Scenes from the World - A Kindness

Scenes from the World 

A Kindness 

Michael held his phone up above his head, spinning around, while he squinted at the screen. 

“We are literally in the middle of nowhere.” He whined to his three friends that were milling about in the abandoned factory. “I get, literally, no bars in this place.” 

Tim turned towards Michael, “It’s probably the building. These places were built with lead and asbestos. We’re probably going to get cancer for just being in here.” 

Louis laughed, but a concerned look quickly fell across his face, “Do you really think we can get cancer just from being here?”  

Tim and Russ locked eyes, before bursting out in laughter. 

“Why is that so funny? John’s gramps died last year because he used to work with the stuff. It’s not a stupid question.” Louis said, defiantly. 

Michael suppressed a chuckle, “I seriously doubt we will get sick from spending a few hours near the stuff. Besides, we don’t even know if there’s any of that crap in here. Tim’s just being a butt-munch.” 

Tim smiled and waved at Louis. 

“Do you think anyone tried to do any Satanic rituals in here? We should go see if we can get into the basement.” Russ said, as he used a crowbar to pop open a locked door to one of the hallways. 

“Doubtful. That would mean there were actually interesting people in town. This town is so small, they would know if you left your house after ten, and then they would talk trash about you for the next month.” Tim replied, shinning a flashlight down the hallway. 

Louis slipped in front of Tim and Russ, grabbing the flashlight as he did. “Well there is only one way for us to find out, let’s go take a look.” 

Michael stood by one of the windows, staring at his phone. 

“What the hell is so important that you can’t go without your phone for five minutes?” Tim asked. 

Russ tapped Tim on the arm, “He’s probably expecting a call from that hot little number he rescued yesterday.” 

Michael rolled his eyes, “That’s stupid, I didn’t even give her my number.” 

“Wait, what?” Tim stammered. “Who did you rescue?” 

“It was nothing, really. Lauren was looking up at a cloud or something when she stepped off the curb, into the road. I just pulled her back before she got clipped by the truck.” Michael shrugged. 

“Lauren, huh? Doesn’t sound like nothing to me.” Russ interjected. “I don’t remember her saying her name, maybe because she was too busy being held...in your big, strong arms!” he said with a dramatic flair. 

Louis and Tim started laughing. 

“Is that how it happened, Mikey?” Louis asked. “Oh, Mikey! Thank you for saving me! Let me give you my number so I can finally punch that V-card of yours!” 

“Blow me, Louis.”  

“You wish.” Louis retorted. 

“It wasn’t a big deal or anything. I pulled her back, she said thank you and told me her name. I told her mine, and we went our separate ways. She was gone before I even got to the end of the block.” Michael said, his annoyance flaring. “If you must know, my brother is supposed to be coming back today, and my mom said she would message me when she knew when he was arriving on base.” 

“Adam’s coming back!” Russ cheered. “That’s awesome! My apologies then, you have my permission to continue to flake out on today’s adventure.” 

Michael smiled, “Oh, thank you for your gracious approval.” rolling his eyes, “It may not matter. They’ve either pulled him from leave, or extended his service so many times, that we can never really make plans around seeing him.” 

“Well, the bad guys aren’t going to kill themselves, so we might as well send the best to do it.” Tim said, slapping a hand on Michael’s shoulder. 

“I guess. My mom just gets unbearable when they cancel his leave. She worries that she may have missed the last chance to see him again. Then she’s a wreck until he finally calls.” Michael kicked at some garbage on the floor, and raised his phone up near the window once again.  

“Tell you what.” Louis said, “It’s probably the building. Go up to the roof, you should get a signal up there. Call your mom. Find out what’s going on, if anything. Then come down and meet us in the basement.” 

“Yeah, I can do that. Alright, either way, I’ll come down and let you know. I won't just bounce on you guys.” Michael looked around for the stairwell, and headed towards it. 

“Alright, be quick about it though. We would hate to become a pagan sacrifice without you.” Tim said, holding the flashlight under his chin and waving his other arm in the air. 

Michael rolled his eyes and entered the stairwell, making his way to the roof access they had scouted earlier.  It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight falling down upon him, but once they did, he was able to take in the dilapidated roof, with the red brick chimneys reaching out to the sky. The edge of the roof was surrounded by a low brick wall and a steel railing that ran about even with Michaels midsection. Not trusting the center of the roof, Michael moved to the edge and leaned up against the railing, waiting for his phone to get a signal.  

No sooner did the phone connect than he was bombarded with text and voicemail alerts. He didn’t need to look at them to know they were from his mom.  

“Call mom.” Michael said, holding the voice assist button on the side of his phone.  

He partially pushed off from the railing, which gave an odd groan and grating sound. Michael could feel the roof shifting under his feet. In a hurried attempt, Michael pushed harder on the rail, lifting him away from it. As he did, the rail gave way, popping out of the crumbled brick it had been set in. Michael tried to take a step forward, but was forced to catch his balance instead. The entire side of the building was peeling away from the frame, taking with it a considerable piece of the roof as well.  

Before Michael could process what was happening, he was in a four-story free fall. He could feel the air moving around him, see the trees loom larger and larger over, hear the growing rumble of the nearby river. Then everything went sideways. The world spun and spun as Michael felt something wrap tightly around his chest. Great golden-brown wings slammed against the air, slowing his fall, in a barely controlled decent. He clasped at the restraint to find hands gripped tight together. A moment later, Michael slammed into the ground hard, the hands that were holding him released as the winged creature was launched, tumbling into the brush. 

Taking a second to catch his breath, Michael could hear rustling from the brush next to him. Scrambling to his feet, he stared at the golden-brown wings that were stretched out and being smoothed by long thin hands. His eyes followed the hands and arms, until he reached the creatures face. 

“Lauren?” He barely whispered. 

Lauren’s brilliant green eyes met Michaels, and she blushed and smiled. 

“Not exactly how I thought to repay you, but I guess we’re even now.” she said, finding the sticks by her feet suddenly very interesting. 

“You’re amazing.” was all that Michael could stammer, standing awestruck and wide eyed. 

Lauren looked back up at Michael one more time, a look of relief, followed by joy crossed her face. Suddenly she went serious, looking towards the building.  In a flash, she opened her wings in all their glory, and took off into the sky. She was out of sight almost instantly. 

Michael could hear the yelling from his friends. 

“Over here!” he yelled, checking the sky one more time, before deciding how, or even what, he was going to say to them.