Summary: "Reality is nothing but a faraway dream…"

Note: Another one of those old stories I did for the musemuggers community in livejournal. This was back in 2005.

Title: I Rode An Airplane To The Moon

Author: Hana Rui

He had always loved riding the wind. There’s absolutely nothing that could match the freedom he felt whenever he did. All the bondages of the truth he had yet to accept were blown and driven away into non-existence and it was always as though he was still his old, lively self.

Today he was about ready to embark on another flight.

“Shut up!”

“No, you shut up!”

The wind was mighty stronger today than it ever was. It was rustling the trees a little too harshly, almost snapping their scrawny branches to half. It had even shooed all the playful birds away, leaving in its place the biting echoes of voices chanting to the discordant melodies of an inconclusive argument.

He knew the echoes would soon be gone, too.

“Listen to me!”

“No, you listen!”

He had only recently learned the art of defying the limiting curbs of reality. The wonders of leaving the world to explore new ones he had only thought of conquering in his dreams. His once too feeble feet could easily touch solid ground. He could actually move his legs about, wave his arms in glee, move his head…

Smile.

“Do not raise your voice in front of the kid!”

“What do you care about that kid, he’s not even yours!”

The wind rose to a higher crescendo, filling his ears with the whistling vacuums of apathy. He was now at an altitude where all he could hear was his own thoughts. The unspoken joys screaming through his head were like propellers sending his imaginary aircraft shooting through the skies.

Soon, reality would become nothing but a faraway dream.

“No, Ed, I will not let you do that!”

“What else do you plan to do with that kid, huh? Look at him, he’s practically dead!”

The wind was such a friendly companion. It had always taken him away from the biting images of reality. Taught him how to dream, to imagine living in a world where he was everything that the wretched invalid lying on his bed was not. It had always made him believe he was still alive. Brave and strong enough to touch the heavens…

High and mighty enough to hold the moon at the palm of his hands.

“Give him up.”

“NO!”

He felt something warm pressing against his body—for the first time in days he actually became aware that he still had one. But whether or not that was a good thing he could never tell.

The moon suddenly slipped off his grasp and he began descending back to earth.

“Oh, for crying out loud Olivia! He’s not even our child!”

“Go away, Ed! Just go and leave us alone!”

Warm. The woman who was hugging him was crying and her tears were warm. They stung his skin so sharply that they almost made him flinch. Almost. It had been quite a while since he became aware that he still had nerves receptive enough for such human emotion.

He was suddenly aware of the same salty rapids upon his cheeks.

Ah, today’s trip had been unexpectedly short.

Maybe tomorrow he should try for the stars.

-end-