Child in the Sky

She pressed her hands against the window, fascinated.

Elonia has never been this high in the air before. Her experience standing atop the roof of the Operator Center was hardly even close. She, of course, had been able to feel the clouds with her fingertips, breathe in their watery scent, but she had not been this high up. Not ever.

It was breathtaking. Everything looked so small, so simple from up here.

Recently, she had been rescued from her departure from the Society. She was alone, scared, waiting for someone to come and find her, hoping that the Operators weren't so incredibly mad.

And then, someone came.

People were sailing in a boat not far from shore. Once they docked upon the sand, they ran up to her, asking her numerous questions. Many of them marveled at the tattoo along the front of her hand. EF-037.

They knew about the Society. It was deemed a legend, they told her. A legend which none of them knew much about, and they were surprised to discover that she was from such a place. Operators existed? Partners existed? The Society was somehow still living on?

She had discovered many things since then. Numerous, numerous colors. More than she could've ever imagined, had she stayed in the Operator Center.

Numerous animals. Furry ones and fluffy ones and somewhat spiky ones. Lizards and geckos and snakes and snails.

She didn't like them. They reminded her too much of MNSTR.

The people, after feeding her and bathing her and making her feel like she finally had a new home, said that they could take her away from the shore.

But... she wasn't sure. She didn't know if she wanted to leave.

I had accompanied her all the way to the very edge of the Away Premises. She was afraid that I would fully leave her mind if she left. If she let these kind people take her from the place she thought would always keep her safe. From the Society she had trusted all five years of her life.

They told her that they could transport her very easily. Firstly, by boat, which she was excited about.

She remembered how I had promised her that we would sail away someday, sail to the ends of the sea.

Then, by air travel. She had no idea what air travel was. Were they going to fly on the backs of birds? On the wind itself?

The people laughed when she mentioned her innocent confusion. They said, she recalled, "It's an air-plane. You go inside of it, and it's just like a house, except it flies."

It made no sense to her at all.

Now, as she stared at the bright blue sky, she couldn't keep the smile off her face.

Sometimes, people would come by and give her snacks. A paper cup of water. A few crunchy pretzels. Some very strange beverage called soda. It stung the back of her throat when she drank it.

But it still tasted good. Very sweet. And she had a big sweet tooth.

They were so kind to her. She wondered why. Why would they be kind? Why would there even be other people besides the Operators? She had always been taught that no one lived in Somewhere Else, that it was sort of just a... figment. An imaginary place of dust and cruel, burning heat.

Yet that wasn't it at all. She was in Somewhere Else, she realized as she soared overhead the cyan waves of ocean. She was there.

She just wished I was with her.

"Sweetheart?"

It was a word she heard over and over again, though she still did not understand it. Apparently it was an endearing term.

She turned her head, sinking back into her chair. The person, smiling, held a bag filled with colorful items in their hand.

"Here," they said gently, reaching over the seat and handing the bag to her, "There's some toys in here if you want to play."

...Toys.

She liked toys.

Toys reminded her of me. The way we used to giggle. She remembered hearing the sound of my laugh, my certain whispery tone. Toys reminded her of having fun before we decided to escape the Operator Center.

"Thank you," she murmured. The person walked away a moment later.

Such a young child she was. And yet she seemed so disinterested. So out of it.

Of course, there was a rational explanation for this. She had lost a friend. She had lost me, who had become closer to her than anyone else in the world. I was imaginary, and yet real. I was fictional, and yet living.

I had lived, at one point. I had grown up in the Operator Center. One day, my life had been taken. Yet I still used to wander those halls, unaware that I was...

She lifted one of the bright items out of the bag and set it in her lap. It was a cat.

Meow.

It was the sound cats made. She tried to imitate it while petting the soft fur. Meow, meow, meow.

Cats used to be rarities. They didn't exist in the Operator Center. The people who rescued her, her saviors, had earlier told her that cats still lived. They just... didn't happen to be where she had lived most of her life.

They told her that the Operators rid the world of most things they thought were "unreasonable." Like cats, dogs, any kind of pets. Like colors. Like imagination. Like fun.

No wonder her imaginary friend had died. The Operators didn't like me. Anything that they didn't like would... strangely disappear.

Surprisingly, even though she was so different, the Operators liked her. Yet she herself had strangely disappeared.

She wondered what it would be like if she went back and told the other Partners where she was now. High, high into the sky, like the clouds or the birds that they rarely ever saw.

They would gape at her. Or they wouldn't believe her. No one ever believed her.

She held the stuffed cat toy close to her chest and gave a slow, slow sigh. Outside the window, the world flew by. She was watching the sun begin to make its descent beneath the horizon when the lights of the plane started to dim.

All she could think about was me.

If I was imaginary, I could come back, couldn't I? She could think of me sitting in the empty chair right next to her and I would just be there. It was the entire purpose of having an imaginary friend. Not being lonely.

Except... no matter how hard she tried to stare at the seat by her side and make me appear, I wouldn't appear. No matter how hard she attempted in her five-year-old mind to have a conversation with me, I wouldn't appear.

Elonia stroked the fur of the toy in her hands. Imaginary friends were usually supposed to be... imaginary. Magical. Amazing. Anywhere at once.

She remembered seeing the young version of me standing within the group of Operators. All of them were smiling. The picture seemed old, like it was from the time when the Past People were here.

But I had told her that the Operators existed when I was... here. When I wasn't gone. "The Operators were still working when I was once here," I had said to her as the two of us walked down the endless corridor, "They loved me when I was alive. Each of them enjoyed the way I could articulate with my words and memorize paragraphs at a time. It was almost like... almost like they were family. As if all of them cared about me like family would."

She remembered the look she'd given me and my boisterous, hiccupy response.

"No, no, no!" I laughed, "Of course, of course, I- I knew you wouldn't understand!" Joyous tears came to my swirling static eyes, and I wiped them away, the smile big on my face. "The family unit doesn't... doesn't really work the way it used to, does it? The Operators... they... they acted almost like brothers would."

She'd never had a brother before. Or a sister. She was a rare instance, an only child. Since she was so sick during her first year of life, the Operators decided to restrict her family from having any more children. So she never had any more siblings other than herself.

"Except... except it was a mixture between a brother and a father. They were kind to me, appreciative, always smiling... but also very strict. They expected more and more out of me every day."

My departure was an unfortunate experience, to say the very least.

She wished that she wasn't a lone child in the sky.

She wished that I could come back.

She wished that I didn't have to leave.

And she wished that the Operators had never taken me away.

Hours passed. She fell asleep against the back of the seat. She didn't even wake when the flight attendant lifted her out of the chair and onto a soft, cushiony mattress. In fact she didn't wake until the midst of the morning.

Before her eyes was a window. The glass was cold, as she stretched her hands toward it, grazed her fingers over the top. The outside must have been a temperature that she liked.

Temperature. The word came to mind. Yes, temperature. Temperature was also something new. Everything was always regulated in the Society, but here, there was... hot, cold, warm, chilly. It was all different depending on the time of day.

She wanted to be outside. She already missed the shore. She already missed feeling the sand beneath her feet, the warm water splashing at her knees. She already missed watching the sun sink into the sea. And watching the whales wave goodnight to her.

But if she had stayed, she would be like me...

…If she stayed, she would be gone.

Elonia's deep thoughts dissipated from her head. The voice of the captain- the one who had found her at the shore and taken her up in his arms- shocked her out of wondering. She sat up when he entered the room, gently called her name, asked if she was ready for breakfast. Pancakes and syrup was ready for her whenever she was.

Immediately she hopped off the bed. A smile bloomed on her face.

The captain took his leave out the doorway, beckoning for her to follow. She was, after all, only five years old. Still getting used to the idea of doing things by herself. Without anyone to guide her.

She waited a moment.

Looked back toward the window.

She was still high, high into the sky. Still a lone child. Waiting for her imaginary friend- her long-lost, forgotten friend- to return to her.

The captain took her hand and led her out of the room. The door slid shut behind them. The room stayed as it was.

Except I was there. I, Faris, was there. And I, Faris, promised never to leave my friend alone.

But it’s time to let go. Time to let her live the life that she always should have lived. I’ve gotten her away from the Operators, out of their clutches, and she won’t be harmed by them anymore. These people have come to rescue her and take her to a place where she will be appreciated. Where she will be protected.

And it’s time… to let go.

It’s time for me to finally let go.

To Elonia.