Too bad, the skies loved you too much

"Radio, KD-9158, ready for departure." Hae mumbled through the radio, informing the air trac controller of his departure. And with much practice, Hae's take o was as smooth as breathing. It was as if the plane was an extension of his own body and the skies are its home. Warm sunlight welcomed him, like Apollo, the sun god, had been waiting long enough to touch Hae's soft skin, as he dived through clouds after clouds. Without the voice in the radio keeping up with his location, he would have been lost by now, yet he couldn't care less, enjoying as it felt like the world was revolving around him and him only. "KD-9158, aircraft YJ-1863 approaching from the right side." A familiar set of numbers were heard through his headphones, excitement rushing in his veins as he quickly responded to the radio. "Radio, KD-9158, asking for permission to go near aircraft YJ-1863 and be connected through radio." Without much thought, the controller granted Hae the permission he asked for, knowing these pilots long enough that they are condent with the skills of both of them, after all, the two are the best pilots they’ve got. "Good day, Captain Taylor. This is Captain Alora." The static in the voice isn't enough to get rid o nor lessen the comfort it gives her. Never once did the presence of Hae made her feel burdened. In fact, it made her feel like home, as if she is being cradled with much care. The wind sifted through her hair as if it was Hae's ngers, giving her all the head pats and scratches she deserves. "This is Captain Taylor. Can I help you with anything, Captain Alora?" He looked over his right window, hoping to see the person that makes him feel like all the birds and butteries that soar through the sky, caged within his stomach, making him all giddy and excited for a grown man. "Yes." A radiant, serene, soothing smile plastered in his face, like how the smile has always been from the very start. The smile that’s full of— hope, promise and confidence, as if he knows everything that is ahead of them, as if he knows what tomorrow and the rest of the future will bring. "What is it, Captain Alora?" "Hmm, can I call you baby?" "Sweetheart, you don't need to ask." "Then, how's your ight baby?" "Boring. Not until I heard your voice through the radio." "I love you. Have a safe ight, my Aya." Static noises not only coming from the radio can be heard, yet the man was not fazed as he controls the plane with much condence despite the fact that the air trac controller has been screaming at him in his radio for the past minute. "Mhm. I love you more, safe skies." The moment he heard it, his hands immediately went to the button to cut o all the radio connection, letting his headphones rest on his shoulders. Changing the direction of his plane's nose, towards the skies above the vast ocean, and as he did, the plane has already been tilting downwards. “You knew this would happen, didn't you?” Hae chuckled as he listened to the voice beside him, so bitterly that no one would recognize it was his’ as everyone knew him as the radiant, serene, and soothing person because that’s how it has always been, from the very beginning. And then nally, after years and years of avoiding and pretending as if the black gure beside him was invisible to his eyes all the time, nally, he looked up to the voice that has always accompanied him throughout his life, his ups and downs, with a smile so bitter and sad. A static voice came out of the black gure, “Your time is up.” “I can’t save you this time.” The once full black gure of a man was now just a blob. A sad little black guy that looks just like the slime Hae was playing with when he was a little kid. As if the sacrices they made for Hae took a little of their life away, and because it did, way too many times. “I had always admired how you loved the sky, how you always kept your head high just to gaze at the ocean of clouds, too bad the sky loved you so much it took you.” The black gure mumbled, And maybe because I care a little too much for a character I myself once wrote, that it drained me as I tried to save its life even though I know, from the very start, that his death has been set and even I can't change it. "Go back," Ari. Hae thought. But this remains unspoken— yet again, no one has to know, not in this lifetime. "I will." The black gure bitterly said, he could imagine the expression it must have had on, if only they had a face. The plane slowly fell down the dark pit of an ocean. "Flying was set out for you. All along, it was what you're meant to do." As the plane accelerated towards the vast ocean of the unknown, his thoughts were surprisingly clear. Funny how it showed as if it was giving him peace for the last time. As he lost sight of the things he once called home; the bright blue skies, the freely owing clouds, it comforted him. He blinked, slowly taking in all at once; the sudden rush of air from the gravity's pressure pulling him down, the force of hitting the ocean. The salt water felt harsh against his throat, denying him his capability to speak, to breathe even the slightest of air but even the saltiest of seas couldn't stop him. His mind blank with only one thought in mind. I want to live. He was voiceless but not powerless. As his eyes almost popped from drowning, as he became one with the ocean, as he lost sight of the picturesque skies, he wondered. I didn't get to know what was with the sun that made Icarus so fascinated, he was willing to put his life at risk, guess I wouldn't know. At least not now, not in this lifetime. They said as a person approaches his death, his life ashes in a blur. Well, clichè, it did. — "But I didn't do it!" A young Hae exclaimed, not minding the unclear almost static-like noise in his ears. As the voices only give him panic. "You are standing in front of the vase, like literal meters away from it. And you have a scratch on your arms." A lady in her mid thirties, wearing a casual dress beneath her apron, holding a ladle on her right hand and her left hand on her waist raised a brow. "At least not intentionally! I was running and..... and I tripped! I didn't mean to lean for support on your From-the-1800s-wow-so-pretty-from-China-vase." With hand actions, Hae tried to explain his way out. Trying to win his mother with his pouty lips and teary eyes. Although unclear, the voices said something in a sing-song manner. One that Hae could hear but couldn't understand. "Oh sweetheart, you know how soft I am when you give me that expression, but that was my favorite vase. Given by your father, from the 1800s." Mrs. Alora stated in a joking manner. "I am not mad that you broke the vase but you didn't have to lie. Go to your room and reect on what you did wrong, hmm? Come out when you're ready to talk about it. Now, let's treat your scratches." With pouty lips and teary eyes, he let his Mom treat his scratches. With stomping feet, he laid on his bed. The silence blanketing the atmosphere. As he laid, the familiar buzz on his ears started to get into his attention. He was creeped out. The uncomfortable buzz and the feeling of being watched. Here it is again. The voices were never clear, only a blur, like the sound of a television losing its signal, the voices felt like speaking; dierent dialogues yet the same voice, but eerily, it wasn't machine like, it felt almost human. "Breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out." Hae performed as he tried to calm himself. When he started to grasp consciousness, he stood from his bed. "I cannot stay here, anywhere but here. Anywhere but not silent." "I can just go to Keiji's house! He only lives across the street. We would continue playing chess, or nish the storybook we were reading yesterday!" Hae picked up his pace and gazed at the window. Measuring the distance from the window to their garden below. He attempted to measure if the window can cater his body, testing its sturdiness. As he put his feet on the window sill, the buzz he was hearing, apart from just random noises and static disturbances, started to form a clear sentence. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." A faint distant voice. Hae almost slipped, as it was the very rst time it was crystal clear. Not just noises, not just a buzz. The voices constructed a sentence; a warning. Hae noticed but didn't pay much attention, as he was thinking that it was all a part of his imaginations because lately, it has been weird. Dierent dialogues from the same voice, the feeling of being watched, the constant buzz from his ears. Hae was creeped out, but chose to ignore the warning. It was not loud, but its words felt clear. Almost panicking, Hae jumped from the window, smoothly landing on the soil their garden had. He ran with his all, just to get away from the faint voice. The house of Keiji was seen from afar, but in order to get there, Hae had to cross the street. Panicked, he didn't have the chance to think. Not minding the consequences of the possible danger, the alarmed screams from people in the neighborhood, the whistle from the enforcer, he took a step and another and another, until he reached the middle of the road. Disrupted by the full, continuous honk of an eight-wheeler truck, Hae raised his head and was greeted by the blinding lights, making eye contact with the horried face of the driver. Hae froze. In spite of the ceaseless movement of things, time appeared to stop as he gazed at the blinding unknown light. His mind was telling him to move, but his body felt stoned. Ironic how he felt stoned yet he fell on his knees accepting what fate brought upon him. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain from the meeting of his body and the eight-wheeler truck. A second, tens, until it turned into a minute. No pain was felt, no bones were crushed, no boy would be spending his months in a hospital room, nor would any boy be buried. He lifted his head only to see a gure. A black familiar gure. The one that he saw on his window sill, the one who warned him not to go out. It was standing between the eight-wheeler truck and Hae, who was sitting in the middle of the road. The gure did not have eyes, but he was sure it was looking directly at him. "I told you so." From then on, from that exact moment, Hae started to realize that its words was something, something he should never ignore. Then on, in every single moment of his life, the figure was there. — He placed the book back on the shelf as he let out a small sigh. Looking at the window, his eyes squinted as the blinding ray of the sun greeted him. This is how he planned to spend his afternoon, a quick stroll through the city and a calm coee time in this library, a few blocks away from his house downtown. He remained standing there, beneath the book aisle, a part of his mind wondering if this peaceful moment would be ruined by the dark gure. The doorbell rang and he heard the roaring noises of the city slowly coming in unwelcomed. His head shot towards the sound, the smile on his face contorted into a frown as he saw the smirk that painted the face of the smaller girl. "Oh, how lucky I am to see you here, Hae." "How unfortunate for me, indeed." He made little to no eort in hiding his displeasure. The girl's face was a picture of astonishment. She tried to ask something, opening her mouth but it was a little too late, Hae already turned his back from her and grabbed his bag from the chair beside. "You're leaving already?" She asked following his actions. Hae lifted up the straps and hung his bag over his shoulder. "Not even a coee?" "It was nice to see you Ria but I think I'm good." He scooted beside her to get a grasp of the doorknob. He twisted the doorknob but stopped midway, looking at the dark gure in front of him, though far away. Suddenly, he felt the urge to stop in his tracks and turn around, she was close to him, holding out a thick layered book, a small yelp escaped his mouth as he looked at her with the puzzled look on his face. "I found this book and thought that maybe you'll enjoy reading it." She held the book up for him to accept, the book cover was navy blue, entitled 'Icarus', he hesitated for a while but ended up receiving it. "I did enjoy it, I'm sure you will." He nodded and waved a last goodbye before closing the door before him. — Icarus, the man who flew too close to the sun. The book didn't just turn out to be good, it was amazing, he was a little bit thrown o by how the story ended. He could remember clearly his reaction when he nished it, the blank expression that ceased to be erased as he closed the book, how he blinked twice to make sure it was all just letters imprinted on a paper. Normally, his afternoon would be going home from school and laying down on his bed for the rest. Instead, he stayed in the library, spent several hours reading the chapters, and put the book back on the shelf. One hot afternoon, just as he was about to step out of the doors of the library, he heard something from above. Sounds of whirling engines tickled the back of his ear, the apping wind, and the way his hair brushes away from his face, it happens all at once. He looked up, squinting his eyes for shade from the direct beaming light of the sun. The jet above moves onward in the hallowed space between heavens and Earth, that graceful bird of silver-wing. He found himself staring at the beautiful creation of men. It was as if this moment, he knew he felt something, he knew that this moment is the eye opening moment of his life. It felt weird, it was as if a lightning bolt struck his heart and sparked a ame within. He wondered, he imagined what if that was him, he imagined the exhilarating moment he would surely feel once he's up there, soaring and breaking through the clouds, oh how close could I be near the sun. — "I'm sorry I'm so sorry it's all my fault, I'msosorryimsorry—" like a broken record, the woman repeated these words over and over again as her tears fell down on her soft, silky, white skin, digging through the box in front of her. "fckfckfck— I never meant to do this. This wasn't what I wanted to happen. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please." sobs can be heard throughout the room as she cries her heart out, eyes red enough that one wouldn't question if blood replaced the salty water that ows out of it. She screamed to the unknown Gods above, to the stars and constellations that watched over them, to the Garden of Eden where the archangels reside, voice hoarse as it has ever been. "I never asked for this! I– what did I do wrong!? If I was a grave sinner in my past life, I beg of you to punish just me! Why!? why why..?" Mountains of papers scattered on the oor as she looked through the box that she once vowed to never open, to never let it see the light of the day and feel the warm rays of the sun, to let that said box be long forgotten. And yet, here she is. Hands deep within the crate, ngers reaching for the thing she was looking for, the book she once buried in the pile of papers. Holding the brown covered book that seems older than any of the people she knows, "I should have burned this book a long time ago." The woman's delicate ngers glide through the words embedded on the cover, reading it as she caresses the letters that were under. "Eyes of Heaven" tears fell on the way too familiar set of characters to her liking, 'written by Ari'. Ria chuckled, so bitterly as she stared at her pen name engraved on the book cover. She noticed the bump it had on one part, as if something was left between the pages. Despite the hesitations on opening the book, she did. And surely, there were envelopes stuck between the pages of the book. Ironically, it was the same chapter when the main character died, when Hae died. The letter fell on her lap and her gaze quickly locked with the name written on the back of one of the envelopes. It was a letter, solely written for her. Ria. I know you. I hope you know that none of this was your fault. Thank you, for writing my life and putting much thought into it. Truly, it was a masterpiece. — A small gure of a woman can be seen as she stares into nothingness, eyes void of any life. The strands of short dark hair, a stark dierence with the long white coat she was wearing, ows and dances with the wind, seeming as if these things have more life than the woman itself. "You're here." "Guess the words reached you fast." A woman in a low ponytail responded, stopping her steps a few meters away from the former. "It surely did, Captain Taylor. Shame on me to even call myself his best friend if I don't know his whereabouts, right?" Ria replied without looking back, gaze still dwelling on the innite space before her. Her stance stayed the same, but her arms reached out to the person behind her, hands gripping on an envelope, "He left this in my place, I guess he wanted me to give it to you." "Thanks" Aya stepped back and turned around, striding towards her car once she got the letter. But then, she stopped. "You know something, don't you?" She questioned, not an ounce of emotion can be felt through the cold voice. Aya continued her steps the moment those words left her mouth, "Tell me when you're ready." "I will." The smaller replied, waiting for the other to leave. And when she did, Ria fell on her knees, coughing as blood left her mouth, staining the once pearly white coat with ame red. She whispered, "I surely will, if only I'd live to that day. If only I'm alive when that day comes."