Brave Fear (boyxboy)

Chapter 31

When the daylight waned, Marcus transformed.

In the guise of a sparrow, he flew out the window to survey the city from the air. Daisy offered to go with, but a human being flying through the air was more noticeable than a small bird. Zane, being unfamiliar with birds, gawked at the perfectly organized feathers and weightlessness that enabled Marcus to fly. His flight was allowed by the laws of physics, whereas Daisy's was not.

Joseph and Jonas, too, watched Marcus fly away with veiled awe. Being in New Vancouver, wildlife simply hadn't existed. Here, though, in the midst of a recovering environment, life abounded. Zane had seen a deer on the walk to London and had paused for nearly a minute to admire the simple magnificence of the creature.

This unfamiliarity with the natural world opened a rift between the former New Vancouver citizens and their friends. Zane, Joseph and Jonas were absolutely stupefied whereas Mallory, Anastasia and Daisy took it as a simple fact of life, a constant. Zane once again felt left out, as if he didn't know something that was common knowledge.

Zane realized something in the span of a second; the sheer size and grandeur of the world scared him. He was but a bug on the surface of a tree. So many places he had never seen which were in his reach. He only needed to have the resolve to reach for the sky.

But he was also excited at the opportunities laid out before him. These two emotions conflicted inside of him, battling for dominance of his thoughts. But as he gazed out the window at Marcus's small avian form disappearing in the distance, they quelled and became one. A kind of brave fear, a paradox that made sense despite its contradictory nature.

He smiled despite the cold, gray sky he gazed at. Small flakes of snow drifted down, collecting on the windowsill, and he understood why Daisy regarded snow as the single most beautiful thing crafted by the earth. It was mind-boggling; light and fluffy but cold enough to shock. It piled on top of itself, refusing to be soaked up or melted. It was as if the precipitation itself was rebellious, defying nature and surviving against all odds.

Zane surveyed his friends. They all seemed to share the same brave fear he did, defiant but scared looks scrawled across their faces. Mallory looked deeply concerned. After Marcus had offered to go, she had tried to convince him to stay, worried a personality bend would strike in midair, rendering him flightless. He had calmly reassured her and held her hands, promising to come back. He'd said he was simply going to observe and nothing else.

"You think Wawrzynski will come here soon?" Joseph asked, his hands threatening to begin wringing themselves. He sat on a nearby bed, his forehead creased with worry. He would never say it, but he was just like Zane; worried about other's well-being instead of his own.

Zane sat down next to him, and Joseph's hands stilled, falling into his lap. Zane smiled. He was glad he could help Joseph by simply being there. Jonas fixed a gaze on him. "That email said nothing about when he was going to attack?" Zane shook his head. "Suspicious," the tall boy muttered.

Joseph's hand twitched.

All at once, without warning, Zane was sucked into another unwelcome memory of New Vancouver.

He tried in vain to force his mind from the reminiscion, but to no avail.

He was fourteen, wearing a new gray suit, the wrinkles still dominant. He received a new one annually for he was still growing and his old suit had almost been at his knees. Again, it was as if he was watching his memory happen, watching himself take actions he couldn't influence.

He was in school, avidly scribbling in a notebook while his ninth-grade teacher droned on. Mr. Davenport, his mind screamed, the name abruptly slipping into his mind. Zane didn't know what subject was being taught because his gaze was fixed on two men at the doorway.