Short Story: A story of identity, from 2017

Elijah had been watching for forty and forty nights. He had been scanning the sky for some sense that his thoughts had been noticed. He lay on his back in the grass. The needles from the ground would scratch and itch at his skin but it didn’t matter. The beauty of the sky was too overwhelming for him to notice his physical discomfort.

Shooting stars streaked across the sky in a brilliant display. Starting from here, going nowhere, and proud in their malfunction. “Proud in their malfunction,” he thought. “If only I could find such pride in mine.” Such a resounding joy in the brilliance of being seen. For just a flash. It was that simple really. A simple joy in being seen. A simple joy of self-expression, a simple joy of knowing that you’ve done all that you came here to do. He wanted to find that simple joy. But he made everything so complicated.

Gentle fingers eased the scratching on the back of his arms, rubbed his feet up and down the back of his legs.  The grass seeds bit into the nerves on his skin, to remind him that he was still a human, in a little human body, laid almost bare upon the grass.

Many cycles of sun and moon moved passed his vision. His patience didn’t waver though. He knew the sign was coming, he expected it to come. Just as one would expect the postman to drop a parcel into your letter box on the day of your fifth birthday. The expectation that you would receive acknowledgement from someone, that someone cared.

Yet that letterbox remained empty all these years, empty save for real estate advertising and dial-a-pizza menus. The usual horde of junk. And somehow he felt this expectation would be different. It was so much greater that he. And in the end his patience paid off.

It was one night when he was almost falling asleep, head resting on hands, feet to the ground knees to the sky, breath heavy and content making his chest rise and fall like a heaving mountain.

A dim light emerged in the sky as a fish from water, slow and steady almost directly above him. Brighter and brighter as a gold diamond if diamonds had colour. It was so bright it was dazzling. It cast a warm glow over the entire field upon which he lay. Like firelight but clean and crisp. It grew so bright, bigger in his vision than the sun, until it was the size of a house hovering over his head. It sparked no fear, for he’d waited for a sign to arrive and finally it had.

All around the edge of this great glowing mass, streams of light like bars came down around him like a cage, though it didn’t feel like a cage, it felt like a home.

His curious fingers moved towards one of the vertical bars of light and toyed with it. Where it touched his hand it bubbled and tickled his skin like Champaign bubbles when they hit your tongue. It made him giggle, and when he withdrew his hand remnants stayed on his skin in smears of glitter.

Where the bars met the ground they seemed to penetrate the earth, gently as if they could move through the soil without disturbing it. The light enclosure hovered around him for a while, then suddenly drew up in an inhalation into the golden orb, and vanished into the night sky without a trace or a sound

Elijah had the biggest grin upon his face. He had no idea who these creatures were but he did know they had come in answer to his prayers

On hands and knees he explored the perimeter of the light cage that had surrounded him for a while. At each point where the vertical light had penetrated the earth there was a tiny little glow. At one point he gently moved the spoil aside with a finger, to see where the glow was coming from.

Out poured a soft green yellow light from what appeared to be a gem stone or a seed. He couldn’t tell but he did know to leave it where it was.

A hum so low he could barely perceive it emanated from the centre of the circle. As he moved across the grass and dirt there was another glow wider and deeper but softer. When his hand moved over the soil it moved as if it were water or jelly.

The glow seemed to gently move out as if it were seeping through the earth below, through the ground beneath his legs and hands, and continued to spread out til it reached the perimeter of the circle.

It felt good being upon a glowing mass. Elijah lay down upon his back spread his arms and feet out wide and felt like he was floating on a giant water bed.

Promptly he fell asleep. It was so relaxing there under the stars, surrounded by this curious glowing force.

And while he was asleep something strange started to happen; the ground beneath him started to sink, gently easily.

It sunk down and then sunk up. Where the vertical bars had been, something started to grow and move up toward the sky. When it reached a couple of metres it curved in and all the bars met in a great arc above the boys head.

It was the shape of a bird cage. A beautiful mix of dirt and light it sparkled in its own delight. Where it met atop the beautiful dome tendrils of grass and ivy, a lattice work began to grow between the bars, weaving and braiding themselves into intricate designs and Celtic knots.

And then they grew a great carpet across the floor and wove a bed beneath the boys sleeping body. As the leaves and stalks became dense enough to become a fortress against the elements, tiny buds burst into bloom underneath the moonlight, permeating the whole space with beautiful perfume. Elijah suddenly woke to the sound of a cooing pigeon nearby. It had landed upon the roof.

When he opened his eyes he was stunned to see this exquisite castle that had grown itself around him. And then he was quietly alarmed to realise there was no door. But as soon as he thought of one, the twigs and ivy peeled themselves back and an arc shaped opening appeared in one of the walls to let him out. He didn’t go out, he walked the circumference of the space fingertips moving across the walls of leave and wood and soil.

Little sighs of delight toppled up and fell out of his mouth.  His wishes had come true. All this time he had been calling for a home, as he had had none for quite some time. The earth and the sky and the spirits had conspired to grow him one.

He wandered what one does in such a home now that he had one. In the past he’d lived with his family but they were far away in another time. He wanted someone to share this beautiful space with and then he remembered to cooing outside.

“Hey little friend you can come and join me here, it is safe, there are flowers and berries for you to eat,” said the boy. The cooing pigeon seemed to somehow understand him, and moved tentatively towards the door. It cooed a couple more times and a few more pigeons followed suit. His family, the boy guessed. As they appeared and moved awkwardly around the floor, the great dome seemed to sense their arrival. Tendrils of ivy quickly grew from the ceiling, twisting themselves into little swings for the birds, which they quickly took to.

So he had a home and creatures to share it with. It made him feel secure. At least for now. He did still wander about his family though.

As if hearing his contemplation the top of the dome opened up so he could stargaze from his woven bed. And then a strange sight. Two shooting starts heading straight for each other collided in mid-air, creating something like a fire work right above his head. A glow trail spiralled down, so close it fell right through the roof to the floor and beneath his bed. From it a shower of gold fragments landed on other little plots of land surrounded his home. As he watched in amazement, where every fragment fell a dome suddenly grew, just like his own.

Soon he was in somewhat of a village but devoid of other people

Looking at one gold fragment he noticed it looked very similar to the talon of a hawk. And these strange dome-like houses all looked like bird cages.

How odd, he thought.

Curiosity moved him to put his finger in the hollow claw. It latched onto his finger which alarmed him. He tried to pull it off but it wouldn’t budge, and seemed to merge into his own fingernail. Suddenly his other fingers started to extend, his arm folded backwards as if into wings, and great talons began to grow from his feet.

He looked up at the pigeons but they didn’t seem perplexed at all. He decided to try out his wings. Learning how to move a body with knees and shoulders and elbows in different places was a perplexing exercise!

He shocked himself with a little caw when he tried to laugh, as he waddled clumsily outside the door. He moved his shoulders and the great wings splayed out from each side of his body. Awkwardly at first. And then he managed to clip the air at just the right angel. It caught under his wings and suddenly pulled his body up into the sky.

He quickly took flight to a great height and shook off the impending vertigo as he was unused to such a vision. He flew over the other little domes that arisen from the ground and was stunned to find each one had another bird waking up in it. One then two, and whole families, all getting used to their new bodies. And all greeting those that had been in their bodies for a while.  He wasn’t sure what was happening but it felt ok. He was just curious but he felt safe.

The dark and stormy sky was black with clouds and deeply textured. But it felt ok. His eyes scoured the horizon lights for a remnant of that firework. For a while he saw nothing, and then a great shape like an aeroplane suddenly appeared, only as it reached it seemed to be a giant hawk.

Bigger than he much bigger, it flew straight over him and he toppled over in the air. It turned quickly back on her course, approached him again from the other side, this time hovered, just before she reached him and nudged under her belly with her great beak.

“I trust this is what you were looking for?” said she.

He thought about what he had wished for, a home and a family, his family.” I kind of thought maybe I would bring my parents and my siblings back as we all separated so long ago.” said he.

“Sometimes we need to change drastically as the world itself changes in order to create what we want within it.” said she.

“Yeah I understand,” said Elijah.

“This is your home now and this is your tribe. Get to know them and you will serve each other well.”

As they talked specks of light started to flow up from the ground. Specks of light that grew into feather and bodies and wings and necks and eyes and as they hovered a spiral of beautiful birds that gently moved up to greet them.

“I thought hawks usually flew alone,” Elijah remarked.

“Well we all need to shift in order to move into the future. To be well.” she said, “It’s time for the solitary to also move into tribe: to move as one.”

“Yes I feel that too.” he smiled and relaxed as the flow of circling birds flew up around his body, and moved into a great swirling circle around the mother. He thought about the old world from which he’d been torn apart and he knew that he would always miss it. At the same time he felt present and truly alive in this one and knew right now was a place to call home.

The mother bowed her head to the new tribe and shot deep into the sky. She hovered up there in space great golden diamonds of her eyes like brilliant stars knowing her work here was done.

She blinked once and shot up leaving the new tribe of birds to create their home.