OWL FLIGHT

Monday

Math Class

The teacher, Tadeu, had his back to his students. He was putting up some geometric drawings while the whole class was silent at that time. After all, it was a Monday. Nobody was there with a satisfying disposition to face an entire week of irritating classes and that included all the intense lessons of teacher Tadeu.

Hugo was sitting in his chair in front of mine. But instead of paying attention to class, his head was bent down. At the same time he was staring at his Smartfone in his hands.

On that occasion, I looked at the fourth row of desks and realized that Zora’s place was empty. She had not attended classes that day. A bitterness slowly moved through my chest. Her absence was something I never wanted in my life. It was not a choice of whether or not I needed Zora near me. Even if it was only for me to lay my silent eyes on her and say to her with my locked lips how important she was in my life, how her presence always made me more perfect, more complete, I would say it.

Tuesday

Portuguese Class

Something else squeezed my chest when I again looked at Zora’s desk. It was empty.

Zora had no habit of missing classes. She was a diligent student. It was not normal that she continued to be absent from school.

Is she sick?

I worried about her.

At the end of class I went to Professor Tadeu’s office. He was reformulating his lesson plan for the next day. I stopped, standing next to his desk and he looked up at me, still holding his blue pen. Then I realized that his distraction was broken in that moment, as he looked ahead in my direction.

“What is the reason for your visit to my office?” Tadeu questioned me, then his eyes twinkled beneath his glasses.

I looked at the light walls of his room, trying to find the courage to ask him something.

“So, Otto,” he insisted. “Why have you come to my office?”  He moved some papers on his desk. “I believe you did not come here just to look at my face and tell me that you loved my class today.”

I confess that his sense of humor made me relaxed and finally the courage came over me.

“Teacher Tadeu, why is Zora not attending classes?”

He leaned his back on his uncomfortable chair and stared at me for a moment. He seemed moderately surprised by my immense interest in regard to Zora’s school life. After all, everyone at school thought we were just classmates.

“Don’t you know the reason?”

I furrowed my brow and was surprised at his question.

“What do I not know?”

Professor Tadeu left his pen on the small table and took his right hand to his chin. His beard needed to be trimmed urgently. “Zora requested a transfer to another school.”

This news caused a horrible tremor inside me. I did not expect to hear that from Professor Tadeu. Zora’s transfer to another school was something very serious and severe in my school life. I imagined I would be by her side during our entire school year.

“And why did she do it?” I insisted.

“She did not say why.” Professor Tadeu looked to one side. “I believe that personal reasons made her make that decision.”

He stared up at me for a few seconds and his look afflicted me. The teacher wanted to know more about our conversation.

“But why so much interest in the school life of that girl?”

He moved closer to his desk. “Do not tell me you two had a −”

I interrupted him hastily.

“Yes, we were secretly dating.”

Professor Tadeu smiled at me and went back to placing his back in his chair. “Are you troubled with the absence of that girl at school?”

I remained silent and looked to one side. I was not satisfied at all with the news that Zora had moved school.

“Are you in love?” Professor Tadeu asked,  looking at my serious face. All the evidence was stamped on my curious and dissatisfied face with the decision of Zora.

She could not have done that to me. Could not.

Uncle Jefferson had placed our plates on the dining table. At that moment I was sitting at the table but did not say a word. I was silent for a long time.

I was in no mood to talk, to eat or to face my own reality.

Everything seemed so dull and colorless.  It lacked a box of coloured pencils to give some existence to the drawing in my life. But at that moment I discovered that the box of coloured pencils was my Zora. Only she could color my world which was now so colorless, so black and white.

The absence of Zora in my life was affecting my school life and also my personal life. More than ever, I realized that I needed her by my side. I needed her before my eyes.

Uncle Jefferson sat down beside me and served pasta with roasted meat. I did not dare to look towards my plate. I was very depressed and sad.

But Uncle Jefferson rolled his fork on his plate, questioning me then.

“Won’t you taste the pasta I made?”

I said looking down, “I'm not hungry.”

He dropped his fork and looked up at me. “What's happening this time?”

I looked sideways, feeling totally lost. I felt myself imprisoned in a maze far from my life. As if someone had taken me to it and I did not know how to find the way out by myself.

My voice sounded weak. “Zora changed schools.”

Uncle Jefferson expelled the air through his nostrils loudly sounding annoyed with my confession.This was not correct in his conception.

“And why did that girl change school so suddenly?”  He looked at me seriously. “What did you do, Otto?”

I got up hastily.

“I do not want to eat.”

I walked quickly to my bedroom and slammed the door behind me. Uncle Jefferson also rose hastily from his chair and came after me. His steps were loud and rough against the hallway floor.  Within moments, he opened my door and came inside without my permission.

“I asked you a question,” he insisted, holding the wooden door.

I put my hands on my waist and looked up to the ceiling of my room. I needed to find a sensible way to reveal to my uncle what had happened between me and Zora on Saturday evening.

I glanced quickly at my uncle’s face . He was demanding an answer from me. An answer I was delaying giving him. 

“Zora discovered that I am the Black Owl.”

Uncle Jefferson turned his body round and punched my bedroom door. Obviously this news distressed him. 

“Damn it, Otto! This should not have happened!”

I closed my eyes in growing desperation. I feared Zora might tell someone about her discovery and her absence in my life might tip somebody off. I did not know what was worse in my existence. Her confession or her absence in my life.

“Have you ever imagined that, Otto? The whole town knowing that you are the Black Owl?”

His voice sounded like a hammer beating in my ears. I also started to get annoyed.

“Uncle, calm down!”

“Calm down?”

He turned away from the door and walked towards me, totally serious.

“Otto, you promised that no one would ever discover the true identity of the Black Owl. But a "piece of ass' was sufficient for your promise to fall down.”

He pulled away from me again, turning his back to me. His hands found his waist and his eyes met the floor of my room. 

“That girl can destroy your life,” he mumbled, speedily walking out of my room and slamming the door with anger.

I kicked the wood of my bed and threw some books onto the floor, feeling the blood rising to my face.

“Damn life!”

I spent my time watching the town at night with deep sadness. I was at the top of the tower.

My town also looked sad, like me.

No one was circling the neighborhoods, no vandals trying to destroy the town.

Everything looked the same - lifeless, like me.

I walked to the edge of the tower and looked down. Darkness and my unhappiness were my companions at that time.

I looked to the side, up the wall of the tower and remembered the day that I rescued Zora by  preventing her from falling from the tower.

I thought about her all the time. I never imagined that she would steal my peace of mind with her absence in my world. I never imagined she would have the power to manifest herself into my thoughts without my permission. That was terrible.

And worse than that, her image was never in a hurry to leave my mind ... Zora was always with me ... even though I wanted her far from me ...

“I have something not so good to say to you.”

Hugo told me and bit his sandwich. He sat before me, in our school cafeteria.

My brow furrowed in his direction, but I remained silent, finishing off my salty.

He scratched his neck and looked away.

“Last night, I saw Zora strolling through the town center and she was accompanied by a young man.”

Hugo looked attentively at me, and his voice faded slightly as he saw my face change before his eyes. I was annoyed with this news and it obviously showed on my face.

Nevertheless, he continued. “They talked to each other, smiling the whole time. It seemed that their conversation was quite interesting.”

“Enough!” I said loudly rising from my chair and walked ahead.  I could not stand the idea of ​​knowing that Zora was becoming interested in another guy.

Someone who made her smile.

During the night, I continued watching my town  as the Black Owl.

It was a little after 11:00 pm. The sky was overcast. The stars were absent in the dark sky. There were only gray clouds in it.

From the tower I could see part of my town.

Looking for a square laser, in the town center, I could see some couples. Some were sitting and embracing  each other on a wooden bench. Others were sitting on the grass. And there was a couple a little further away. They were standing near a fountain.

The young man was with his hands in the pocket of his jeans. He had brown hair and bronzed skin.

The girl was in her plaid dress. Her hair was pulled back in a tress over her right shoulder. Her brown boots were similar to Zora’s boots.

I walked to the edge of the tower and my yellow owl eyes could see the location more accurately, even though I was quite far.

For a few moments, my body trembled. My heart fluttered. Really that girl in brown boots was Zora.

I was sure when she glanced up and smiled. I knew that smile, the same one that had been directed at me so many times.

But now that same smile was distant from me and in front of another guy. I'd never seen him before. He didn’t attend my school. But I figured he could be any student at Zora’s new school.

“We left the snack bar and you forgot to wipe the corner of your mouth,” the young man told her, trying to wipe the corner of Zora’s mouth, which was dirty with 'ketchup'.

She smiled shyly and continued in silence. The schoolboy walked over and stared at her with tenderness and enthusiasm.

He sought the brightness of her eyes as I looked for them one day. And I still kept looking for them, even though Zora’s eyes was so far away from me.

A silence desceneded over them. Zora also observed his face. That scene stunned me even more.

The young man brought his face closer to Zora’s face. He wanted to kiss her lips for the first time.

She stared at his face with her eyes open. Not allowing him to close them. It seemed that she was not ready for that. 

Before anything could happen between them, a white owl appeared in the sky and flew over their heads. Both of them were frightened and Zora pushed his body back, avoiding touching her lips to the  boy’s lips.

They looked towards the sky and saw the owl flying back to the middle of the sky.

Zora stared at the boy's face, telling him immediately, “Take me home.”

The white owl flew toward the tower and it landed on my left arm.

I had communicated with the White Owl and made it fly toward Zora and the young man, thereby preventing them from starting a damn kiss, which I feared could happen just moments ago.

I could not show myself as the Black Owl. However, the white owl could.

A storm formed in the sky.

It started to rain heavily. I was still standing on the tower. The white owl flew in the direction of a tree in the woods.

I looked down and I threw myself from the tower. My body began to fly over the houses and some small buildings.

My arms were open and extended in the air. That flight helped me become more peaceful. After I had seen Zora in the company of a good-looking guy my sense of self was shot.

But in my mind there was still the possibility that they could start a loving relationship against my will.

Rainwater wet all my body. I was still flying through the storm. Some lightning brightened the sky and also all my body soaked with rainwater. I smiled at the deluge. It was fun flying through it.

Next morning

I could not get out of bed. My body was sore. My legs were weak and I was burning with fever.

The storm the night before had not done me well.

Uncle Jefferson came into my bedroom and saw me curled up under my duvet. Outside my room it was a sunny day.

'Are you sick? Today is a hot day!" He murmured. But I remained lying on my bed, completely inactive. Uncle Jefferson looked at my face and realized that I was sweating too much. His right hand reached my forehead.

"You're burning up!" He murmured and soon removed his hand from my face.

Minutes later, Uncle Jefferson returned to my bedroom bringing a glass of homemade tea, the recipe which he had learned from his late mother. My paternal grandmother.

"Drink it." He raised the glass in my direction.  I believe it will do you well. Soon you'll be free of this fever."

I raised my head and held the cup. I frowned at the unbearable smell of tea and made another face when I tasted it. It was very bitter.

"What a horrible tea !"

I groaned and shook my head resting it on my pillow again. Then I stared at my ceiling and saw Zora's image smiling down at me.

"Zo-ra," I muttered.

My uncle looked down at my face and then he looked up at the ceiling. He saw nothing there. Only the shadow created by the lamp.   

"Otto, you should stop suffering for this girl. I do not doubt at all that you are on this bed because of her."

"Yesterday I saw her in the company of a young man," I confessed him finally.

My uncle held the glass in his hand and stood near my room door. "Stop suffering for her, or you'll end up going under the ground. You are young enough to live. Overcome it!"

I looked to the side, to him, standing beside my  door. His glasses were leaning on his face.

"I cannot stop suffering because of her."

"Of course you can. I have lived through this also. I figured I was going to die. Life had no fun for me. But look at me today. I am here, standing before the door of your room. I have overcome my suffering."

"But Zora is special."

"My girl was special as well. Today I see that I can live very well without her."

I frowned. "Very well not. You survive without her. But I believe you would be better if you were beside her. Don't you think it too?"

My uncle rubbed his moustache. "Ha ha Otto, God didn'’t want it to be."

Angry, he walked out of my room.