“You are a force of nature. You’ve made yourself into a storm that rages all the more as it feeds upon itself.” She lets her warm hands rest on my cool ones as she continues. “You don’t need the fog anymore. Think of who you could be without it. You expend so much of your energies, keeping it firmly in place. You’ve gotten so used to operating at half power you don’t even remember what it is like to truly unleash.”
It was only a dream. I turned back to the sea and sat on the ground, bringing my knees to my chest. My wings opened, and I wrapped them around myself. It started to rain, which seemed fitting. I wiped at my face, trying to clear the hurt and sorrow I felt at the loss of something, no, someone so dear to me.
The doppelganger nods, moving behind me and merging with my shadow. I shake from the severe cold I feel, but it is only temporary. I look down at my shadow and see his wings flare behind me/us. I catch my reflection in a mirror behind the counter and blink. My right eye has gone pure black. I leave the store and step out into bright sunlight.
Closing my diary, I smiled at the memory of how I had not only found my best friend, but that it turned out she held a missing piece of me.
Okay, I forgot my own strength and shoved the door off its hinges, knocking the man over. Feeling my wings push against my tattoo, I concentrated to hold them back.
That night, I went on patrol of the city, buzzing past the other high rises, racing as fast as could. I flew to the top of Olympus Mountain and listened to the sounds of the frogs in the river below. The cool breeze ruffled through my wings as I stood on the mountain top.
I can hear the blood racing through my head. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this nervous and disenchanted. Not even on Aeaea. At least there’s room to spread my wings over there.
I do not cover my face. My tears are for them. I grieve for them. I mourn for them. The remorse I feel is like a weight that would pull a mortal soul to the very depths of Tartarus. I sob my apology.
I return his punches, the anger giving me inordinate strength, and between returning strikes, the truth slips from me. “She! Took! My! Wings!”
The scythe cutting through the limb, the blood, the feathers falling from me, the agony, the feeling of horror, despair, betrayal.
