flight

Flickering lights signaled the end of captivity. It has been quite a few days since Sal started to open her lamplight by the window at the hour before midnight, when only the moon is awake. She’d open her lamplight and flick a piece of paper up and down again, as if a signal, a flickering light of a firefly.

Soft taps resounded by the window. A man’s shadow lingered just outside, faintly indistinguishable from the dark of the night. Sal opened the windows and cold night breeze rushed freely into the room. Ren squatted on the tiled roof by the windows with the moonlight illuminating the back of his head.

Sal slid a finger on Ren’s arms, up to his cheeks, to the crown of his hair and she breathed a sigh of relief. Itching she was now to feel warmth. Sal grabbed him in an embrace as she buried her face in his chest. He rested a hand on her head, caressing her head as silence pervaded the place. Only their breathing becoming audible, so is the faint heartbeat of the other.

Sal murmured something, the sounds coming out muffled as she spoke

“Hmm?” Ren responded as he broke off the embrace.

“I just thought of doing something wild.” Sal whispered. She followed at the bright, bluish rays snaking across the floor towards the moon. “ I want to fly.” She looked up to Ren. Although she cannot fully see his face, she knew he was smiling at how light his voice sounded.

“Of course you would, you are a swan.”

Sal went forward towards the windowsill and climbed up on the dusty, breaking wood. As her two feet settled on the place, and she stood to her full height, a wave of anxiety crashed onto Sal. The green gardens and terra cotta cluster of houses was replaced by a mass of black and gray abstract shapes. She glanced back at Ren, who had his arms poised on the windowsill. Sal shook her head.

“If we are to go now, we have no time to spare.” he warned.

Sal squeezed her fingers and carefully climbed off the sill. Sal looked back at the place she has been for almost a decade now. The place also a blob of gray and black shapes under the lack of light. A place she has memorized, a place she thought she had control. Somehow, something told Sal that as soon as she stepped out, she would never see this place again. Cozy and dirty as it is.

Sal walked to her table and fumbled for a necklace that she had almost forgotten was present. Under the light of the moon, the gold had shone gray, still perfect and lustrous from disuse. Sal squeezed it in her hand, gathering that weight she held before in her chest, as if she could transfer it to that hunk of metal. Sal left the necklace just a few paces outside of her room, where it would be readily seen in a hallway. Enough to send a message.

And like bats and other creatures of the night, Sal and her beau paced through the roofs. Ren guided her through the steps as his figure her only beacon in the dark, sloped place. Slowly, her eyes began to see the gray outlines and figures of the ridges of the roofs and the shadows of the trees and the stale outline of the roofs of distant Casas and other houses. The wind blew cold freezing her already stiff legs, but Ren was ever so gracious. He assisted her through the steps. He’d go a few paces in front of her and signal her that it is safe to walk on, and she’d walk.

Soon, they reached the edge of the roof. Ren slipped off the roof first. His tall, long frame made it easy for him to scale the space between the roof and the balcony of the second floor. His hands outstretched, he beckoned to her to jump.

“Fly”Ren whispered.

Sal jumped and her small body was caught in Ren’s frame. They then sped through the stairs, on to the carriage hidden behind the thicket of trees quite some paces away from the gates of the Casas and away from the known houses in the place.

The carriage traversed unknown land. And that is what Sal wanted to call it. It has been long since Sal boarded a carriage that she had to let herself get used to being in a moving vehicle. She distracted herself by climbing through the seat and peeking through the small rectangular window. The lights from the Casa slowly disappeared and so to the roofs, until the whole silhouette of the Casa was obscured by the trees. Nothing was left of the scenery but an endless stream of trees disappearing into the horizon while the moon followed their journey in its flight. A curious sight. Yet, as she looked at the horizon, she cannot help but wonder a stupid idea. Did the Casa disappear too? Swallowed up by the horizon?

The carriage took bends and turns. Occasionally, the carriage would shake and jolt. The movement and the rocking of the place had rocked her to sleep, if not knocked her from dizziness. Eventually, the carriage was filled by faint, orange lamplight and the travel came a lot smoother and faster. Suddenly, the vehicle came to a halt.