Lumen Read Free Page B

they said ‘goodnight’ then left him, closing the bedroom door.
    He settled back into bed and flipped his pillow over to get the cold side. He closed his eyes but the candle light kept waking him. He turned away from it, and closed his eyes again. He started to count how long he’d been holding them shut for before needing to start again. “Stupid,” he groaned and opened his eyes.
    He pushed the duvet off and forced himself sit upright again. A slow throb jabbed at his jaw and another started to gnaw at his joints and hammer at his pain threshold.
    His organs knotted inside himself as he threw his legs over the side of his bed. He touched the concrete floor, and hesitated before putting pressure on them. The cold ate into the soles of his feet, and slowly numbed the pain.
    He closed his eyes and a breeze trickled down his spine. He glanced up to the open window and his head spun from the tilt. He sat in the spot, dazed for a moment, and then he drew a breath and stumbled over to his wardrobe. He bit down on his lip as he held himself up on the wardrobe.
    He pulled out a black hooded jacket and put it on; a t-shirt wasn’t worth the effort. He hobbled over to the washing basket and took a pair of grey jogging bottoms out. He froze as his mother shouted from the bottom of the stairs. “Honey, do you want something to eat?”
    His throat went dry and started to ache like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together. “I’m gonna sleep.”
    “Well I’ve left some in the oven, for when you get hungry.”
    He sat on his bed, and put on the grey jogging bottoms that he’d wore that morning; pitied with dry blood with a tear at the left knee. Quietly he changed, and then blew out the candle and climbed on his bed. He glanced at the small rectangle window above his bed and cursed; before today he could’ve shifted into a bird and flew out of the window.
    It happened fast. Strange but familiar. He felt his muscles constrict and then his throat tighten. He wriggled on the spot, and when he opened his eyes, he was another form altogether, an eagle; the follicles of his skin, now thick illustrious feathers, and his bones has turned thin and hollow.
    He flew from the ledge of the window, and before soaring over into the Lowerlands he noticed his landing spot and the dark discolour of his dried blood. He looked down, and swayed closer to the ground, dropping. He landed, shifting into his normal form.
    “What happened?” he whispered to himself.
    The feathers that had fallen from his wings and coated in his blood were now stuck to the ground, squirming in the wind. He knelt to take them back, but they disappeared at his touch; turning into a fine powder and escaping into the wind. He creased his forehead and stood, staring up into the sky. The recall of events happened in slow motion. He jumped backwards, watching himself fall from the sky to his chin. His stomach tickled up to his chest. He swallowed hard and pushed at his abdomen with his hands.
    He pulled his hood up and shook his head, then took a few too many steps backwards, as he looked to his left and noticed the candle in the front window glimmer against the glass. He pushed himself over the cliff headfirst from his shaking legs. The up gust combed back his hair and choked him, keeping him shaken as he tried to shift. He covered his face with his hands and felt the air now glide with him. Swooping across the tree tops trying to find a clearing.
    Each night was darker and harder to find the right spot to land. He dropped from the sky in mid-shift; his legs formed and dangled, touching the floor while the rest of his body elongated and thickened, absorbing feathers, and rippling out in his own clothes.
    “Jac!” Daniel shouted.
    He kicked a few rocks with impatience, and then called out for his friend again. He headed out of the clearing with a map inside his head to Jac’s hut. A snap sounded close by. He stopped, and turned around, several more sharps sounds