Chapter 10:It's a Plane...No, It's a Bird.

In front of us, hovering in the sky was what looked like a giant miniature of Kliffto. The bird’s enormous wings were spread on both sides, not moving at all. A thought flicked in my head-how is that thing flying without flipping its wings?

The bird/plane/Kliffto’s giant form/whatever the heck it was had itself still, only a soft clucking sound coming from time to time. Everything, and I mean everything of the bird was right in place-just like I had seen Kliffto in the morning, just a hundred times larger. If it had not appeared, I would never believe such things like those existed in the first place. Then again, it’s not every day one discovers that they don’t belong to the human race.

Mom’s hand tightened around my hold. I could feel her fingers shaking, heartbeat racing erratically (?). Dad’s face was glistening with sweat as he licked his lips rapidly.

I gulped. This must be it. Kliffto had come exactly at 6 pm. But I didn’t know what to do next.

‘Mom, dad’ I whispered, ‘I need to go.’

Mom was gnawing her lower lip, an attempt to stop herself from crying. Dad extended his hand to mom in order to calm her down, the other hand still holding me tight, not wanting to let go.

Never wanting to let go.

‘It’s going to be fine,’ dad mumbled, mostly to himself. ‘She’s going to be ok.’

Mom sniffled. Then slowly pulling herself from the blanket, she shakily stood up.

Dad squeezed my shoulder, but I didn’t look at him. My gaze was laying far, to the red roof of the kindergarten a few meters away. Then dad stood up.

The blanket completely discarded then, as well as our dreams of being together in future. It was shattered, turning from colorful imaginations to grey, hollowed out fumes of nightmares.

I closed my eyes and exhaled. Clutching my bag, I also, stood up.

Then, slowly, as if a reel of movie going on Kliffto’s feet started stretching out like a metal ladder. They were stretching (?) very strangely and coming down and down until it reached right in front of us.

Then, the toes disappeared, and I couldn’t believe my ears-it’s toes robotically entangled together. Kliffto’s feet were definitely looking like a ladder then-a large, chocolate color and (possibly) having flesh of its own.

‘You have to climb it,’ mom spoke, ‘And reach the very high up to where it leads.’

‘Can totally understand,’ I murmured, feeling an unfamiliar pressure on chest. After standing there a few seconds in silence, I turned my head to mom and was not surprised to see tears on her face. I hugged mom with my left hand, and that’s when it all broke down.

Mom crashed me in a hug and put hand on the back of my neck, her body wrecking with sobs. I clutched on her dress and felt dad hugging the two of us from above, a wet ting slowly dripping in my head which was undoubtedly tears.

Sniffles and sons echoed in the quite place. We hugged each other tightly for some minutes, and then let go. When did I start crying?

‘Promise me you will come back,’ mom told me, her head buried in my back.

‘I promise to come back,’ I said, blankly looking at the giant floating bird ahead. ‘I promise to find you guys no matter what.’

‘That’s my girl,’ dad said with a cracked voice and a grin in his face, tears still streaming.

I nodded. We hugged for the last time. this time there were no tears, no sorrow, just a determination full of fire and an unspoken promise sealed by the link of limbs. Then I slung the bag and walked towards the ladder.

I put my hand on the ladder and it literally felt like a bunch of tree. I turned my head behind. There stood my fake parents, whose tears were falling nonstop and heart shattering for an undeserving child.

A child who can’t even go back to wipe their tears. The fire in my chest was ignited again.

With one last look and nod, I turned ahead and started climbing the ladder.

Climbing a ladder was harder than I thought.

My legs were wobbling and hands were sweating constantly, and the thrumming of the chest was not helping at all. My head started spinning when I reached half-way through the ladder and I had to grip hard to not to fall off and turn myself into a burrito.

My feet were on the verge of giving up when I finally reached at the end, which meant a big hole which was absolutely painted dark at the inside; like a black hole. I blindly put my hands inside it and felt a hard surface-carefully touching it, I gave out my other hand also and ‘hop!’ I was finally in Kliffto’s belly.

*****

I blinked and immediately closed my eyes.

The inside was not just black-it was pitch black, black like a starless night sky, that kind of black where you can’t see your own hand. Get the idea.

I was opening and closing my eyes to adapt with the darkness when a soft blue light flicked above, like an LED. It illuminated a little space. Then another light flicked. Then another. Like this, the entire place was suddenly lit with thousands of LED lights.

The place looked like it came straight out of a spacecraft movie. The floor was made out of black marble. Walls were glittering in a dazzling shade of gold. The ceiling-very high above-was illustrated with white clouds; as if we were really under the sky. And the strange thing was that they were moving.

‘Like the view?’ I yelped at the sudden voice, turning my head at such a speed it gave me a whiplash. And my jaw again hit the floor.

In front of me was standing a lady. She dressed up in a business casual attire, a white shirt tucked with black coat on it. She also wore stylish black pants and high heels. Nice (and expensive) diamond earrings hung from her earlobe; a matching set of necklace and her hair was tied up in a bun.

The woman looked somewhat in between 20-30, and her shadowed feline eyes were starting to give me chills.

‘I-uh, how are-I mean who are you?’ I asked, bracing myself and trying to hide the fear and embarrassment.

Lady tsked. ‘I am Sophia,’ she introduced herself and returned to the intense (one-sided) glaring session with me.

‘Yeah, hi,’ I gulped. ‘Never heard the name before.’ The woman pressed her lips in a thin line. ‘Of course not,’ she murmured begrudgingly, ‘Not even after I ran all the errands in World War II. Ungrateful Spring.’

Then she looked at me with her piercing gaze. ‘I am Sophia, the personal assistant of Spring, also in charge of temporary guide for the eeries. I will accompany you in this ride to the training and advice you with the information you need to stay alive in the magic world.’

Man, this is going to be a long ride.