Short Story – A Windy Day

I’m working on some horror right now because I have a few Halloween shows coming up and while I have been writing some horror, I want to make sure I have the right tone for the shows I’ll be doing.  Always good to have extra, you know?

This story started with the idea of taking a fairly benign object and making it dangerous.  I also feel I sometimes use dialogue as a crutch so this story is dialogue free. There is some violence and child endangerment so if you are going to read, be warned.

It is strange to me that I have become a storyteller in the last year.  It was not something I ever  envisioned for myself.  I’m not sure if I’m all that good at it but at the very least, I’m not awful.

As always, please feel free to share, comment, or ignore my writing.  If you do take the time to read it, thanks!

The wind came from the east that day.  It was a hot, sticky breeze that made an already stifling summer day that much worse.

Eric was home alone.  During summer break, his parents would take turns working from home but today, they both had to be in the office at the same time.  His mother left him a sandwich for lunch and promised to call and check in on him every hour.

He didn’t know why they were worried.  He could take care of himself.  He could have made his own sandwich but mom was better at cutting off the crusts.

He could see the breeze making the leaves rustle gently.  He’d been waiting for a windy day all season.  The wind just didn’t seem to come around all that often.  He complained about it but his parents just looked at each other and said “good.”

Mom called to check in and he told her everything was fine.  He told her he was going to watch some cartoons on TV.  She said he needed to stay inside because of the wind. When she hung up, he ran upstairs.  He had an hour.

In the closet was the kite.  It was bright red with golden tassels and tail.  He’d wanted to fly that kite ever since he found it on his doorstep one fall afternoon.

The bus dropped him off right in front of the house like always.  It was a cold, blustery day and because of the weather, he had been focused only on opening the door and getting inside.  His feet got entangled in the long tail and he nearly fell into the bushes.

He’d never seen a kite before.  He’d heard about them but none of the toy stores carried them.  If you asked, the owner would simply shake his head and suggest something else.

But now, he had found one.  It looked so bright and new.  When he picked it up, it was heavier than he expected.  He wasn’t sure why a kite would be so heavy.

His parents were angry when he brought it into the house.  The told him that kites were dangerous and he should never play with them.  They took it away and wouldn’t give it back no matter how much he begged or how many chores he promised to do.

The next morning, he found them asleep on the couch. The kite was in the fireplace.  He’d always been told that it was dangerous to go to sleep with a fire still lit but it was sitting in the still glowing embers of a fire that must have been very big.  The edges were singed a little but he couldn’t see any other damage.  He quietly pulled it out of the fire.  It didn’t even feel hot.  Carefully, he snuck back upstairs with his prize.

He’d hidden it in his closet and kept the secret for months.  It was hard to sit still on windy days.  He wanted to fly his kite but his parents were always there.

Today, though, was his chance.  He pulled the kite out of the closet and spent a few moments just admiring how beautiful it was.  It was a delta kite, which meant it was basically a large triangle with another triangle attached at the bottom to help with stabilization in the air. The scorch marks were somehow gone and it was lighter than it had been before.  It was a fire engine red that seemed to glow just a little bit when light hit it.  On the back, there was a long tail that looked like golden dragon scales.

On the top of the kite, there were hand painted lizard eyes that scared him a little but it made him feel brave to look at them.

He took some string he’d found in the basement and ran to the park.  The wind was almost too hot to bear and the streets were empty.  Everyone was inside.

In the park, there were two other kids flying kites.  They were both delta kites with long, beautiful tails, one yellow and one green.

Eric had never flown a kite before but if these kids could do it, so could he.  Ever so gently, he set it on the ground and began to run.  It lifted into the air without any effort and began to glide on the wind currents seemingly on it’s own.

He lost track of everything except the kite.  He just focused on the red wedge set against the blue sky and the golden tail glinting in the sunlight.  He could hear the other children in the park laughing and screaming with delight.

The kite swooped through the air doing the most amazing tricks.  It did barrel rolls and loop the loops and at times seemed to strain against the string as if it wanted to get away.

He held on tight.  There would be so many more windy days like this one.  The other children cried out for help.

Help?

He turned to see one of them running from a kite, her face covered in blood and her clothing torn by what looked like teeth.  The other boy was on the ground screaming and squirming with a green wedge tearing open his chest.  A yellow tail was twirling in the wind almost as if it was being wagged by a happy dog.

He looked up into the sky just in time to see his kite diving towards him, the front having split open to reveal a mouth filled with sharp teeth.  The eyes stared right at him and he didn’t feel brave any more.

He tried to run but it was far too late.  The kite landed on him and began to tear at his skin with it’s teeth while the wings wrapped around him to keep him from struggling free.  He cried out for his parents until his throat was ripped away.

Later that afternoon, Tony discovered a bright red kite with a golden tail in his back yard.  It was a lot heavier than he expected.  He wondered if there were weights hidden somewhere.

There were no weights.  It was just full.