The wings were heavy in my arms, bulky and oddly shaped. I wondered how we had overlooked this flaw in the design, these wings were meant to make transport easier, not cause me to have an asthma attack on the stairs. I glanced around the lighthouse's spiralling staircase, the treads were worn,stone curved from thousands of feet over hundreds of years. The paint on the walls was peeling, damp from the salty sea air. I continued putting one foot in front of the other slowly but surely rising higher and higher until I reached a doorway. I turned and pushed the door open with my back, heaving the heavy bundle in my arms inside and dumping it unceremoniously onto the floor.
"Careful," Ella mumbled, busily fiddling with her own set of wings "those things took us weeks to make remember."
How could I forget, these were our ultimate invention, a marvel of engineering that aspiring inventors had been trying to create for years. These wings would make us famous, we would be remembered forever. That was if they worked.
We worked busily for a few minutes fixing the wings to each other's backs and laughing at how stupid we looked.
'Don't worry' Ella said 'They aren't meant to look pretty, they are meant to work, so come on, let's try them out.'
We stepped outside, the wind had picked up a little since we last checked and an anxious feeling started to grow in my stomach. Something wasn't right here. I tried to tell Ella this but she just laughed it off and assured me we would be fine. Then she jumped.
My heart skipped a beat, and I ran to the edge peering down the side of the lighthouse. I started to breathe again as I saw her pulling out of a dive and looping back up into the air. Her wings stretched to their fullest extent. It worked! Elated, I jumped. Missing the warning Ella shouted at me, missing the fact that the wind had picked up even further, missing the rumble that sounded faintly in the background.
I noticed these things only seconds later but it was too late. I was in the air. I only remember fragments of what happened next, terrifying moments that haunt me still. I remember being tugged about by the wind, tossed around like a cat playing with a desperate mouse, the whistling in my ears taunting me, asking me who I thought I was for trying to tame a storm. I remember catching glimpses of Ella through the pounding rain, struggling as much as I was, trying to control her own flailing wings. I remember watching as she crashed into the sea, thrashing desperately as she tried to swim her wings dragging her down. I screamed, reaching towards her but she was too far. All I can remember after that is a blur of movement and panic as the world seemed to break apart around me.
AN: Thanks for reading :)
