I sailed through the air, doing pirouettes, and gracefully landing on the platform with a finish. No, I wasn't using wires… I had wings. Broad white ones tipped with charcoal black. I finished by landing, when I did I heard applause. I turned around and expected to see my sister's smiling face gleaming with praise…

But I saw nothing but darkness, pitch black darkness, I ran through it to try and find some sort of sign of light; but it was like I was running in place.

I woke up in soaked in sweat, my throat aching like crazy, and my sheets a tangled mess. I fumbled with the bed-side table drawer and reached for my Vicodin pills and swallowed one down, no water. It's been like this every night for three years since my sister, Diana, passed away; the shrink… er… therapist, prescribed them to me a few months after she did. I got out of bed and sat on the window sill, it was a wide one, the one you'd see in the creepy mansions, the moon was a luminous pale blue that gave the forest outside an eerie look to it. I had an urge to go flying but not after that nightmare, not after Diana died…

Hello, my name… my name… is Angelo. I don't necessarily have a last name, I just haven't used it since my sister died, and it brings too much grief and pain for me. As I looked through the window I saw a shadowy figure jumping form treetop to treetop, I smiled some. It was my god brother, Roz, when he landed on the edge of the window he rapped on the glass with his claw. Yes, I said claw, Roz and I and many unique human beings alike, have an incredible gift: the power to access a deep spiritual energy that represent themselves as animals, animal spirits to sum it all up. Roz's is the fox and mine is… well frankly, I'm not sure, I believe it to be some sort of owl.

I opened the window so Roz could enter, "It's an amazing feeling outside, Angelo, you cannot believe the amazing breeze" he said, and my smile faltered a bit.
"As great as that sounds? No, I don't feel like it." I sat on the edge of my bed while Roz morphed to his fox form.
"Your spirit is the white owl. As in a bird. As in the urge to fly is inevitable." Roz told me fully morphed as a fox, his winter coat almost sky blue with the light of the moon.
"It'll be fine; I can control it with enough will power, okay?" I shrugged.

Roz jumped onto the edge of my bed next to where I was sitting, and the door was opened slightly.

"Everything alright here?" it was Mr. Langston; he ran the facility me, Roz, and others stayed in. The others as in the ones people would call freaks and laugh and point because they were different.

"Um, we're fine, Mr. L, thanks" Roz answered for us. Then Mr. Langston left room.

"I do fly sometimes, in the facility" I said to Roz, assuring him.

"I don't know, Angelo, you should embrace your power, don't be afraid" Roz told me.

Although there was a five year difference between us (with Roz being 19 and me being 14), Roz taught me a lot about using my spirit, how to manipulate it and to conceal it so that I could pass for 'normal' among people. It was a hassle at first but I managed, I had wanted my sister to teach me but it seemed that destiny had other plans, both for her and me.
But clearly it wasn't just me and my sister before, my mother had just gone and disappeared from our lives, no one knew where she was and the police ended up completely giving up. I didn't blame them, after a while even my sister and I gave up and just assumed she was dead. And as for my father, well, I never knew him…

It seemed as though he just stopped caring, and he just gone up and left. I mentally sighed; these types of things would give therapists a field day. I looked at the alarm clock, 4:15 a.m.

"Roz?" I called his name, but he didn't respond, all I heard were his slow and steady breathing. I picked him up and set him on his bed, he didn't stir at all.

I tossed and turned for a while until I finally fell asleep, waking up with a minor body ache, bleary eyed and groggy.

The sun was shining and sunlight filled the room, it was too bright actually, so I pulled the curtains over the windows. Roz, who had been in fox form for almost the whole night, was in human form now, white hair racked back as he snoozed. My own white hair was an unruly mess, the common case of bed-head, heh-heh.

The base of my neck itched a bit, my wings spread out; I was being careful not to knock down anything off the shelves or even try to wake up Roz. I hadn't flown in a while so that probably explained the ache, either way, it felt good to have them out.

I left the bedroom and went down stairs to meet up with the others, the only people who understood me.

Everyone at the facility had an animal spirit; the facility was just for us, a place to help understand that this is a gift and not a curse. Its calm here, despite that chaos that goes on, it's calm. I passed by several kids who I said hello to, the breakfast table was all set for us to serve ourselves; Mr. Langston was cheery this morning, he was looking around and admiring the children's many talents, proud of what he's done.

It was then that I realized he has been like the father I needed, the one to raise me and give me insight; the one who truly understands about everything going on.
It's a shame I didn't get to know my father, but what can be done? I gave up looking for him, realized there was no need if he didn't even try and find ME.

"You look distracted, Angelo, something wrong?" someone next to me asked me, it was a girl, her name was Cameron, I believe. She had brown curly hair, green eyes, tanned skin, and a beautiful smile. If I could recall, I believe her spirit was a rabbit;
"Hm? Oh no, I'm fine; it's just that I noticed how great it is today." I answered to Cameron, smiling.
**

I didn't feel like eating, so I went upstairs to the bedroom I shared with Roz, I opened the window wide open, I stood on the windows edge and jumped off.

I closed my eyes and my wings spread out at the very last second, I soared up high into the sky, making circles as I did. I stopped at the rooftop of the facility, only to take view of my surroundings; the forest was alive with greenery (obviously) and I could see little woodland creatures scurrying about. I took off again, enjoying the feeling of the wind flowing through my wings and pushing back my white hair.

I lost track of time while I was flying, by the time I landed it was sunset and everyone was doing their own thing. The guys were in the game room playing Xbox and Play Station while the girls gossiped and such. I found Roz standing on his head with his eyes closed; he does some strange form of meditation that seemed so bizarre.