This story is by J. M. Gil and was part of our 2024 Spring Writing Contest. You can find all the writing contest stories here.
Exhilaration pulsed through my body as I soared, gliding effortlessly through the midnight sky. Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of this moment, but this experience surpassed all my expectations of what it would feel like to fly. The breathtaking horizon stretched out endlessly before me, and for the first time in my life, I felt a sense of belonging.
Five days earlier.
I sat in my physics class daydreaming about aviation school and what it would feel like to fly an airplane. My grandfather was a pilot; he served in the Air Force when he was young. I harbored a persevering curiosity about my grandfather, but my family never spoke of him; they always grew solemn at the mention of his name.
“Miss Wingate?” My physics teacher interrupted my reverie.
“Could you please repeat that?” I responded.
“What describes the relationship between the lift force generated by an airplane’s wing, its airspeed, the air density, and the wing’s surface area?” he repeated.
I quickly answered, “The Lift Force Equation.”
“Correct, class is dismissed.”
My eyes scanned Crossroads Academy’s lunch room. My heart thudded when I spotted Isaac, my old friend and crush since sixth grade. He brushed a lock of brown hair behind his ear and shuffled in his seat, averting his eyes from mine while sitting at the table with the cool kids, who feigned my nonexistence. I glanced at the corner table where I usually sat. Drizelda, my best friend since third grade, sat garbed in a black lace dress, reading a book titled, “Magic Spells.” That was so Drizelda. I grabbed my tray and quickly made my way to our table, not without spilling half of my apple juice on the tray. I’m such a klutz. I looked at her questioningly, “No lunch today?”
“I’m doing one of those keto cleanse diets,” she responded, pushing a stray auburn-colored curl back into a messy ponytail and turning to her book.
Bored and alone, I stared at my cold pizza. To my parents’ frustration, I never fit in at school or anywhere. I was so different from my sister. She was the perfect child, the popular cheerleader type, who also happened to have the perfect GPA, and was now at Harvard Medical School. Quiet and withdrawn, I found solace in listening to rock music and playing my electric guitar. I always wore black jeans and long-sleeved shirts to cover my skin condition, a scaly rash I developed in middle school that doctors couldn’t seem to find an explanation for. Some said it was rosacea. None of the medicines they ever prescribed seemed to work, or mitigate the feelings of alienation.
I walked at a slow pace. It rained earlier, and the air smelled of dirt. I glimpsed something shiny and amethyst-colored protruding from the soil as I approached our house. Automatically, I started digging. Before I knew it, I dug up a beautiful, large, iridescent amethyst stone. The stone fit perfectly in my hand, sending a surge of thrilling electricity through me, sparking a rush of euphoria and strength. Almost instinctively, I bolted upstairs and hoarded it beneath my pillow.
Awoken by the rattling on my window, I brushed the curtains away. A handsome face with dark hair falling over his eyebrow was only a few inches from mine. I wracked my brain to remember where I had seen this person before. Of course! Cousin Reuben. I met him at a family reunion a few years back. He was a few years older than me and studying aerospace engineering. I opened the window. “Hi, Cousin Reuben! What are you doing here?”
He whispered, “You summoned us here.” Then, I noticed he wasn’t alone.
“I brought a university friend with me,” he indicated, pointing to a tall, lean figure standing off to the side.
Reuben beckoned me out of the window and onto the roof. Confused, I followed him onto the roof. His friend stepped closer.
“This is Floyd.”
I looked upward, meeting a pair of captivating emerald green eyes, igniting the sensation of sparks darting across my skin and setting off a symphony of fireworks in my head.
Floyd grinned, “Pleasure to meet you, Stacy.” He murmured to Reuben, “Even more stunning in person.”
Then Reuben looked at me, appraising my arms. He smiled, “It’s time you know your destiny, little cousin.”
Thoughts of the mysterious amethyst stone, and midnight visit filled my morning. At lunch, I knew I needed to tell Drizelda. I anxiously moved lettuce across my plate. I was about to speak when suddenly I felt a tap on the shoulder. To my surprise, it was Isaac. We hadn’t spoken since ninth grade when I stood him up because my rash was shedding everywhere, and I felt mortified.
“Could we go for a walk?”
I looked at Drizelda. She smiled, motioning for me to go.
“When I heard you got accepted to the aviation program at Lynn University in Florida, it bothered me. The thought of never seeing you again drives me crazy… I still have feelings for you, Stacy.” He grabbed my hand. “Stacy, I’m sorry I blocked you out… will you give me another chance?”
Shock washed over me, leaving me speechless. His hazel eyes remained focused on mine as if studying them to see if there was an answer in them.
“Isaac, I don’t know what to say,” my voice trailed shakily.
“Say you’ll have dinner with me this weekend and go to prom with me.”
“Okay, I’m open to dinner this weekend, but I’ll need to think about prom.” The bell rang, and we rushed off, but not before Isaac gave me a quick and unexpected farewell hug.
Saturday finally arrived. I finished applying cosmetics and was assessing my appearance one last time before leaving when I noticed blotches of my lilac-colored rash emerging from my black velvet turtleneck. With my foundation brush, I began to apply more liquid makeup to conceal it.
“Not my roses!” yelled my mom from outside.
I hastened downstairs and out the front door.
“You know your son is responsible for this, Marlynn!” My mother couldn’t stand for Marlynn’s son to sit by our bushes smoking.
Aghast, I discovered that my mom’s beloved rose bushes were burned to ashes, leaving no barrier between Marlynn’s yard and ours. I felt a heavy feeling in my stomach, realizing it was my fault.
A blue Subaru pulled up in our driveway, and Issac emerged carrying a bouquet of pink roses, melting my heart. I turned to my mom to say goodbye, but she was still engaged in a full-on argument with Marlynn and just nodded at me in acknowledgment of my leaving.
I sat on my bed, gazing out the window wistfully. Dinner at the local diner with Isaac proved refreshing; we caught up on so much and agreed to rekindle our friendship with the potential for becoming something more.
The months flew quickly, nights seeming longer than days—every night brimmed with adventures. Most nights, we took to the sky, but other nights, we relished long talks on the rooftop. Reuben’s stories about our grandfather and his bravery filled me with pride. On other nights, Floyd and I shared cheesecake on the rooftop, and we talked about everything from our favorite places to our deepest fears.
As the days drew closer to leaving my hometown and commencing aviation school, I started to feel conflicted. Not because Issac would be attending Georgia Tech University, a few hundred miles from my university, but because I was so much different now. Everything unfolded better than I envisioned. I still shared lunches with Drizelda, and now Isaac and Drizelda’s new boyfriend, Andrew. Drizelda, Andrew, and I often joined Isaac and his cool circle of friends, gradually gaining their acceptance. Even a beautiful, long-sleeved royal purple prom gown hung in my closet.
I didn’t feel the same anymore. When I looked in the mirror, I could hardly recognize myself. My black hair was the same, long and tousled. My blue eyes seemed more amethyst than blue. My skin glimmered in the mirror. I looked down at my arms and saw my scales, now more of an iridescent indigo. They were almost the color of the galaxy orchids that sat in a vase on my dresser from Floyd.
Reuben spoke with me a few nights before. My thoughts drifted back to that night. He asked Floyd not to come.
“You are at a crossroads in your life. Will you choose to live the human life with aviation school and Isaac or will you choose this life?” he asked, handing me my acceptance letter from Emberstone University.
I needed to think about this, alone. I grabbed my amethyst stone and stepped onto the roof. Breathing deeply, I felt my strong, beautiful indigo wings burst from my shoulders as I took flight into the starry night. How could I ever give up dragon life? Grandfather hadn’t.
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