Hand Held Cousin (Chapter 14)

Carol  set me in the sink and began to scrub me off. I felt like a baby, but my body felt too stiff and too hurt to do anything about it. I just sighed and allowed her to patch me up. The wounds weren't very deep and it didn't take long for the bleeding to stop. Carol didn't talk much as she worked, and I didn't have much to say anyway. I was lost in my own thoughts. Who was that voice that had come into my head? Why did if feel like I've heard him somewhere before? It was all too strange, and every time I tried to figure it out, the voice would throw some cryptic message at me and then vanish. Was I going crazy? It was a possibility.
"Okay," Carol finally announced, "you're all patched up...now go put on some shorts over in the drawer." Carol had gone to the trouble of packing me some doll clothes for me to wear. It wasn't much, but it was still better than being naked. I flew to the drawer and slipped on a pair of shorts, and flew out to meet her. "We're gonna be late for class if you don't hurry, Michael." She said, holding out her hand for me to land on. I nodded and lightly landed in her palm. She turned and made her way to the door.

"So what class is this?" I asked, calmly.
"We're going to World History." She answered. "But you're going to quietly sit in my backpack and stay there."
"Aw, come on!" I whined back "Ya can't do that to me."
"I can and I will." She snapped. "I can't risk you being caught." I groaned and sat down in her hand as she walked into the hallway. "I promise that after class, I'll let you out for a while, but until then, you need to hush and be quiet."
"Okay, okay!" I groaned. "I get it. I won't make a sound and I'll stay put." Carol smiled and lifted me up and slipped me into her backpack. I held onto the seams and slid down so that I was sitting on top of the books. There was a hole near the top where headphones could stick out from inside. I poked my head out of the hole and watched as Carol walked out of her dorm and across campus. It was still a very large and lovely sight. Many more people were out and about, and I occasionally had to duck back into the backpack.

After about 10 minutes, I heard Carol sit down at a desk and I felt her set the backpack down next to her. I stuck my head out of the hole again and looked up to her.
"Carol, is this it?"
"Yes, now remember what we agreed on." She whispered. "You stay silent and still, okay?" I nodded and slipped back into the backpack. I folded my arms and sat silently, listening to the hum of conversation outside. The teachers voice was slightly deeper than the others and when she spoke, the noise settled down. I silently hummed "Hotel California" by The Eagles to myself, kinda smiling despite myself.

"Now class," I paused when the teacher spoke again, "here are some quiz questions for you to see what you already know. I'll ask 5 questions. Anyone who can answer all 5 correctly, gets 5 points extra credit on our first test." There was the sound of shuffling of papers as worksheets were passed around. I stuck my head close to the opening flap of the backpack so my pointed ear was near the zipper. I wanted to hear the questions...I had a fondness for history, and I wanted to see how many of these questions I knew. As Carol read through them, I suddenly noticed one question that jumped out at me.
"When did Operation Overlord take place, thus ending WWII?" I couldn't help but do a double take. That wasn't right.
"Carol, that's wrong!" Carol suddenly shot me a dangerous look.
"I told you to be quiet." She hissed.
"But Operation Overlord never took place! It was the plan to invade the Japanese mainland. They never followed through with it! The Atomic Bombs were dropped first!" I whispered back. Carol started to snap back when she suddenly paused and looked at me.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!" I cried. Carol paused in thought and then nodded.
"You better be right." She stood up and walked to the front of the room. I could see her talking to the teacher and explaining something. The teacher smiled at Carol and nodded. After a few moments, she came walking back to her desk.
"You were right...it was a trick question." Carol said with a small smile. I beamed back up at her. "But please don't do that again...I don't want to cheat." I sighed and ducked back into the book bag. I knew that she didn't want or need my help, so I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep.

"Wake up." I opened my eyes to see the backpack open and Carol looking down at me. "We're leaving, and it's about to get bumpy in there...I don't want you crushed between my math textbook and my biology notebook."
"Might be worth it to get out of this boredom." I chuckled. Carol rolled her eyes.
"Joke all you want, half-pint...but I actually have a job for you now." I perked up at this and sat up.
"A job?" I asked. Carol nodded.
"After this class, we're going to lunch, and I heard that there's gonna be some kind of 'Welcome Back To School' thing going on with games and stuff...I'd rather not get caught up in all that. Could you fly over to the dining halls and figure out which one is holding that stuff?" I smiled and stretched, getting ready to fly.
"What if I'm seen?" I asked.
"Then clearly you're not as sneaky and clever as I thought you were." Carol winked. I rolled my eyes and flew out of the backpack, I hovered at eye level with her and stuck out a thumb.
"I'll find out and let you know." I flew from her backpack to the window and stopped right before I flew out...remembering the last time I had flown out the window from my cousin...that night when I had been attacked by an owl and I had first heard that mysterious voice. I turned and looked back at Carol. She had put her backpack on and was looking up at me.
"You okay, cousin?" She asked. The room was emptying out, so no one really noticed her or myself.
"I..." I wanted to tell her what was on my mind...about the voice and how I wasn't sure about anything anymore. About how I wasn't sure if leaving was a good idea. However, I didn't want her to worry about me. "I just wanted to say that you better be safe while I'm gone." Carol laughed and began to walk off.
"I think I'll make it for a while without my fairy body guard." Once she made it to the door and was out of earshot and sight of me, I turned and flew out the window. The air bit my face, but the heat of the sun pressed me onward. My injuries from earlier strained a little and I winced, but at the same time, they reminded me that I was alive. The trees, though enormous, didn't seem as tall as I zoomed in and out of the branches, passing by birds nests and squirrels playing around on the trunks. I grinned despite myself.
Why was this so different? When I flew away all those other times, I never felt like this...the wind didn't seem to lift me like today...the sun never felt so warm...and the world never felt so alive! Why did flying now feel so much more amazing than all those other times?

"Maybe it's because you're not flying away this time?"
I froze in midair and I landed on the tree branch beneath me. "You again!? Who are you?"
"You already know who I am."
"Enough with your freaking riddles!" I spat back. "I don't mind telling you that I'm concerned about my own sanity right now. I'm hearing a voice in my head all of a sudden and I don't know why...for once I'd like a straight answer."
"Michael, I've always been here...you just didn't listen to me anymore." Suddenly I froze up at this. "Michael, I've always looked out for you. When at all have I ever tried to hurt you? Could it hurt you to just put your trust in someone besides yourself? It's your lack of trust and your taking for granted of your blessings that put you in this situation in the first place." The voice said...and this time I listened intently to every word.
"Then you know how to fix this? You know how to make me normal again? How do I do it!? I'll do anything."
"Think Michael...you're not stupid. You're more clever than you give yourself credit for. It'll come to you."
"Great...more fancy clues." I growl. "I just want some clarity!" There was silence...the voice was gone. I stood silently on the limb hoping for him to come back...for that voice to answer me, but I knew better than that. It wouldn't come back until it felt like it...not when I wanted it to. "What is happening to me?" I whispered. I jumped off the limb and flew off around the campus. I looked down to see the nearest dining hall and remembered what Carol had asked me to do. "I'll worry about it later...first, let's get this over with." I flew lower and landed on the roof of the hall...when I smelled it.

"What is that?" The smell was amazing! I could smell some amazing food coming from inside. My stomach growled at me, reminding me that I hadn't had anything to eat. I groaned and smiled to myself. "Well...I might as well at least go in and see what's to eat in there." I lightly dropped down and hovered by the ceiling, waiting for someone to open the door. After waiting a while, two students walked to the door and opened them wide enough that I could slip in. I quickly slipped through the opening and made my way into the dining hall.
"Oh, wow." I muttered. Along the walls of the dining hall were stands for different sweets like cotton candy, popcorn, and other such carnival sweets. There were even small arcade games like pin pall and that crane game where you try to win a stuffed animal or something. This was the dining hall where they were holding the festivities. "Mystery solved." I said proudly. "Now to go and find Carol and...." Then I realized a horrifying fact. "Where did Carol go!?" Carol had never told me where she was going! How was I supposed to find her now? Just I was starting to panic about this, a familiar smell reached my nose...and now I recognized it.
"It's fried chicken!" I gasped. I could never mistake that aroma! I followed the smell looking for the source. Carol could wait...I was starving and there was fried chicken in the room! I felt like a little kid in a fair looking for a single attraction. There weren't a lot of students in the dining hall yet, so I could move beneath the tables without being seen. Finally, I came to what I was looking for. A large basket was placed beside the counter...and it was filled with fried chicken breasts! My mouth watered up at the size, smell, and sight of them. I felt my knees go weak and I hobbled over to the basket and crawled in. "Hello, beautiful!" I whimpered. I threw myself onto one of the chicken breasts and prepared to sink my teeth into it.

"Is that a fairy in the chicken?!" My heart stopped cold.