Longing
The sky was a welcoming, comforting blue that was lamely out of his reach. Air swept through his flickering hair and dulled what little warmth remained buried in his cheeks. His vision started to blur things around him further, something that welled and swelled in his chest. Something more aching than his empty stomach and something more parched than his croaking tongue. His feelings glimmered in the sunlight as they faded towards the clouds. This isn’t a solution. This isn’t an escape. This isn’t an answer. This is something that should had never done. This is something that no one should ever do. *** He jolted himself awake. A bright sunny morning bled through his shutters. With a stifled yawn, he rose out bed for another grateful day. Breakfast was simple with a slice of toast and a scrambled egg. He left the dishes alone in the sink just for today and walked to the bathroom. Henry looked in the mirror to shave off his lazy days’ worth of stubble. His eyes were a calm purple like the last gloomy moments of a night before the break of dawn, eyes that didn’t seem to belong with his ginger hair. They were a constant reminder of the day he had arrived in this world three years ago. He wasn’t exactly sure how the memories of this other life emerged in his body or whether he was technically ‘Henry’ or ‘him’ or how much of this magical happenstance or something more real and complicated. He consulted his therapist throughout the past few years and to help process his psychiatric condition. It was a long laborious journey, and things weren’t always on the up and up, but he managed. “You are not alone no matter where you are.” Henry muttered one of the sentences that kind of stuck with him for so long. It probably wouldn’t work for other people, but it struck a chord with him at least. Henry then took a shower and freshened up. His clothes he was now wearing were a lot more formal than usual, wrinkleless and thricely lint-remover rolled. Henry fiddled with the tense edges of his clothes again and prepared to go outside. He entered his car and drove for a few minutes until he was kindly heckled by his friend Creed with a phone call. Only audio was being transmitted so that Henry can pay attention to the road. He’d bet that Creed would continue to expressively swing his arms around anyways, always having full faith in his purchase of the autopiloted vechicles of the 22nd century. “What superpower do you want?” asked Creed. “Perhaps the ability to fly.” “Eh? I thought you’d want invisibility or something like that.” “It seemed nice to be able to touch the sky or something.” Henry then absentmindedly gazed at the clear blue day before going back to paying attention to the road again. “Huh, I suppose it makes sense if you put it like that.” “Then how about you, do you want fire manipulation or something?” “Heck yeah I do! Wouldn’t it be so cool to shoot fire out of your hands?” “Perhaps this will be the second time you’ll burn down your house.” “Bro, it was just the kitchen, it wasn’t all that bad. I just needed to not get too crazy with the cooking from now on and we even have those reality anchors anyways.” Henry lightly chuckled. “If that’s what you insist.” “…Hey buddy.” “Yeah?” “Are you feeling good today?” “Always trying my best as always.” “Just making sure, we’ll always be here for you.” Creed cloyingly stressed his inquiry. “Thanks.” The two of them continued their conversation as they drove to the local Paranormalcy administrative building. For the past few hundred years, the Paranormalcy Agency had governed all things that seemed to break the fundamental laws of world. Henry was about to yawn after exiting out of his car when a larger boisterous figure dunked on his head with their hand and ruffled his hair. “Hello, Henry!” It was Creed with giddy dogged grin. “Hi, Creed.” Henry replied with a rare subtle smile of his own. Soon, they arrived at the building’s entrance. Henry noticed the casual crookedness of his friend’s tie and asked Creed to let him fix it. He agreed to it, that smile of his was definitely beaming. Henry looked up as he was done fastening the tie. Creed’s eyes were a roaring orange like a warm fireplace that were complimented by his unwavering posture. “Dazing off?” Creed asked smugly. Henry tugged at his wrist collar. “All of this doesn’t feel real at all.” “Relax, isn’t today something we should celebrate anyways?” “Right.” “C’mon, we’re going to the Korean barbeque after this.” Creed patted him on the shoulder. Henry hummed in response; the taste of wagyu beef was real in his mind. Creed split off from him when they were inside the building. The mandatory process of applying for a superpower was a bit tedious. Paperwork and signatures criss-crossed the desk as Henry passed over any necessary documents that ensured that he was viable to get his own superpower. The administrative agent finally approved his access after the swampy deluge of bureaucracy. In the next room he saw a hologram display of all the superpowers that were catalogued, words in different languages, iconography, symbols, and even a video or two showed off someone using a superpower to do things like cooking. He looked towards the popular superpowers like super-strength and x-ray vision and were immediately dismissive of them. Henry looked at the symbol for flight and just wasn’t able to accept it. The fact that he couldn’t just choose a superpower and that his ‘heart’ or ‘soul had to choose for him surfaced in his mind. Henry rolled his eyes at the possible validity of certain pseudosciences and continued staring. His eyes then stopped at what looked to be “Door Manipulation” and swore in his mind, there was a reason why some superpowers remained niche online. He touched the symbol of a door and stood in a stupor. It was like something had just finally clicked, a puzzle piece completing an image. Henry then sighed afterwards at what could be then regrouped with Creed after he was done with his selection. They ended up at the Maze, one of the areas designated for testing superpowers. Creed, the ever-so-lucky bastard showed off his pyrokinesis in exaggerated poses and flourishes and lit up the surrounding walls. When it was Henry’s turn to test his superpower, he touched the nearby wall as it dimly glowed into a door shape. It looked a bit different to how others demonstrated their door ‘manipulations’ in videos but they both shrugged the thought off. Henry finally touched the luminous door as his vision flooded with white. *** It was the house he used to live in, right in front of his eyes. The rest of the world was foggy, but he didn’t care. He dashed over to the front door and barged his way in. Thoughts of concepts like sub-dimensions and alternate spaces faded into the mist. Most of the furniture was gone with only a dining chair her and coffee table there that stayed. Fresh memories bloomed in the silent echoes. Memories of sunlit good mornings, memories of warm hug greetings, memories of tasty homecooked meals. His bedroom kept his unkempt bed, a trace of his existence. He laid on it and cried. Tears would continue to stain his pillows until only joy remained. It felt like an impossibility turned into a probability. It wasn’t a panacea for his troubles but a memento for a part of him to feel more at ease. He tried to pinch himself out of this dream, but it ended up being a wish finally fulfilled. He felt like he had finally back home. Yohan was now home. |