Far Blue

• Olivia Harrison, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2022

The gravity of tedium is holding me back.

Back from the sky donned with the occasional patch of white cotton, back from a destiny forged in far blue. Here I am glued, watching the familiar world surrounding me rush by. Having no voice in an ocean of commotion. Shouts and commands flying past my ears like the zing of a passing bullet. Now was my time.

The unfurling of spanning grey wings, and a whoosh.
This time gravity forgets to pull me to the ground again. Tips of wings dipping into the coldness of nothing. Below the lives of flat paper like people living flush against the once bare soil, so fragile and small with shallow little lives.

And with that, yes, I am soaring.

Soaring high above what is known and into far horizons. It is a sense of freedom, without any sense of fear. Away from the controversy of a single spoken word, and away from the overruling power held elsewhere. The only thing that could stop me now is my mind.