by Jaz Johnson
It had been almost three hours now, and Saphora was feeling exhausted. She had been working at this since she had gotten off the phone with Maverick, and it was proving to put a strain on her. Though she had succeeded in being able to levitate small items on command, the longer she held that concentration, the more it seemed to ware her down. Much like flying. She had made the connection between the two powers, in how they were performed. She merely had to concentrate, wanting it to happen, and it would. And just like flying, it would take practice to be so familiar with it.
But now that she had grasped the workings of the power, she could take that next step in learning to master it. It was just a bit different from flying. She had never found herself floating from a subconscious desire before, like she had experienced with these powers. So that was something she was going to have to take into consideration and really work to keep under control. She couldn’t have her subconscious running the show.
She was now walking up the street to her house, with several stones floating around her. Each of them were only about the size of a golf ball. She moved the stones left to right, right to left, up to down, and around her all together, to get the feel of controlling the objects. It had gotten to a point where she barely had to move her hands to get them to move. Now, she could focus without so much as looking at them. She just had to keep a mental log of everything that was being moved. It didn’t always work. Sometimes she would forget an item, and it would fall from the lack of concentration. She had to really work to keep that focus, and at the moment, it seemed that she could only focus on four things at a time.
A movement from the corner of Saphora’s eye made her head snap up. She saw Fran in the doorway of the house, waving to get her attention. And as soon as she did, all of the stones fell to the ground, one of them hitting Saphora on the head. She groaned, sighing as she raised her hand to rub the top of her head. Fran took that as a wave back, and she motioned for her to hurry up and come in the house, before turning around and going inside herself. She wondered what Fran was doing home, since she said that she was going to try and put in the rest of the hours at work.
“Saphora! It’s coming!” Fran exclaimed when she heard the front door close from Saphora entering the house. She was in the kitchen, coming out to greet her. Saphora raised a brow at the statement, looking around the room before letting her gaze rest on her.
“What’s coming?”
“The new exhibit!” she squealed, coming closer to Saphora with a little bit of a bounce. Saphora’s brows furrowed. “At the zoo! The one we’ve been building for the last two months?” Saphora’s mouth fell open as the memory came rushing back. She had completely forgotten about the exhibit that was due to open, despite the fact that she was just at the zoo the previous day.
“Oh,” Saphora breathed. “Uh, what is it?” she asked as she moved to sit on the sofa in the living room, feeling the need to relax her body.
“You’re not going to believe me. It’s a dragon!” Fran said, rushing around the sofa to sit with her. Saphora grinned some.
“What, you mean a komodo dragon? Don’t you already have those?” Fran shook her head.
“No, Saphora. It’s an actual dragon! It’s the greatest discovery since the dinosaurs! Only it’s alive!” Fran said, bouncing on the sofa.
“What? Come on, Fran.”
“I’m serious! The news is going to be there on Wednesday when they bring it in. And scientists, and archeologists, and-“
“Fran, a dragon? Seriously? Do you know how that sounds? Like, with wings and all?”
“Yes, with wings!”
“How would something like that even be alive?”
“Some of the scientists think that it was preserved in a glacier or something, and somehow woke up when it melted. You know, like some frogs do.”
“Whoa, wait. So are there like, more of these things in glaciers? Where’d they find it?”
“In the mountains in Norway. And I don’t know. But could you imagine?!” Fran said, thrusting herself back into the sofa.
“What does it look like? And why are they bringing it to a town like this? Shouldn’t they be like, analyzing it or something in some lab?”
“I don’t know why they’re bringing it here, but I’m not complaining! Maybe they don’t have the equipment for it yet or something. Who cares? A dragon!”
Saphora couldn’t help but laugh at her excitement at facing one of the world’s most dangerous creatures, fantasy or not.
“So that probably means you’re going to be putting in overtime until Wednesday, huh,” Saphora asked. Fran paused, her excitement taking a momentary dive.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry, but …” Saphora raised her hand to stop her explanation.
“It’s okay, Fran,” she laughed. “I understand. I told you I’m not mad anymore. Besides, it’s a fucking dragon. As far as excuses go, that’s pretty good.”
“You’ll be at the opening?”
“Yeah, like I’m going to miss the discovery of one of the greatest creatures of fantasy this world has ever known. Of course I’m going,” she said, dropping her head back against the sofa.
“You seem tired … What were you doing during your walk?” Fran asked warily.
“Walking,” Saphora scoffed. “I walked the entire way home.”
“The entire way? You didn’t fly at all? That’s nearly a two hour walk, honey.”
“I know,” Saphora sighed. “But I really wanted to do some thinking. And flying has me spooked since Monday …”
“Oh,” Fran cooed, coming closer to her and placing her hand on Saphora’s thigh. “It must be scary now, after falling. It’s probably a good idea to give it a rest for a while.”
Saphora nodded as she closed her eyes. Fran rubbed her hand against Saphora’s thigh and looked about her face.
“It must be hard, with this whole Jones case,” Fran said softly after some moments of silence. Saphora opened her eyes to look over at Fran, her head still resting against the sofa. “I’m sorry if … I haven’t been much of a good mother lately. But … I always will be. Your mother, I mean. I know that I’m not, but …” Saphora lifted her head as Fran started to tear up. “You’ve always been a daughter to me. You know that, right?” she said, looking up at her with welling eyes. Saphora grimaced and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Fran. This was the Fran she was looking for. The one that worried over everything, listened to anything, and always reassured her.
“I know, I know, Fran. I just … I’m not used to you hesitating … doubting.” Fran shook her head, lowering it against Saphora’s shoulder. She hated to see her cry. Even though she had been so mad at her. How could she stand to see her mother cry? They could wage battles all they wanted, but they would both end up losing the war. The moment a tear fell from either side, the war was lost.
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect something like this to happen. I didn’t know what to think,” Fran sobbed into Saphora’s shoulder as she wrapped her arms around her. “I know you wouldn’t hurt anyone, honey. I know that. Not on purpose.” Saphora’s body tensed slightly at the last words, and her frown deepened. She still wasn’t sure. She still wasn’t sure that Saphora was telling the truth when she said that she didn’t kill that man. It hurt knowing that Fran couldn’t completely believe her. But, then again, she had to consider how her story – her explanation sounded to her. The thought of her being hunted down by some strange man from her past. She couldn’t blame Fran for wanting to believe it didn’t happen, and that there was just something wrong with her, that could be fixed with more therapy. Something she could do something about.
“It’s okay, Fran … It’s okay,” she cooed, stroking Fran’s back slowly. Fran continued to sob quietly, and Saphora continued holding her, comforting her, as she wanted to be comforted.