Fallen Angel

Chapter 5

The amount of information that I had to unlearn and relearn was daunting. It quickly turned into frustration once I started daily lessons. The lab fed us a lot of propaganda, and while my English was fairly good for someone my age, and we knew quite a bit about the local wildlife, I was extremely behind on all social aspects. I knew almost nothing about history past the 15th century, and certainly nothing about the society we were thrust into. Three tutors specialized in different subjects were hired to help us, but it would still take years to catch up.

"You need to make more eye contact," Tricia said. "In some cultures, it's acceptable not to look someone in the eyes, but in ours, it's considered rude and that you aren't paying attention," she explained, and it felt like she was all but staring me down. I held her eye contact for a few threatening moments before I broke it again.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, looking back out at the window. Of all of the social lessons, this was the hardest to relearn. No one ever discussed the matter directly, but the lab techs and nurses whom I made eye contact with usually took it as a challenge. Raised voices and harsher hands taught me to never look someone in the eyes, always at their shoulders or another object in the room.

"It's okay, we'll keep practicing that one again. As the sessions go on, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it," Tricia said with an empathetic smile. These lessons were almost like torture, and if it weren't for Tricia's persistent patience and kindness, I didn't think I'd be able to go through with them. "Let's switch topics. Can you tell me what country New York City is in?"

I groaned in frustration. "Can I have a hint?" I asked, after all, geography was never my strong suit. We'd started off with learning about five different cities from around the world a week, and there was a globe that sat at Tricia's temporary desk. I knew the globe only listed major cities and I also knew that New York was on there. When Tricia saw where my eyes wandered she hid the globe behind her desk and shook her head with a smile. "Um," I said, trying to rack my brain. New York had been in the second set of cities we learned about, but I'd forgotten everything. "Japan?" I tried.

"Not quite," Tricia said. "Tokyo is in Japan. New York City is in the United States. Do you remember anything about Tokyo?"

I perked up. This, I did remember, Tokyo was my favorite city to learn about so far. Its bright lights and huge skyscrapers were mesmerizing to look at. "Yes," I replied. "Tokyo is Japan's capital. They make and develop a lot of electronics and video games. They have the biggest, no, the busiest train station in the world, but I can't remember what it's called."

"Very good!" Tricia said with a smile on her face. I beamed back at her, proud to have remembered something.

The lessons only lasted for about two hours each day, but there was a thirty-minute break between each hour. I enjoyed learning, but I was pretty sure that my brain would shut down if I tried to cram in information for two hours every single day. Some of it was facts, and some of it was learning what a dishwasher was. I was fascinated by them and the washing and drying machines, something that amused Tricia initially as she taught the three of us. The best part about our new lives was that I was never not busy. I was either learning how to take care of myself properly, how to clean up a mess, or how to make one. Having fun and exploring every inch of the cottage and the woods was done in between lessons.

I made a point to walk in the woods every chance that I got. Sometimes I got lucky and spotted rabbits, but mostly I spotted birds. They flew from branch to branch effortlessly and made flying look as easy as breathing. They never struggled, they never crashed, they didn't have wings too big for them that made them a hazard. Some days I would stretch my wings out wide and flap them as hard as I could, but I only succeeded in scattering the birds instead of joining them.