literature

The Mail Always Comes -Kane-

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Red was fast asleep inside her envelope.

There wasn't much for the robin-turned-phoenix to do during the return trip to her hometown of Wolfwind Coast.  After all, she was flattened into a tiny reddish-orange rectangle and enclosed within an envelope for transportation.  Kane had tolerated it three times now; Red secretly wished she'd asked him how he'd done it.

She kept track of her journey via the sounds she could hear outside.  The noise of the airplane had already come and gone, and now the distinctive hum of a mail truck's engine persisted, so she figured she was already close to home.

SCREEEEEEEEE-CRASH!  The sudden sound of metal hitting metal jolted Red awake, quickly followed by the sensation of flipping over and over.  She hadn't done this before, but she was pretty sure that wasn't part of a normal mail delivery route.

The next sound to reach Red's ears was the SPLASH! of something massive hitting a body of water.  Because of how topsy-turvy she was by now she couldn't tell where it was coming from, but then she felt water soak through the envelope and touch her.

What the @&#*$% is going on out there?!

The water continued to soak through, getting the whole envelope wet and prohibiting Red from breathing.  Whatever was out there was DEFINITELY a catastrophe, and it occurred to her that if things stayed as they were she could very well drown.

Oh, man, what do I do?  What CAN I do?

Her mind racing, the helpless phoenix did about the only thing she could.  She invoked her powers and summoned up fire.

Of course Red couldn't burn anything that was so soaked, but she managed to warm the water around her.  She focused further, getting things as hot as she could as the envelope rotted away.  It was difficult keeping her progress as the water shifted around, but she didn't give up.

And it began to work.

As the water reached a scalding hot temperature, it began to decompress the flattened phoenix.  The folds forced themselves open as Red's thickness increased, until finally she could see again.  And she saw a lot of water, in addition to soggy mail around her.

Finally Red's full thickness returned with a POP!, and she immediately spread her wings and forced them against the water, paddling herself towards the surface.  The instant she broke it, she took a deep breath.  She was at the edge of a large lake, and above her a broken guardrail told a very important story.

Phew... I'm safe... wait, wasn't there supposed to be someone driving the truck?

Red dove again, searching the water for the mail truck she'd been in.  Finally she spotted it, and next to it the truck's driver, floundering helplessly.  She grabbed him and towed him to the surface, beating her wings to accelerate.

They both surfaced together, and Red pushed the driver onto dry land before climbing out herself.  The driver, a dachshund, couldn't stop panting.

"Ugh... ugh... thanks, ma'am.  I don't know where you came from, but I can't thank you enough."

Red smiled.  "It was nothing, really.  What happened?"

The driver glanced at the bits of mail that were still floating on the surface.  "My name's Rover, and I work in mail delivery.  It's my first day driving the mail truck.  I got a bit of pollen in my eye and tried to wipe it out, and the next thing I know the truck's broken through the guardrail and in the lake.  Ugh, just look at this mess... my employer's going to want my head for this, I know it.  I think I'll have to skip town."

"Can't help you there.  Say, can you give me directions to Wolfwind Coast?  I'm on my way there and I'm a little lost."

"Sure thing.  Follow the road in that direction (he pointed) until you reach the river, then follow the river downstream-- it should take you right there."

"Thanks a lot, Rover.  Good luck on your end-- I'm sure glad I'm me and not you."

With that, Red wrung the last bit of water out of her feathers, then took a running start with her wings open and took to the skies.  Somehow, the sight of the majestic phoenix decorating the air temporarily brought peace to Rover's heart.
I wanted to write about Red's return home, but every time I played it out in my mind it came off as uninteresting. I agonized for a long time over how to do it in a way that would make people want to read it, and somehow this came to mind.

Also, yes, I finally gave a name to the area where Kane and co. live. Wolfwind Coast. I've even come up with a local legend around which the name is based, but I haven't worked out how to weave it into the storyline yet.

...Try not to think about what would've happened had anybody but a phoenix been in the mail on that truck.

Kane is © me
© 2011 - 2024 sonicinterface
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lizardman22's avatar
Nice. Good to see you've beaten your writers block mate. :)