Kingfisher

• Nhat Tan Danh, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2018

Clusters of illuminating lights dispersed into deafening bursts of combustion, the animal’s calling, it gets louder, and louder. The screeches of these foreign critters wrung through the air as transparent, entangled whips of blood and feathers strikes me. The creatures scurry along
the water’s edge, footsteps whirling up storms of dust and grime, the underneath of jagged feet polishing sharp green blades still soaked in the tears of sunrise.

My feathers quiver in anticipation, yearning to possess the sky, I leaped. Embraced by the currents of air that envelops my wings, a ripple of wavering force drives me forward. The curtains of radiating fear spreads open, red ocean currents reaches for the sky as puffs of grey clouds blankets it, tearing away the tranquillity that once harnessed the water’s edge. The green inhabitants that flourish this dirt-filled land reconstructed themselves into a disarrayed pallet of crimson and ebony, falling apart at the slightest touch.

BOOM!

Bellows of loud, deafening roars thundered through the wretched land once again, as fragments of gravel and earth erupt in it’s devastating wake. Fumes of dust and despair devours the frenzied creatures, as spots of red nectar seep through their scarred skin and stain their strange, metal hands. Midst the crowd of fluctuating flames, they dispersed; anguished and hopeless as they clamour towards the serenity of the sea.

A nest of wood and planks floats peacefully on the azure currents, cocooned by lavender flowers dancing on the glistening waves; a haven of hope in the midst of madness, enticing the creatures to surround it’s wings of freedom in eager impatience. First, they boarded the little ones, the weight of their feet rocked it up and down, water piercing through the openings of the wooden surface, within the heat of violence as the current’s calming melody carried them one by one.

BANG!

The towering figure tumbled, within seconds, it’s motionless body erupted into splatters of crimson red, with it’s wild knots of dark, dishevelled hair resembling entangled wires spewed out on the wooden deck. I watched in mystification as the peculiar creatures continue to clamber onto the swaying nest, seemingly absent minded to the frozen state of its company. They tumbled over themselves and overflowed, all of them with an insatiable desire to board the nest.

Their orbs fogged up as the thick layer of water that glazed their eyes shattered into tears of despondency. An almost green pine cone rushed its way through the air as it makes an entry into the refracted pieces of scorching hot flames.

Protruding through the mist of flames and smoke, an extra-terrestrial object impacted like an egg within the nest. Curious, I glide towards it, in the midst of booming destruction, a sharp pitch pierced my ears; my deep blue pupils reflected a cloud of smoke, bright orange lights beaming through the gaps of unbreathable air. The turquoise colour of my feathers, the glowing blue sea, tainted by the blood of men.