Stephen’s Flight

It was summer break at Queen’s University, finally! And Stephen drove home feeling completely fine, as if nothing could go wrong. He was at a traffic light when suddenly, his legs became stronger and longer, and his arms became thicker, but they really felt light. All he could do was watch in horror as he transformed into something else.
Now Stephen was tall, about 6’2”, with a muscular build, or what some people might call a “big boy’. He had blue eyes, and was particularly hairy around the legs. He had no real friends, but he was good at just picking them up quickly. In Stephen’s family, he only had one set of parents, and a little brother named Jim, who was in the 5th grade. Queens University was only a couple miles from Stephen’s family’s house. He was 20, and didn’t need his own house yet.
As soon as he got home, he raced up to his room, locked the door, and ran to his bathroom to go look at the mirror. He couldn’t believe what he saw. His arms had turned a red color, maybe the skin was irritated from changing form. And they felt as light as feathers! His leg hair was all gone, but they felt like sticks, wiry but strong, as if he were a bird. He looked out his window to see if anyone had seen him. Wow, he thought, he could see far! His room was small, with only things that he needed in it. It was a two story house that the family lived in, his room was on the 2nd floor, and all he had was a bed, a bathroom, and a shelf. He was a bit surprised that nobody was home yet. He was glad that nobody had seen him. After all, he did not live in a very safe neighborhood. There were not even any street lights, and people roamed the streets at night.
Stephen felt strange, his body felt oddly shaped, as if nobody had time to put his limbs together. He almost felt like an animal. A bird? He kept catching himself looking into the skies and trees. One time he thought that it was a beautiful day for flying. Wait... what? He heard the front door opening... oh no! He had to get out, somehow. He had one window in his bathroom... His parents had a key to his room. He ran to his little bathroom, locked the door, and opened the window. Soon he was on the roof. He jumped off and landed on his side in a bush. It had begun to rain, dark heavy clouds bruising the sky. He could not be seen like this! He took off sprinting into the street, he jumped into the air, avoiding getting hit by a car. But instead of his feet returning to the ground, they remained in the air, he was flying like a bird! He flapped his arms, wow he thought, this is crazy! It was now raining hard, when he looked down, the cars looked as big as his shoes. He looked up again, but it was already too late. He fell, down down down. RIP! CRASH! C-CRACK! He fell all the way down. RIP! He hung on a branch, caught by his own shirt. After walking on the street, Stephen decided he did not want to fly. He saw a man sitting on the curb of the street, so he just walked over to him and sat down next to him. The man looked at him as if he were crazy, but said, “can you fly?” Stephen replied, “yes”. “I saw you crash over there,” the man said. “I’m Stephen”, “Will”, the man replied. The man wore a long black cloak, and a strange pointy hat. “So you have a superpower?” he asked. “Yes”, replied Stephen. “I don’t want it”. Stephen began to get the idea that this man could be magic. “Well I am a magic man”, Will said, as if reading his mind. “And I have a way of making your superpower go away. But in order for that to happen, you have to do me a favor. I want you to steal valuable things from your house and bring them to me.” Stephen wanted it all gone so bad that he considered doing it. So he just said, “ok”. Then he walked toward his house, not wanting to fly anymore. He went in and closed the door. His mom and brother were both home from work and school, so he avoided them. He had to go into his parents bedroom to find his mother’s jewelry. He crammed and stuffed as much as he could into his pockets. He ran back out the door and into the wet street, his pants sagging a little bit from the jewelry. He thought about what he had just done. Well the good thing was that his powers would be gone. He sat down next to Will and dumped the contents into his lap. “Here”, Stephen said. He felt bad about robbing his OWN house now. A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Nothing had changed. He tried grabbing the man, but he just simply vanished. The man had tricked him! Stunned at what had just happened, Stephen ran home. He HAD to tell his parents. He now regretted all of the bad things that he had ever done. That decision had completely changed his life forever. But his parents were not even home yet. And so for the next few days, he struggled with his power. He did not even want to go outside and use it. Why would this happen to him? Finally, he had built up the confidence to spill the beans on what had been going on lately.
He told his parents about his arms and legs, about leaving the house, crashing, meeting the magic man, and about his plan. As soon as he confessed to his parents, he felt his body change. It was like a huge weight was lifted off of him. No more huge muscles in his arms. He was no longer an animal. That day, he had learned a valuable lesson: to be closer to family, and to be honest with them. Never talk to strangers, especially magic men, and most importantly, truth.