"Butchered Wings" by Ford Stratton is a beautiful fiction piece about a girl who believes she can fly. She had tried to save her friend Carrie who tried to kill herself by jumping off of a building. The narrator was not able to save Carrie, and she believed that she was able to survive because she could fly. However, her parents tell her that she survived because she landed on top of Carrie. The narrator suffers from a mix of sorrow, guilt, and anger since her parents don't believe that she can fly. To prove that she was given the gift of flying because she tried to save Carrie, she jumps off of a roof to go flying. But, when it's too late, she realizes that her wings cannot protrude from her back because her pajama shirt is trapping them inside of her shirt so is not able to fly. As she believes she is falling to her death, she wakes up from what seems to be a coma and is hugging Carrie who the narrator learns she had saved. She cries tears of joy when she realizes that everything is okay and sees wings protruding from Carrie's back. This extremely emotional story will leave many readers in tears.
   I was extremely touched by this story because of how much I wanted to belive the narrator about everything she thought was true and help her through her sadness. But at the same time, I also loved this piece because you can never really tell what is real and what isn't. The story seems to be that until the narrator wakes up crying and hugging Carrie, she was in a coma and everything from that point on is real. However, readers may not believe this because the narrator sees that Carrie has wings at the end. At this point, Carrie is portrayed in an angelic way because of her wings, so it may be that they are both dead. The text describes the symbolism of Carrie's wings making her like an angel by saying, "And I see two small, pearly wings protruding from her back." So, another way to interpret the story may be that the narrator was dreaming about flying in the beginning of the text but believes that the dream was real. Her parents may have been correct that she had survived because she landed on Carrie when she jumped after her. So when the narrator jumped to prove that she could fly, she died and then entered heaven. To conclude, the emotions portrayed and the unknowing aspect of "Butchered Wings" by Fort Stratton that will embrace the hearts of all readers.