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Parties are fun, Tommy thinks.
His parents laugh and introduce him to new people, who crouch down and say hi with big smiles. He gets to eat as much of the food as he wants, and it’s epic. His favorite is the almond and cashew mix, scooping some more of it into his bowl as the party goes on around him.
His mom joins him then, guiding him with a soft hand on his shoulder to meet even more people. He says hi and they all laugh and coo, and everything is just so nice that he can’t but let out a small trill of excitement, looking around with wide eyes at all of the people.
His mom and dad laugh next to him, but it sounds a bit wrong. Like when they laugh at work. The guests look at Tommy with confusion, some leaning to whisper to each other. Tommy frowns; what did he do?
“Oh, you know Tom, he’s always been very talented vocally. You would just keel over when you meet his vocal coach, Richard, the man’s voice is amazing-” His mom raves on, oblivious to the way Tommy blatantly stares at her. He doesn’t know a Richard, does he? He just chirps on his own, it’s not something he learned in school.
The rest of the night is somewhat muted, and Tommy can’t help but feel that he’s done something wrong. What did he do? Was it because he chirped? Soon enough guests are skirting out the door, and not one of them says goodbye to Tommy. He feels a burning low in his chest, and he rubs his eyes as his mother sends him to his room while they go to ‘talk’.
He knows by now that they never just ‘talk’. Their voices get really really loud, and sometimes Tommy stuffs his face into his pillow to try and tune them out. It doesn’t really work, but the pillow is soft enough that he can fall asleep if he tries hard enough. But on nights like tonight, he’s too curious to try and sleep, so he presses his ear to his closed door, like he sees people do in the movies.
“He’s so young, we can’t just throw him out! He’ll starve, John, is that what you want?”
“I don’t care! I just want that freak out of my home and out of my life. Did you see the way Erica looked at us after he fucking chirped? It wasn’t a ‘vocalization’, it was a sign. A sign he’s not like us.”
“He can hide it! Please, he’ll just suppress them, and we’ll be fine. I promise, if we stick together then we can get through this.”
“Maybe he can hide his chirps, but can he hide his wings?”
“That only happens as a survival response, John, you know this. Stop trying to pretend that Tommy isn’t our child, and that we’ve loved him for 7 years now.”
“I don’t care! He’s leaving. And he’s leaving now” Tommy hears a sharp smack as his father's voice roars through their apartment, and Tommy sets the glass on his bedside and quickly throws himself under the covers, feigning sleep. It’s to no avail though, as his father storms in the room and grabs Tommy by his forearms, dragging him through the house and throwing him down the apartment’s stairs before he can blink.
“Get away from my family, freak, and never come back.” Tommy can only stare dumbly as the door slams shut, stumbling back a bit into the heavy crowd on the sidewalk. A few people grumble as Tommy falls into them, and he got spun around so many times he didn’t know what door was his anymore.
The houses all look the same, Tommy thinks as he runs through the streets, knocking on random doors only to be chased away. His teacher told him to memorize his address, why didn’t he listen?
It’s too cold, Tommy thinks as he collapses in an alleyway and pulls his knees to his chest. He just wants his mom, he wants to curl up on the couch with her and watch movies and bake brownies and-
Ow. Tommy winced as something cuts into his back, sharp and hot. He scrabbled to get out from where he had fallen into the brick wall, worrying that something there cut him. What would he do if he got hurt? He couldn’t ask someone for a band aid, that was for babies.
As he felt around his back though, he didn’t feel anything, other than two strips of heat running parallel down his back. Another shot of pain runs through him, and Tommy doubles over as a broken cry bubbles up from his throat.
He feels something shift in his back, and Tommy screams for real. He doesn’t care if he’s acting like a baby. He’s cold and he might die and this hurts really really bad.
Suddenly there's two quick bursts of something behind him, and the burning pain ceases somewhat as Tommy gasps for air. It feels like a super big pressure got off his back, like someone was sitting on him and just decided to hop off. He risks a look behind him and sees big wings and splatters of blood against the wall, and he tries his very best not to throw up right then and there. He stumbled out of the alleyway, dazed as the city moved around him.
Tears fall down his face unnoticed as he makes his way through the midnight streets. He realizes that he would’ve been in bed right now if he could’ve just kept his mouth shut, and the thought makes his legs give out on him. He lets his forehead fall against the cool concrete, but something stops him from completely surrendering to the cold.
(and his death)
He’s going to get through this. He’s fine. Tommy Innit is fine. He is ok, and that’s enough for him.
Forcing himself up on shaky knees, Tommy looks at the city ahead of him. So many opportunities, and he is going to fucking make it.
This is not where his story ends.
(In fact, it is just the beginning.)