He flew me around in barrel rolls and loop-de-loops — it was surreal how much fun it was.
For something so dangerous to be so thrilling, I thought I must be crazy.
Raven dove down towards the ground, and curved back up to the sky at the very last second, close enough to let a blade of grass flick my nose before slingshotting back upwards.
"Oh my god!" I exclaimed, my nervousness overtaken by a rush of adrenaline as I laughed. "Is that all you got?"
Then I saw sneaky, coy expression on his face. "You're supposed to be scared."
"Should I be?" I challenged.
"Yes."
He bolted upwards fast enough to make my gut sink, higher than we'd ever been before. High enough I swear that I could touch the clouds, and the cool air gave me a chill.
And the Raven stopped. His wings beat loudly in the air, and we bobbed high in the sky as he cradled me in his arms.
I smiled. "You should know I'm not afraid of heights by now."
He simpered back. "I know you're not."
And with that, he dropped me.
I immediately tried to scream, only to find that by lungs had forsaken me in shock. And Raven was still floating up there, watching me fall! What the f*ck?! I would bet he was laughing right then, even if I couldn't see it, nor pay attention to anything but my obvious impending doom.
Far out of my reach, he dove down after me.
I was falling on my back, arms and legs flailing everywhere, and Raven was diving straight down, arms glued to his sides and his wings tucked in, cutting through the wind like a pencil.
It was fine if I was plummeting towards the ground in Raven's arms, but not on my own.
When he got to me, he turned to fall on his stomach, and he reached out to me with his hands, freefalling two feet above me.
I took the hands of that reckless damn idiot and he turned himself and I around until we were both falling on our stomachs, hands clasped, right in front of each other like a skydiving stunt.
And then, it was fun. Raven would never let me get hurt. When we got too close, Raven would pull me back to him and fly away with me in his arms.
Or at least, I thought.
The ground began to near. The wind pierced my eyes to look downwards, so I couldn't tell how far we were from the ground by only looking at his face, but I knew every second got us closer to the stone-cold dirt.
"Raven!" I yelled over the whistling wind.
He didn't reply, he just gave me that crooked smile.
"Raven, it's pretty close!"
"Afraid of heights now?!" he asked loudly.
"No!"
The ground was getting closer... He wasn't going anything...
Okay, now I was getting scared. "Alright, fine, yes, now pull us up!"
He shook his head.
"Raven!"
"Not yet!"
I glanced to the side and realized that, through my tears and furious blinking, I could see the glow of the yard light getting brighter.
Then I screamed in panic,. "Okay, okay, you win, pull us up! I give up, get us out of here!" He wasn't even looking at me. "Raven, f*cking save me!"
Then he grabbed me under my arms, pulled me into a tight embrace, and let out his wings just enough to curve our flight path, slowly but surely, back upwards, twisting my stomach again like a deranged roller coaster ride.
I was wheezing so hard and fast, my chest hurt.
"Raven!" I screamed at him after a minute of panting for air. He was right in front of me, our noses were nearly touching, I had no need to scream, yet I was fully entitled to. "You motherf*cker, why'd you do that?! We could've died!"
He chuckled.
"Are you insane?!"
"Maybe," he laughed. "You're cute when you're mad."
I opened my mouth to snap something at him, but I closed it. Whatever.
"So you'll buy me sunflower seeds now?" he asked.
"No!" You cocky little ass...
His grip on me loosened, and I slid down towards the ground far below. "Alright, well--"
"Fine! Fine! I buy whatever you want!"
"That's more like it," he said, and held me even tighter than before.
I just couldn't stay mad at him. In his strong, secure hold, I wound up blushing as red as a tomato.
He flapped down to the tall branch of a gigantic red maple tree, and the two of us sat down and enjoyed the view.
The whole scene was just...surreal. The sky was beautiful, the stars starting to poke out holes in the blanket of night, and the breeze that blew by that prickled my skin, but yet didn't make me shiver. I was still above the yard, but in the largest tree around.
As I looked to the night sky, I imagined another planet where there might be other bird-men, or even an empty planet just like earth that could just belong to Raven and I. It would have forests and beautiful sunsets over sunflower fields. A planet with a whole new sky, with no one to put up missing posters of Raven, and nothing to remind him of his old scars.
Yeah, it was a weird and stupid idea, but beautiful all the same.
I was maybe a hundred feet high, and yet the branch was still as thick as my thigh. It surely swayed under our weight, but wasn't going to break. If the bright yard light wasn't on, I was sure I'd be able to see more stars.
I took a deep breath in, and let that deep breath out.
Somewhat nervous for my balance, despite knowing that if I fell Raven was probably fast enough to catch me, I put my hand out for his, and he took it firmly.
I never wanted the moment to end.
I enjoyed right then so much it hurt my heart — I was scared of when this moment would end.
He can't stay here forever, I thought sullenly.
I never wanted him to leave... I didn't know why he would ever have to leave... All I could do was hold him close while I had him, scared of being alone.
Raven and I carefully sat down on the branch, dangling our feet, and I leaned on his shoulder once again.
I sat there for a while before I saw two green, glowing dots, right next to each other, floating among the shadows of the trees.
But then I realized they weren't floating, glowing lights. They were the glint of a pair of eyes.
There was a green-eyed animal watching me from the woods.
Potatonut, I thought. He's back.