The Wooden Bird

Part 1, The Girl in the Ratty Dress

The girl in the ratty dress was ruining his birthday party, and Evander had already decided that nothing— not the dank smell of the underground, not the glass skylight that showed a tempting but unreachable summer day, not the jealous looks his so-called friends threw him— was going to ruin this day.

He straightened his top, about to stride over and confront the girl lurking in the corner of the dining room, when his mother stepped into his path.

"Listen, honey," her voice was worried. "I heard some of the other boys were talking about going above ground later today. You're not going with them, are you?"

Evander gave his mother his most reassuring smile. He was a good liar. "Of course not. But what would it matter? I'm getting new lungs tonight anyways."

His mother's forehead wrinkled, eyes darting nervously to the young people gathered around the fancy furniture that no one looked at in favor of the window. "Don't say that so loud," she whispered back. With the air outside full of toxic metals, it was dangerous to be above ground, even for a few hours. The metal got into your lungs, brain, heart— destroying you from the inside out. Evander knew he was lucky to have a window to the outside world, and even luckier to be chosen for a new, fresh pair of lungs.

Today he let that happiness push aside everything else as he squeezed his mother's hand. "It'll be fine. I'm gonna go talk to my friends."

He crossed the room, smiling and pretending this was exactly what he wanted for a fifteenth birthday party. In reality, the banners above were too bright, too juvenile. But it didn't matter because tomorrow, after he woke up with his brand-new set of lungs, he was going to throw a new party, no adults invited.

He finally managed to extract himself from the loud voices and boisterous bodies and found himself walking towards the girl in the corner. He was surprised that beneath the ratty dress, she was kind of... well, beautiful. Her fingers worried at the hem of the dress, and she watched the door that led to a corridor connecting the multiple underground houses like she wanted to do nothing more than escape. Then her eyes shifted to Evander, and it felt like he'd missed a step.

He knew this girl.

Or he had, once upon a different time.

Her eyes were deep, endless, framed in long lashes, and zeroed on him with such force it was like a new gravity pulled him to her.

"Hello Evander," she said with a voice straight from his childhood. "Happy Birthday."

"Nina?"

She smiled, that slow, mischievous look that brought back a thousand memories of the small girl he'd grown up with.

"I... wow, Nina, you look so different!" Evander winced at his own words, suddenly embarrassed at the juvenile birthday party behind him.

"I brought you something," she said, a hint of shyness in her voice. She reached into her pocket and Evander found himself leaning forward, more than a little curious. He smiled when he saw the tiny wooden bird lay in her hand.

"We found that outside," Evander said. The two of them smiled at each other, their smiles suddenly like that of two children with a shared secret. He'd remembered the bright sun and the green trees and the two of them finding the little wooden bird lost in the weeds. It was one of his last memories of a time when they didn't know about the toxic metal particles in the air.

He stared down at the bird, smiling, but when he looked up at Nina, her smile had slipped away, and again she played with the edge of her dress. He wanted to reach out and take her hand in his. He didn't.

"Listen, Evander," she said softly, her eyes cutting to the door again. "I don't really know how to say this, so I'm just going to say it. Don't go get new lungs tonight."