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Prompt Two.

I hate my friends, but I love them at the same time. Does that even make sense? I think that most friendships are like that, and mine are definitely like that. My friends are pretty understanding, but there's a point where this wall just comes between us, and then they don't understand. My friends are always having fun, and they always forget about me, meek little Tancho, because I am never with them. You'd think that if they were my friends, they'd remember my situation a bit more, but no. They're always off having fun, and I'm left to wait under a tree and think about all the fun that they are having. And when they get back, they always have these hilarious jokes, that I never understand because I was never there.

I hate that one little bit about myself. I hate not being capable to be just like everyone else. I'm not going to know how fun it is, because it isn't possible. I don't even like talking about it, really.

I can't fly.

There.

I said it.

Goldfish says it's not a big deal. He says flying is just like walking, except that you are up in the air and you hit a lot of bugs and branches and stuff. He always likes to tell me that flying is annoying, especially when it is raining, because the drops get into his eyes. He also says that his ears hurt whenever he flies. Goldfish is always trying to make me feel better. I guess he pities me. Everyone else just forgets about me, but Goldfish always hangs back for a few minutes. 'Are you okay?' 'Do you want me to stay with you?' 'This flight will be really fast, okay?' At first, I loved being babied, but now I'm just angry. Goldfish's stories about bugs splattering on his face and his collisions with tree branches just make me want to fly more. I don't care if it sucks. I want to at least fly and decide for myself if it's really that bad.

So when they go off flying, I usually swim. I like swimming. I guess my swimming ability makes up for my lack of flight, but still, it's no replacement. Still, I like the cool rush of the water against me. Usually there isn't anyone else there, because everyone is busy flying and having fun in the clear skies. I just stay in the pond and poke fun at the fish and pray for a thunderstorm or something, so everyone will have to stop flying. Yeah, I know I'm evil.

On one day, I saw someone else though. It was another Spica like me, except he looked much older. I wanted to say hi, but something in the way he carried himself was frightening. His hair was scruffy, and he looked old, but not like a friendly old person. He was barring his teeth at the water. Maybe he was trying to catch some sort of fish, I don't really know. There was a patch over his right eye, and it made him look even meaner. There were scars all over him too, some fresh looking, and I wondered if it would be safe for me to talk to him without having my head chopped off.

I must have been staring, because he lifted his head from the water and glared at me.

"Didn't your mother teach you manners, boy?"

"Um, yes she did, um, sir." I tried to be polite as possible. Maybe he wouldn't eat me if I was nice, but by the way he was still glaring at me, I wasn't so sure.

"Well then? Why are you staring?" He asked gruffly.

I thought about this. It was because everyone else was at a festival, and they were all flying around by now. Everyone went. It was like an unofficial rule that you go, and you never went unless you were sick. Still, as matted and grotesque this guy's fur was, he didn't look sick at all. A bit of hope swelled in my heart. Maybe, just maybe he was like me. I mean, there had to be someone else who couldn't fly, right? The prospect of someone else sharing my misery made me giddy with happiness. I knew it was wrong to wish for someone else to be 'handicapped' like me, but at the moment, wrong and right didn't seem to matter.

"I'm just wondering why you aren't at the festival, sir," I responded. "I mean, everyone's there. It's supposed to be really big, ya know? Why aren't you going? Do you not like festivals? Is it too noisy?" I wanted to will myself to stop asking so many questions, but my mouth kept talking. With each new question, his eyes narrowed, and a dark shadow would pass over his face. I gulped.

"Well why aren't YOU at the festival?" he asked. "Surely a young-in like you would have lots to do in the sky, right?"

I bowed my head.

"You can't ask me that."

"Then how come you can ask me?" The guy asked. "I'm here because I'm here. I'm too old for those festivals now, and besides, I couldn't fly to get there. There's been an accident, yuh see. Never could fly far after that. Only a little bit into the air, then bam, I'm back down on the ground again. I miss being in the sky." he tilted his head back to look at it. "Never did appreciate flying. No one does. But now that I can't have it, I wish I could. I really do. Swimming in a pond isn't the same thing. You can't see clouds in a pond."

"There's merpeople," I said.

"Aren't you optimistic?" he gruffed. "It's probably because you can fly. If you were in my boat, then you'd understand. Flying is a gift, boy, a gift, a gift that can be taken away whenever."

"I can't fly," I murmured. I hated saying the words outloud, so when I did, it was nothing short of a whisper. There were tears stinging at my eyes. I felt embarassed for admitting that I could not do such a simple task. My mom always told me that it was alright. She said that it was good to be different, that if I was like everyone, there would be no fun in life. Goldfish agreed. But the two of them never realized that the fun in life was in flying, and I would never have it. Never. No matter how hard I tried, I would always be stuck on the ground. My mom told me that I was her special little boy, and that the only thing that could make me happy was myself. She was wrong. It was flying.

"Speak up, boy."

"I SAID I can't FLY!" The words exploded from me like a bomb, much louder than I had intended. I closed my eyes. Now more people would know.

"I'm sorry, son," the guy said, a little less gruffly. "I'm Fenrion. I can't fly long distances, you see. It's horrible, isn't it? Everyone's always off and you're always missing things. Arianna is always flying without me, and I feel bad. All her friends have partners. What does she tell them? I don't want people to know that I can't fly, so she always makes up excuses for me. I always put her through so much." His lip quivered a bit, giving away the most emotion that I had seen so far. "I wish that I could be a proper partner to her and buck up, but I can't. If I can't even fly, then how am I supposed to take care of her? She wants to start a family but I don't really want to. . . All my kids will fly away without me."

"Is Arianna. . . your girlfriend?" I asked timidly.

Fenrion laughed.

"Haven't been in love, I see. That's all right. You'll find a partner soon enough, oh yes you will. There are plenty of beautiful ladies eligible. You just have to know where to look."

I shook my head fiercly.

"Girls are nasty."

Fenrion laughed. "We'll see about that, now won't we? Join me for a swim?"

We dove into the water. It felt good underneath the cool blue surface. That's when it hit me. I would never really fly. All my whining and my crying wouldn't get me to fly. But I could treausure swimming, and pay more attention to it than something I had never had. Besides, I wasn't alone.

Fenrion was with me.

I used to hate everyone. All those people who left me behind to fly in the air. I was their cousin, the same as them, but I could never be them. I used to always star into the sky where they flew around, so care free. I wished more then anything that maybe one day I to could join them. But no I had to stay on the land alone. They would always ask if I wanted to join them, but always knew I couldn't. They would fly off laughing when I finally said I couldn't. They called me defective, and mutant.

I would have stayed my bitter self if I hadn't happened upon Goldfish swimming. I walked over to the shore of the pond and wandered what he was doing. I only ever saw anyone fly so swimming had never crossed my mind. I looked down at the heavy lug of a tail that I always cursed. It wasn't made for flying I knew that but maybe it was made for something better. I looked into the water and saw that the sky reflected in it's surface. It was like it was my own personal sky that only I could truly go in. Though fishes lived there I only ever saw one or two Glaiders go in.

I brought up my courage to enter this new domain. I didn't know what it would be like but if I could have it as my new home I would be happy. I took a deep breath and jumped into the water. A cool refreshing feeling rushed across my face and threw my whole body. My eye's that I had closed tight slowly eased open as I looked around me. At first i thought that I was flying and that all the fishes were flying but hey were only swimming. This new feeling of swimming felt better them on windy day's when I would pretend wind from up high was blowing in my face as I flew. It was like I was at home.

At first I only used my legs to swim and didn't get to far, but as I watched the fish I learned my tail could be so much faster. I started to pump and swam faster the everyone else. Even goldfish who I envied for having both. I was the fastest and best swimmer. I knew then that I belonged here. I wasn't even meant to be in the sky I longed for. What I truly wanted was a place to belong and I mistook the sky for it, but in truth it was the water that I was longing for not the sky. Now I don't hate my cousins who can fly. Because now even I can fly in my own right.