Flames and Starlight

Dinner was quiet as usual. Other than brief comments about their day, no one said anything. There really was nothing to say anymore. All the joy and life had been sucked out of their home. After Michael died, everything somehow felt incredibly empty yet suffocating. It felt like the silence was never-ending yet the walls were closing in.

Peter studied his parents as they ate. Both of their faces were grave and drawn, making them appear ten years older. The traumatic event of losing a child had aged them considerably. Hollow shells of themselves had replaced Peter’s once happy and energetic parents.

The urge to get out of there crashed over him. He knew that he should stay and be there with his parents but seeing the sorrow on their faces was too much. As selfish as it was he couldn’t take another second of seeing them like this. The silence and the feeling of the walls closing in on him were too much to bear.

He quickly wolfed down the rest of his food and said, “I’m going to fly for a little bit.”

His mother frowned at him. “I don’t think it’ll be safe with everything going on and. . .” Michael. He knew that’s what she was thinking.“What about curfew?”

“I’ll just fly around the area and be back before curfew. I need to get out for a little while. Staying cooped up here is making me feel worse.”

He left before his mother could say anything else. He knew his exit was abrupt but he had to escape. He could feel them watching him as he left and tried to shake the small pang of guilt that plagued him.

He quickly walked down the long winding hallways out of his building and took the stairs instead of the elevator. There was a line and he couldn’t stand waiting in a line. He said hello to his neighbors that he walked by but didn’t stop to talk.

He walked out of the building and onto the sidewalk. He closed his eyes and shifted into a sparrow. He opened his eyes when his transformation was finished and took to the sky.

He found himself flying toward the RCU area, or more specifically, the Raven City Supernatural Shelter. Classes were closed until the end of the week and a part of him wondered why he was there though the answer came to him as he gazed at the shelter.

He shifted into his original form and stared at the shelter. He didn’t know why he wanted to see Hannah so badly. He couldn’t get her out of his head since he dropped her off. He tried to pawn it off as him just wanting to check how she was doing but he knew it was more.

He thought back to what Ruben said about letting a strange girl he didn’t know stay at his apartment the night he first met her. He still wondered what got into him. He didn’t know why this girl intrigued him so much. Was it because she had been a supernatural inside the Human ealm? Was it because he needed a distraction from Michael’s death? Both answers were more than likely correct.

Peter sighed and rubbed the back of his head. He thought about what Jonathan would say. Jonathan would more than likely tell him to not try to get himself involved in someone else’s problems and to focus on himself instead. He knew that was the right and logical thing to do, but lately, nothing in his life was right and logical. Hell, he might as well go ahead and see her since he was there.

He walked inside and approached the front desk where a female vampire was sitting behind it, tapping away on her computer. She looked up when he approached.

“Hello,” he greeted her. “I wanted to see a sup that’s staying here. Her name is Hannah Carson and she’s a human-sorceress hybrid.”

“She went out a while ago to apply for a job and will be back later. Would you like me to leave a message for when she gets back?”

Peter felt a huge wave of disappointment crash over him that took him by surprise. He tried to keep his face neutral, hoping his expression didn’t convey the conflicting emotions he was feeling. “Yeah, you can tell her Peter Lewis stopped by to see how she’s doing.”

“I’ll tell her as soon as she gets back.”

“Thank you.”

He walked out and chastised himself for being so disappointed. He really needed to get a grip on himself. He had to quit obsessing over a girl he only knew for two days. In fact, he needed to forget her altogether.

He shifted back into a sparrow and flew into the sky again. He was suddenly tired, all of the pent-up energy he felt earlier gone. He wanted to go home and rest for a little bit.

As he flew, the exhaustion grew more with each second that passed. He struggled to keep his eyes open and felt himself falter. He started to fly down, knowing he was about to crash. He needed to land and try to find another way home.

He was flying down to land when suddenly excruciating pain ripped through his body. He cried out and felt himself falling as his wings were suddenly unusable. He could see the ground rushing up to meet him and then. . nothing.