The Sun and the Moon

Lucy and Wyatt's father had an office full of unusual and rare items that drew Wyatt's curiosity.  This curiosity often got them in trouble. 

    She hated the room.

"No, we can't," she tried to reason with her stubborn twin. 

    "I need to see them," he answered and picked at the lock with tools from a kit he found online. It's amazing what a 12 year old could learn from the internet. With a twist of the nob the door opened. 

"Stop." She pulled at the back of his blue shirt. It didn't stop him. 

Inside on the walls in glass framed dead bodies of bugs, crawlers, and flyers. Their wings spread out to show off their beauty. Objects she couldn't name and a skull of some animal sat on the shelves with big fat books she couldn't imagine reading. Her skin crawled, and begged for the sun. She wanted to be outside, but he had said they were doing this today. She would do anything for him.

Well almost anything.

 She wouldn't look at them. The things that Wyatt obsessed over. The reason he learned to pick a lock.  A stuffed raven with its beak wide opened guarded them but that didn't stop him. 

Nothing stopped him. 

"Help me." he said, but she didn't turn. Her back tensed at knowing they were behind her. As if they had eyes. She felt them. 

He grunted. Still she didn't look. 

"What are you doing?" Their father had returned. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her. Her eyes went to them. The wings. The big white wings. The pair looked like they belonged to a big bird. Only wings. No body. As if they waited for their owner to return.

Wyatt held the frame in his hands. 

She flicked from her father's arms and ran from the room.

"Those are not yours. Go play outside." Their father's voice carried into the hall where she hid.

"Coward." Wyatt said as he exited the office.    

"Come on. Let's go outside." Already she felt the sun on her skin.

He turned on her, "You know I can't. I'm allergic to the sun." 

She rolled her eyes. "You got sunburn." 

With his red hair and fair skin he got a bad sunburn the last time she talked into playing outside. 

"And a fever!" he stumped away from her, down the hall.

"Who's the coward now?" she asked in a low voice.

He didn't hear her because he announced in his booming voice, "I'm hungry," and turned down the hall toward the middle of the house and the kitchen.

She sighed and heard behind her. "You know you don't have to follow him." 

She didn't look at the speaker. "I know, but he'll get into trouble if left alone." 

"Maybe he needs it?" said a different voice. 

"Are you coming?" Wyatt called from down the hall.

"Coming." 

Once in the kitchen a dog and a cat ran through her legs as they played together. They settled on their bed together and took a nap like they weren't just housing around.

"Weird animals." Wyatt said, he loaded a plate full of leftover breakfast biscuits and filled them with meats and cheese. 

"Careful. They can understand." she said. 

"Whatever." he said, with a mouth full of food. 

She grabbed a biscuit and cheese, and poured orange juice into a glass. 

The smell of grass grew stronger, and in walked Ms. Moore. Lucy wasn't sure what she did around the house but she was big on them exercising. "Time to go outside and train."

Wyatt huffed, "I'll be glad when I get to the moon and don't have to worry about the sun." 

"I believe the sun would be worse up there, Mr. Wyatt." Ms. Moore informated. 

He stormed off. 

She looked at Lucy. "Training?"

"Can I skip today?" 

"Why?"

"He is in the worst mood this morning. He might get the wings." 

"If he's not careful he'll break them." and she too grabbed a biscuit and meat. 

No need to follow him to know where he went. 

The basement.

She hated the basement, too. Cold, damp, and no sun. The way Wyatt liked it. 

The steps squeaked under her feet. 

"Who's there?" He called, fear in his voice. 

"It's me," Lucy answered. What was he up to? she wondered but didn't really want the answer. At the bottom of the stairs she found him lying on the floor. 

"What's wrong?" 

"I don't belong here." His voice echoed off the walls. 

"No one can live on the moon," she told him.

"How do you know?"

"Science books." she answered. 

"Why can't I have my wings?"

"Father said they are not your wings." The floor was cold to the touch when she laid down next to him. 

"They had grown. Did you notice?"

Nope, she thought, but didn't say anything out loud. 

"They are alive." He jumped from the floor as if the thought sprung him forward, and ran up the stairs. 

"Wait for me!"

"I'm going to free them. Today." Wyatte rushed out the basement door. "They are mine," he said again. "Then I'll fly to the moon." 

"What about me?" She shut the door behind her. 

"You have Father and Ms. Moore."

"You have them, too." 

"They don't understand me." 

"Yes, they do," she insisted. 

He walked to the end of the hall but then pressed his back to the wall at the corner. He turned to her, his eyes angry. "You told." 

She peeked around the corner. Ms. Moore guarded the office's door. "Maybe Father told her we were in there this morning." 

With his hands on her shoulders, he pushed her back down the hall. "I'm starting to think you don't understand me either."

"But I do."

Voices carried down the hall, they hurried back to the corner. Father stood in the doorway. His face red and Ms. Moore rubbed at her back. They both laughed. Their father placed his hand on Ms. Moore’s cheek.

"Gross," Wyatt said. 

"Walk with me." Father said.

Are they? she thought. Inwardly she begged Ms. Moore not to move.but they both headed down the hall in the opposite direction. 

"Yes," Wyatt said and moved to the office's door. It opened with no trouble. 

No, no, she thought and ran down the hall after him. Hoped she made enough noise to draw the adults back. There's a loud crash. At the door, she looked in. Her whole body shook. Would he be gone? she wondered. At the thought tears ran down her cheeks. 

"Fool," said a voice. 

She looked down at the cat. 

"I did it." Wyatt said. He stood at the end of the room. His face was full of wonder. The biggest grin she ever saw on his face. Her glance moved upward to the middle of the room. Up in the air flapped the wings at a slow pace. Attached to nothing. No body. Nothing. Her ears rang at the sight and her head grew heavy. 

"I did it." he said again. She almost didn't hear him. "I'm going to the moon but…" his face turned an uncertain expression. "How do I get them?"  His face lit up like a light bulb and he rolled the office chair under them. Up he climbed on to the leather chair with wheels. 

"Don't," she called and moved out of the doorway. The dog barked behind her. Wyatt got both his feet into the chair and reached for the wings. He laughed but then lost his balance. She reached for him. 

The wings seemed to turn toward her. 

Still Wyatt fell. 

She caught him. Put him on the ground. "How?" She looked down, her feet didn't touch the ground. Her stomach turned at the imbalance feeling of free hanging in the air. 

"No!" Wyatt screamed when he looked up at her. "Those are mine."

"No, they're hers." said the dog in the doorway, but Wyatt as usual didn't hear him.

She felt the wings moving the same way she felt her legs move when she walked. Her feet touch the ground. Once she was on equal ground as him. Wyatt attacked her. "Give those to me!"

He grabbed at her feathers. Pulled them. "These are not yours!" Pain shot through her shoulders and upper back. She couldn't speak. The dog kept barking at them. 

"Stop!" a voice boomed from the doorway. Wyatt stopped but the pain didn't go away. He turned to their father. "Tell her to give me my wings." he whined as if he was the one in pain. 

"Those belong to her," their father said. 

"What? No!" 

"I'm sorry, son, but you are not from the moon. I was hoping you would grow out of that idea." 

"And she is?" Wyatt sat on the floor. 

"No, she belongs on the earth but not in our world. She was here for me to protect. Since you are the same age I told the lie that the two of you were twins."

"She's not my sister?"

"No." He moved back out of the room and shouted, "Ms. Moore it's time!" 

The woman appeared. At the sight of Lucy with her wings the woman shifted into a large wolf. Both children jumped back. 

"Get on her back!" Father said.

"What is she?" Lucy asked. 

"Your guardian," came the answer from Father, and he grabbed her and threw her on the wolf's back. Lucy grabbed two fists full of hair. 

"What about me?" Wyatt asked and reached for her. 

But Father stopped him. "We don't have time. They'll find her now that she has her wings. Ms. Moore will keep her safe. We need to leave, too." 

"I'll find you," Lucy called to Wyatt as the wolf took off out the door, down the hall, and through the back door into a bright portal opening.