July 7th 2021.
‘it’s finally over’.
Skie muttered to herself. Everything she has learned throughout this semester has been squished out of her brain into one of the many final exams she just finished. Now, whatever leftover lingers in her brain has been reduced to a jumbled mess of incoherent words. If anyone asks her about a specific term relating to her studies, she wouldn’t even believe it was an actual word, let alone understand its meaning. She would be in so much trouble if any of that showed up next semester. But that’s for future Skie to worry about. Right now she’s free.
There are 3 entire months ahead of her, and she can do whatever she wishes. She has so many projects on her mind, but she knows herself just enough to know that she wouldn’t even attempt to do any of that thing, she’ll procrastinate so much that the entire summer might just pass by, leaving her bewildered by the speed at which it passes.
Nope, she doesn’t want to waste a summer for that, so she will just lower her standard and settle for simpler things. Something along the lines of cleaning her room, fixing her sleeping habit, adopting a skincare routine, relearning how to draw, or perhaps if she’s feeling more determined than usual, study for the next semester.
Maybe then she could finally fix her grades and get to the University of Edinburgh for her master degree. it’s not that far off after all. If she could get A’s on 70% percent of her subject, she could balance out her last semester and graduate with Cumlaude. Then maybe she could… she could.
HOONK!
Her daydream was shattered to pieces by the horn of a passing truck. She stared at the opposite side of the road, cursing the truck that just woke her out of her daydream. She huffed. ‘Huh… I guess I really should’ve just stopped’. That dream was long dead, and now just little fragments remain, festering at her thoughts.
lt should be noted that back at elementary school, she only thought it was possible because her teacher and friends called her a genius, a one of a kind genius in fact. But that’s back at elementary school, though. By middle school, her grades were already falling pretty hard, and by senior high school, she could barely scrape by to get into an alright university.
‘Living an ordinary life is quite comfortable i guess’ she uttered. But deep down she knows she doesn’t believe those words. Sure, her parents seem happy living as middle class citizens, but for her, who has spent her entire childhood with such grandiose ambition, that is no way to live. She can only see herself as a failure, no matter how much she studied. She could never rewind time back to those days again.
To be honest, Skie knows that she isn’t really much of a failure. She enters university, has social relations, and her GPA is consistently rising, never dropping below three. It’s really just that the intuitive part of one’s brain diminishes reality and creates urgency out of the blue.
She needs to end that dream. Such unhealthy longing doesn’t benefit her, it brings nothing but pain, shrouding her in the illusion of what might rather than what is. This summer, she would finally relinquish that dream and send it back to the sky, up to where it belongs, so it could fly away to find another dreamer.
A bus stopped before her right at the end of her train of thought. She entered the shuttle to find that the passenger seats were relatively empty, there’s only 5 people, including herself there. She tapped her card on the card reader and immediately went to the rearmost seat. Her body slumped back to the seat, while her fingers reached for her phone to turn on her usual playlist of mismatched songs. She lays her cheek on the window pane, staring at the endless blue above throughout the trip.
‘I probably should eat something to ease my thought’
The bus kept going, and the scenery shifted between the open world and tunnels, zipping down to Milton Link where the traffic starts to jam a bit. She then dropped at the bus stop next to Asda Edinburgh Supercentre to grab a few groceries, before taking another bus ride home.
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‘I should've gone and bought some sushi, why did I immediately go home anyway? that’s dumb’
She walked up to the doorstep to find the door was already open. “Ma?” she called out. Her mom immediately came to greet her. “Hi sweetie, how was the test?” Her mom embraced her for a hug, Skie leaned over and hugged her back. For a moment, the frown on Skie’s face eased up to form a smile. “It was as bad as usual.” She answered in a muffled voice, burying her face on her mom’s shoulder. Her mom is a plump middle aged woman with brown hair a shade lighter than her, standing just a few inches short of 6 feet. She has a stern but warm manner, with admirable strength and vitality for her age.
“I heard from one of your professors that you got the highest mark on one of your exams,” her mom said, running her finger through her hair. “Ma… I’m already an adult, you don’t need to keep track of my education anymore, how did you get their contacts anyway?” Skie replied. “One of those professors was my friend back at college. He was not so bright back at high school, but somehow got into Edinburgh for a masters degree and finished it off with a Ph.D”. her mother said, now releasing her from her embrace. “See, there’s always a chance if you try, you can still reach for your dream if you want too”.
Skie slumped herself back to the nearest couch. “What if I already gave up?”. her mother took her hand and placed it in between her hands, sitting next to her “then it’s alright darling, you don’t need to chase a dream you no longer dreamt, you’ve already worked hard, i know you did, so don’t blame it on yourself”, her mom said in a soft voice. “A bachelor’s degree is enough to get a job, and if you’re still interested in the subject of your study, your uncle Mike might need a few helping hands to finance his farm”. The words of her mom were followed by a few seconds of profound silence, which Skie would then break with a weak “thanks mom”. “I think the lemon bread is almost ready, go call your sister for lunch.” Her mom immediately stood up from the couch and rushed to the kitchen.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
‘Dangit!’ She muttered to herself.
The warmth of her mother’s words was genuine, but she only felt searing pain. Why must her mother be so supportive? Why must she treat her so well? Why was she so supportive towards her? She felt like an absolute piece of junk, worthless. A drop of tear formed on her eye, which she wept before it had any chance to trickle downward. ‘That’s it, that’ll be one of my summer goals, I'll come to terms with my dream’ she thought. The lack of vocalization didn’t diminish the smallest bit of her will. It was very childish of her to be so sad about a mere delusion after all.
‘Right, I still need to get my sister to lunch’
Skie rushed upstairs to her sister's room, knocking loudly on the door. “Oi… sleepy head, come down before I eat your portion of lemon bread and bacon” She yelled at the top of her lungs to be met with zero answer. “Aight… if that’s how you wanna play it” Skie kicked the door open, and subsequently fell backward because she didn’t expect the door to not be locked. “Ouch!”. That’s strange, she’s usually on her bed lazing around all day long, especially during summer break. She then went outside and yelled, “ANNA? WHERE ARE YOU?!”, again, to be met with no answer, that was strange. She looked around the second floor to find her sister, also to zero result.
The only places left unchecked were the balcony garden. Anna does hang out there every once in a while, and she also loves to wear headphones 24/7, so there’s a chance that she’s just there listening to music or whatever. Skie huffed and went towards the balcony lazily, she swore that she would get her revenge for this. “Anna!” she yelled, and she was met with no response either, the balcony was devoid of any Anna, just some potted plants, vines, step ladder and gardening tools.
“Argh… i’m so useless” she voiced out. ‘Wait no I'm not, why am I even?... uh… I really should’ve taken a nap to get rid of this feeling’. Even now the side effect of that senseless dream still lives rent free within her head. She should really just strengthen her resolve and be done with it, this is not the worst possible scenario after all, many so-called child prodigy fall even further down below, some failing so hard at life they just become an addict and live with no stable income, some even delve way deeper and become criminals.
“Were you satisfied with this outcome, child?”
A gargantuan corvid-like fowl stood atop the railings. Its bodies were patterns of black and white. Its white stripes mirror the image of a cloudy sky, while its dark feathers bejeweled with glittering stars. It spreads its wings out towards the horizon, covering up the sky.
Skie looked at the gargantuan creature with immense fear. What is that? Is she hallucinating? Did that creature eat her sister? How did it suddenly appear? Is her mom safe? Could she and her mom outrun it?
She cried, she fell on her butt while she was startled. The massive creature could definitely fit her inside Its beak, swallowing her whole. She tried to shut herself up from making any sound, hoping that somehow it would help. There’s no sound coming from her except for a few stifles and sobs. The creature inches towards her, closing the gap between them.
“My apology, it seems you are startled.”
Skie shivered as she heard the corvid talk in a human voice. “y-you can talk?” she yelped with a cracked voice, trying to stop her cries. The corvid held Its gaze to her eyes, nodding. “What are you? What do you want?” she asked. Even if the creature in front of her were evil it was intelligent enough to seemingly speak words. That's good, she could hold it here so others can run once they noticed it. She could maybe even strike a bargain to get free.
“Were you satisfied with this outcome, child?” The corvid said It’s offer once again.
“What outcome?” but she already knows what it is talking about. Her current predicament, her dreams. It was offering her a chance. As much as she wants to deny it, she still has a lingering sense of hope that her dream is feasible. She already resolved her answer. No, she is not satisfied with the current outcome. But the corvid already knows. The fowl inches closer, the gap between them now only half Skie wide(that’s 88 cm in metric system).
“Very well then, I will let you live the dream you yearn.”
It spoke as It covers the surroundings with Its wings. Suddenly, Skie was no longer on the balcony, and her feet were no longer stepping on the ground. The surroundings shifted into the endless sky, spanning infinitely into all directions. But the vast distance was not empty, it was filled with stars in all directions. The corvid catches her with one of Its wings, then pointing at the stars above with Its beak.
“until the great triangle sets into the horizon, you are to take my power and roam free on this earth to where your heart may take you”.
She stared at the triangle the corvid mentioned. It is quite visible, considering it consists of three of the brightest stars she could find. She doesn’t know what constellation it was, but considering how visible it was, it should’ve been quite a popular one. unsure, she asked “and then what happens after that?”
“up to you, whether you decide to relinquish your dream or reconcile it, whether you want to strive for or abandon it.”
“And what about your powers? Would it just disappear?” Skie asked, still unsure. “And what is the price? Would I need to give something in return?”. There’s a chance that this is a faustian bargain, and she doesn’t want that. At least if she’s paying something, she wants to know the price.
“You need not give me anything, but when the triangle falls, never once try to reclaim my power with a vaguely aroused will, but with an unyielding resolve.”
Skie didn’t even want to ask what happens if she didn’t return the power she borrowed in time, nor did she want to ask whether someone has failed to return it in time before. “What if I forget to return it back in time?”
“If you truly believe the power belongs to you, then it’s wholly yours, but if you try to con it, then witness that you are fooling no one but yourself.”
So it was based on intention. That does not matter to her though, she is not trying to con an all supernatural being. If she’s not smart enough to get into top universities, she’s not good enough to trick other-worldly entities. This is more than enough already, it’s not like you can borrow supernatural power every other day. If her intuition was correct, she just got the power to travel anywhere in the world until that triangle constellation fell. “Wait, how do I know when the triangle will fall?”
“Once the summer ends, one of It’s point will dip below the horizon, my power will find its way back to me by then.”
That's neat, she has three months worth of free travel and the power would return itself back once it’s due. There’s also presumably a way to keep the power if she ever needs to. Granted, while it didn’t really cover the other half of her dream to enter prestigious school, this is the closest she could get without straight up reality warping. She could also technically enter a prestigious school, just not as a student.
The stars surrounding her fade back into nonexistence. She lands gently on her feet as the surroundings morph back into a familiar balcony. a bright blue pendant appeared on her neck, shining brightly. She looked at the corvid, It spread Its wings wide, ready to soar up to the endless blue. “Wait, mister Magpie, where is my sister?”. The corvid chuckled.
“she just finished your portion of the feast right now.”
Skie was stunned there as It soar, before immediately snapping back to reality. She zipped downstairs so fast that one might wonder whether she just used the power she was bestowed. She was not, she was just extremely pissed. Once she arrived at the dining room, she witnessed that the little rascal just finished her portion of lemon bread and bacon.
“YOU MONSTER!! WHY DID YOU ATE ALL MY BACON??!
Anna just forcefully swallowed the remaining bacon and lemon bread left in her mouth cavity, before washing it down with a gluttonous amount of iced water. “wha-? I thought you were gonna just take a nap and skip lunch. Mom said that you look unwell after all.” she said nonchalantly. “And that somehow justifies you eating MY WHOLE SHARE?”.
Skie immediately rushed to her sister, reaching her hand out to grab the rascal by the shoulder. Anna quickly retaliates, hiding behind the chair she just sat by a moment earlier “wait!! don’t chase me, my stomach is full.” she yelped. “Maybe it wouldn’t if you didn’t just eat two whole portions of food.” Skie retorted while making a sharp turn, before catching her sister and pinning her down to the wall.
“MAAAA…! help me, Skie is being mean.”
“What a bloody crybaby, you’re nearly an adult, stop acting childish.”
“You’re the one acting immature! Unhand me! Stop! STOP! it’s ticklish i might puke.”
Their mom just chuckled while enjoying her ice cold water, while the two sisters kept duking it out for another ten minutes or so.