Phoenix

I awoke when I felt something dropped on my chest and a rush of air come at my face. Opening my eyes, I saw Raphael looking very pleased with himself, and a dead lizard on my chest. I took the lizard by the tail and picked it up.

It was pretty gross actually, the body was already in rigor mortis, and the skin was starting to peel off. But, I knew that Raphael was pleased with himself for finding it. “Good job, Raphael,” I said, stroking the feathers on the bird’s head. He cawed at my touch, and Jazz woke up.

“Dear God, what is that?” he asked, looking at the dead lizard in my hand with disgust.

“Raphael caught it, it’s a lizard,” I said, still petting the hawk.

Jazz had a look of horror on his face. “It’s disgusting that animals would kill other animals,” he said. “Please get rid of it.”

I looked at it and then back to Jazz, raising my eyebrow. “It’s free food, and that’s called the food chain,” I said.

He shook his head. “It’s disgusting,” he argued. Since I didn’t really want to argue with him, I put the lizard carcass on the ground, a few feet away from us, and stood up, leaving the cave. Jazz and Raphael followed me.

“How far away from town are we?” I asked him, not seeing anything in the distance.

“About a half a day’s walk,” he said.

I sighed. Walking was so terribly boring. “How about flying?” I asked.

He frowned, and I remembered that he was afraid of heights. “Come on, it’ll be loads faster if we fly, and it’s really not that bad being in the air,” I prompted.

Jazz sighed, then looked at me. “I guess,” he said. I smiled and stretched out my wings, letting them extend behind me. Without giving him a chance to change his mind, I grabbed him, holding him beneath the arms, and took off, beating my wings to gain altitude.

“Jesus Christ, do you have to fly so high!?” Jazz asked as I rose higher in the air.

I laughed. “Yes, I do. Now which way do I go?”

He pointed towards a speck of grey I could see a few miles off. I started flying towards it, Raphael following me.

“Don’t look down,” I warned Jazz as we flew. Of course, he looked down when I said that. Suddenly he became much heavier, and I realized that he must have fainted. I laughed, then shifted his weight so I could still carry him. I swooped closer to the town, which was now becoming visible to me, letting us land gently behind a large boulder not far from the town’s gates.

I shook Jazz, trying to wake him up. Eventually he came to. “You fainted,” I informed him as his eyes opened.

He sighed. “I really don’t like flying,” he said, standing up.

I laughed. “No, you don’t. Anyways, let’s go to the town, we’re only a little ways away,” I said, starting to walk out from behind the boulder.

Jazz grabbed my arm. “You can’t just walk into the town. Look at yourself,” he said.

I looked down, and realized I was wearing the white Government clothes. White stood for Mutant. No one was supposed to wear white in cities. Not only that, but mine were bloodstained. I would stand out.

“I’ll go to the town, and come back with some different clothes for you,” Jazz said.

I nodded, knowing that it would be best if I didn’t go with him, even if I didn’t want to wait. He walked away, headed towards the town. Raphael looked at me and cawed. I sat down, my back against the boulder and Raphael hopped next to me.

“You’re a smart bird, aren’t you?” I asked him. He cawed in response. I raised my hand and stroked the feathers on his head. When I stopped, he pecked gently at my hand.

Then he suddenly flew off, towards the town. I got up, looking where he was going. His golden wing tip glistened under the red glow of the sky. He swooped down in the town, then flew back out to where I was.

A loaf of bread fell into my lap, then Raphael landed next to me. He squawked. “Well, thank you,” I said, picking up the bread. It was still warm. I pulled it into two pieces, saving one of them for Jazz. I took a bite of my piece, then pulled off another piece for Raphael. I held it out to him, and he picked it up in his beak, throwing his head back and swallowing it. Birds like Raphael fascinate me.

I finished up my bread and then waited for Jazz. Awhile later, he showed up with a pair of new clothes for me.

“Where’d you get food?” he asked, handing me the clothes and picking up the half loaf of bread I had left him.

“Raphael,” I answered, taking the clothes.

Jazz rolled his eyes. “I need to check your bandage,” he said. I turned around and pulled off my white shirt, leaving me in the wrap I had around my chest, along with the bandage I had on my back.

“You’re bleeding through it again. We’ll have to change it when we’re in town and we can get some real bandages,” he said. I nodded and pulled the black short sleeve shirt he had brought me. It clung to my skin, tighter than the clothes I had worn in the shows. Jazz turned around, so I stood up and pulled off the Government issue white pants and put the pants he had brought me on. They were black as well, and also clung to my skin.

I turned to Jazz. “Done,” I said.

He turned around and saw me. He inhaled sharply, looking me up and down. His eyes returned to my face, and then he spoke.“Not quite,” he said, handing me black boots. I took them. Pulling off my white shoes, I put on the boots, lacing them up over my pants. They came up to my knees.

“You look good,” he said. Looking at him, I realized that he must have changed as well, because his grey Guard uniform was replaced with a black outfit like mine.

“Well let’s go. It’s time for my first positive social interaction in fourteen years,” I said, walking towards the town. Jazz followed me.

“We need to get supplies, so if we aren’t as lucky as we have been, near the river, we won’t die out here. We also need bandages for you,” Jazz said as we walked.

Soon we were at the gate of the town. The Guard at the gate let us in, no questions asked. Clearly I passed for human. We went into the town, soon reaching a sort of marketplace.

“I’m going to get some medical supplies,” Jazz said. “Wait here,” he said.

He walked over to a stall across the street. I looked around, seeing a woman wearing several bright colors in a stall on the opposite side of the street. She looked at me and beckoned me over to her. I ignored what Jazz had said about telling me to stay put and walked over to her.

“I am a fortune teller,” she said. “I can read your fortune, if you’d like.”

I nodded, curious as to what my fortune would be. “Give me your hand,” she said.

I extended my hand to her, and she started to look at it. Her eyes traced over the lines in my hand. “You have a great future ahead of you. Change lies ahead. You have known suffering, and pain. You long for revenge, and you will have it. Love is closer for you than you think. And…” she trailed off.

“What?” I asked her, curious.

She met my eyes, her face grave. “You will die within a half year.”

I blinked at her. Is this woman really telling me that I’m going to die before I’m old?