Mumma.”

“You were up early this morning sweet, is everything okay?” Shit, shit, shitty shit! I was screwed; I didn’t think she had heard me!

“Ermm, yeah everything’s okay, just a weird dream is all.” A small bead of sweat trickled its way down my neck and I moved my hand up to rub it away but my mum noticed and reached her hand over to feel my forehead.

“Emmett, bubba, you feel like you can fry a egg. Do you wanna stay home today?” Her eyes were filled with concern. Did she know something?

“Naww, I'm okay Mum, it’s Tuesday, I don’t want to start the year off badly.”

Her eyebrows furrowed together and it looked like she had a small caterpillar scrabbling across her forehead. I smiled and hoped to assure her.

“Mumma, I will be fine, don’t worry about me.”

She sighed and left me to my thoughts while she made her breakfast. After making small talk about the day ahead I left her to eat. I walked back upstairs to my bedroom and sorted my bag out for the day. I hope today was going to be better than yesterday.

The morning went by without any problems. I had told my mum that I would walk home again; it was forecasted to be nice every day except Friday. Everyone at college was being normal and no one pushed me into my locker. Everything was looking good.

When first break came around I was walking through the main hallway, when I rounded a corner and saw Michael and Brian standing at their lockers and talking quietly to each other.

Picking up the pace I walked past the two brothers and went to my own locker which held the books that I needed for the next lesson. After I swapped my books I was just about to shut the door when all of a sudden the locker door made a noise that sounded like chalk on a board.

The noise was so loud and unexpected that I blushed madly and looked around to see who was in the hall with me. Thankfully only Michael and Brian were nearby. When I glanced over to where they were standing I noticed that they were both looking at me. Brian had a small smile puckering at the corners of his mouth, while Michael was looking worried.

As I turned my head back around, I thought to myself that Brian seemed to always be happy yet Michael never did. I blushed again at how stupid the thought sounded in my head. I tried to think of the boys in another way. Hmmm… yin and yang I suppose. Yes, they were like yin and yang.

After failing a couple more times trying to shut my locker, I heard a chuckle and I felt a presence come up behind me.

“Do you need any help there, kid?”

I knew instantly that the voice belonged to Brian. I needed to reply quickly or he would think I was a brain dead idiot…

“Y- No, I mean, yes! Oh God.” I really wanted the floor to open wide like a demon’s mouth and swallow me whole. I could feel my cheeks fill with blood and heat.

He smiled and reached his arm in front of me, grabbing the front of my locker.

“Grab whatever’s in the way and throw it to the back.”

Slowly moving my hand forward I fumbled around for the book and threw it to the back of my locker. As I withdrew my hand Brian quickly slammed my locker with enough force to shut it, possibly for all of eternity

“Thanks for helping me out, I would have been here forever.” He smiled down at me and with a small wink and then he and Michael left.

As I went to my next class I began to notice more and more that Jayden wasn’t anywhere to be seen. So I used my heightened hearing to see if anyone else was bothered about his disappearance. After making such a good introduction with everyone the day before, he was already considered a popular bad boy, even John behaved in his presence.

And after a couple of minutes I realised that no one was talking about him. Absolutely nothing about my m- MY MAN?? He wasn’t my man, probably wouldn’t ever be, he might be as straight as an arrow. Oh well, you always covet what you can’t have.

When the school day ended and it was time to go home, I walked the same path as I had the day before. Yesterday the streets were thriving with the sounds of nature. Today was eerily quiet. A few birds dared to call out but they quickly quieted. Looking around me I saw that no one else was walking along this path, yet I felt like I was being followed so I picked up the pace and hoped to get home before my imagination got the better of me.

Once I was home I set my bag on the stairs and went to fix myself a drink. There was something about the walk home that made my body fill with an uneasy dread. I stood in the kitchen and thought about the people that knew this pathway. Not very many people did, a few neighbours used it to walk their dogs but this was different.

I nervously laughed out loud and went to the stairs to grab my newly acquired homework.

Michael’s P.O.V.:

Damn it!!! Jayden’s gonna be so fucking pissed!! We promised to keep an eye on him, not creep the guy out! Picking up my clothes I heard Brian blunder through the bushes.

A large lynx stopped in front of me, here was my twin.

“Jayden is gonna kill us you dope, do you ever use your brain, Brian?”

Brian lifted his head and growled softly, and then suddenly in his place stood a naked Brian.

“Hey, we were following his orders, better we accidently freak Emmett out than Jayden swooping down and lifting him up and screwing him to complete their mating!”

“I know, but he KNEW something was there, didn’t you see him freeze up?”

Brian rolled his eyes and laughed as he was putting on his trousers.

“Yeah I know, right! This kid’s gonna be a handful. Anyway, Jay doesn’t need to know that he freaked out, it’s not like Emmett is going to say anything.”

As we walked back to our house I thought about his comment. The poor guy didn’t know he was a shifter, which meant that he was either adopted or his parents were outcasts. Although today he smelled different, kinda like Jay but stuffier, nonetheless, it was a strange scent.

We were greeted by Jayden as soon as we got to our front door. I could sense that Jayden knew what we had done. I didn’t know how but he did.

“Now then boys, what’s gone on?” He said with a hint of a smirk, showing that he wasn’t totally angry.

Brian started to smile. “We kept an eye on him so don’t get your knickers in a twist, jeez. Yeah, he might have guessed something was up, but he didn’t see us.”

I wanted to hide my face, Brian was so easygoing. Even though we were twins we were so different, I was the brains and he was the muscle. That fucker was playing us!

“Brian, he knows.” I groaned.

Jayden smiled at me and put his hands on my shoulders. “It’s good to see you have the brains.” He started laughing. Before he found Emmett, life for Jayden was boring and he was quite a cold-hearted bastard. Mum is dying to meet Emmett and thank him for the change in Jay. Getting mated to someone is a big deal. If it weren’t for Emmett not knowing, I think Jayden would have had him in his arms by now. Staying away from Emmett has made things tense but thankfully he listened to our father.

I cringed as I thought back to what happened last night. After finding out that Jayden has found his mate, Mum was crying with happiness and Dad was happy, yet that all changed when Brian opened his mouth and spoke before he thought about what he was going to say.

“Jay, don’t forget he hasn’t shifted yet…” Mum’s mouth dropped so suddenly that I thought it would break from her jaw. Dad, well that’s a whole other story. His hands balled up and his face slowly went red.

“Not… yet… shifted…?” he gasped. “How can this be?”

Looking over at Jayden I could see his back starting to arch; he was close to shifting. I looked to Mum for help on the situation.

“Mikey, Bri, get your brother out into the woods.” I sighed, thank God Mum was here. Things could have gotten ugly.

Grabbing Jayden by the shoulders for the second time that day we managed to get our trembling brother out the back door before he feathered up.

He turned to us and his face was a mask of fury yet his eyes showed his sadness.

“How could Dad get so angry about him being a newbie?”

While I thought up a decent response I wasn’t shocked to hear Brian pipe up.

“Jay, buddy, you have to see why this isn’t exactly going to plan… Being a newbie to the shifter world isn’t exactly easy, you know this. You have to learn and learn fast. There are rules and the hierarchy.” Jayden’s wings quickly retracted as he calmed down and listened to reason.

After five minutes of sitting with Jayden we heard the back door open. Our father stood there with his arms covering his chest.

Before he could begin speaking, Jayden declared, “One way or another he will be mine and nothing is going to stop me from getting him.” His outburst shocked me to my core; not only did he cut Dad off, but he spoke using his heart. Jayden stood staring at his hands while he waited to see Dad’s reaction.

“Jayden, you are my oldest son. I love you with all my being, but you cannot see the boy yet; you know the rules, he has to shift first.” He placed his hand on Jayden’s shoulder and looked into his eyes. And for the first time in years, Jayden cried.

Shaking my head from my flashback I closed the front door behind me and went to greet my parents. Things weren’t going to be easy on the new couple.