Blown Away

5: When Wind Whistles at Your Door

My feet left the ground. For the first time in my life I fell upwards, sorta say.

"Whoa!" I cried as my body twisted up to the rafters of my small home. "What are you doing?"

Zephyr giggled as she watched me tumble weightless in the air. She then floated up beside me and softly grabbed my hand. My body instantly became stable and calm.

"Don't be scared, lighthouse boy. I'm only doing what wind does best." She glanced at the front door. With a whistle, the door opened. "You asked me to blow you away."

"Not like this!" I cried. "I'm terrified of heights! Put me down!"

Zephyr giggled once more and in a twist of her body we flung towards the open door.

"Zephyr!" I screamed. We exited into the sky and up we surged. "No, no, no!" I shut my eyes not before glimpsing my small island grow ever smaller beneath me. My body tensed as I felt the wind around me twist. In my mind I pretended I was falling into a tornado of feathers and each gust was a million feathers brushing by. Then suddenly it stopped. The air became still and sunlight warm.

"Open your eyes!" Zephyr said. "It's a beautiful sight."

"I can't," I said with my chin to my chest. Her free hand drifted towards my hair and brushed it out of my eyes.

"Come on, lighthouse boy. I know you got to be made of stronger stuff than that."

"My name is Gale Hutchins," I snapped.

"Well then, will Gale Hutchins open his eyes? I won't let you fall."

I hesitated. Slowly I opened my eyes. The sunlight blinded my vision until my eyes adjusted to the glare. I looked around. Together Zephyr and I stood suspended in the air above clouds looking down at my small town and the sun setting over the mainland. Colors of red, orange and purple invaded the blue sky making the clouds glow pink.

"I bet you've never seen the sunset from the sky before," said Zephyr with a long sigh. "It's my favorite time of the day."

"So you're the southwest wind?"

"Yeah. But I wasn't always."

I returned a curious look at Zephyr.

"What do you mean?"

"I was like you once. Human. I had a family, a home by the sea, a little cat named Frisk. I lived with my mother and father. They were quiet and old and never said much. We lived on what we could. Life was simple but good."

"What happened? If you don't mind."

"A storm came. Not a natural storm, but one with eyes and arms of furry. A storm sent by the Storm King. It whipped a waterspout onto the land, destroying our home. When I awoke, I was hovering in the sky. Somehow I had survived and could now fly. I looked for my home and my parents but could find none. Then one sunset as I was sitting on the clouds, the North Wind found me. She was beautiful. The way her body twisted through the air bringing ice and snow. She told me I was chosen to be the southwest wind and as I grew so would my powers and my duties to the laws of nature. And I have grown and learned, but I still don't know why. Why me?"

"My dad was taken in a similar storm. I think I know better than anyone how you feel. Why me?"

Zephyr sighed again.

"So where do we go from here?"

"My dad did say something before the storm took him. He said to find the winds and then he handed me this." I pulled out the small smooth stone.

"It looks like a compass but no needle." The southwest marker suddenly began to glow. "Gale, it's glowing." Zephyr reached over and touched the stone. The moment her finger touched its surface, a bright light exploded from within. As the light faded so did the strength in Zephyr's eyes. She grew faint and in an instant, we tumbled through the air freefalling back to Earth.