1.<\/p>\n
You remember Gray Falcon.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2.<\/p>\n
Saturday mornings. You watched him as you ate your bowl of cereal.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
3.<\/p>\n
Feathered arms and tufted chest. He was handsome. Strong.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
4.<\/p>\n
He and his crew crashed their ship on an unnamed planet. They lived together in the wreckage. Sometimes, they sat atop the cracked dome of the observation suite and gazed up at the pale yellow skies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
5.<\/p>\n
Gray Falcon was the leader of the group. Meadowlark was his second in command. They were best friends. They\u2019d known each other since they were boys.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
6.<\/p>\n
Who else was there with them? Arctic Tern, the warrior who refused to remove his armor even when he slept. And Nightjar, the sorcerer who couldn\u2019t be trusted no matter how many good deeds he did. And then, there was Oriel with her flame-colored feathers. She was like a mother to them, wasn\u2019t she?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
7.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll remember the episode when they fought the Dead Men. And the one where they encountered the substance known as the Featureless Clay. There was an episode near the end of the series called \u201cThe Noise in Which One Can Hear Everything.\u201d I don\u2019t remember much about that one. Not every episode was good.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
8.<\/p>\n
But I know you won\u2019t remember the episode called \u201cThe Story of the Pit.\u201d No one remembers that one because no one saw it. It never aired.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
9.<\/p>\n
Recently, however, I was given a copy of the episode. It was recorded on an old VHS tape. I can\u2019t tell you who gave me the tape. But I\u2019ll tell you what happens if you want to hear.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
10.<\/p>\n
When the episode begins, Gray Falcon and Meadowlark are patrolling the western quadrant of the Ancient Plain. They look strong together. Two best friends. Feathered and brave. They\u2019re laughing about some story from their youth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
11.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an odd moment early on when Meadowlark glances at Gray Falcon. You can see something in his dark eyes. Even through the glass of his silver goggles, you can see it. Some memory or a dream.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
12.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Gray Falcon and Meadowlark come to the very edge of the Ancient Plain. There, they encounter a feature they haven\u2019t seen before. It\u2019s a black pit. They stand side by side, looking down. The pit appears as if it never ends.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
13.<\/p>\n
Gray Falcon says he\u2019ll climb into the pit. He\u2019ll make sure there\u2019s nothing that\u2019s going to crawl out and harm them like the Dead Men or something worse. Meadowlark asks him not to go. He says the pit looks dangerous. But Gray Falcon makes a whistling sound. It\u2019s the battle cry known as the Call of the Air. It means they have to be brave.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
14.<\/p>\n
Gray Falcon climbs into the pit. And Meadowlark, with his clawed hands and ruff of brown feathers, is left to sit alone on a rock. At some point, he removes his silver goggles. He wipes his eyes. There must be dust in the air.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
15.<\/p>\n
Later, Meadowlark puts his face in his hands.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
16.<\/p>\n
He remembers a long-ago thought. Something ridiculous. He used to believe he and Gray Falcon might make a house together one day. They\u2019d find a little place at the city\u2019s edge\u2014a few rooms, a green yard. Their friends\u2014Arctic Tern and Nightjar and Oriel\u2014would visit them. At the end of the day, when their friends went home, Meadowlark and Gray Falcon would hold each other. Gray Falcon would kiss Meadowlark. He’d stroke his feathers. They\u2019d tell each other stories long into the night.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
17.<\/p>\n
None of that happened. Of course, it didn\u2019t. It had never been anything more than some fantasy. Meadowlark knows this. He\u2019s accepted it. It was difficult for a while. But it isn\u2019t so difficult anymore.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
18.<\/p>\n
Meadowlark looks toward the pit. Gray Falcon hasn\u2019t returned. This is, of course, concerning. He realizes there might be something more to this situation. Something neither he nor Gray Falcon has considered.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
19.<\/p>\n
Meadowlark suddenly wonders how many years it\u2019s been since they crashed on the planet. How old will he be when they\u2019re finally rescued? \u00a0And what will such a rescue mean?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
20.<\/p>\n
He stands and moves to the edge of the pit. He grips the rim with his taloned feet. He looks down. The pit is dark. He doesn\u2019t see Gray Falcon. But there\u2019s something else. At least, he thinks there is. An odd shadow gazing back at him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
21.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d Meadowlark says. The shadow doesn\u2019t respond. \u201cDid you see my friend?\u201d The shadow only watches.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
22.<\/p>\n
Meadowlark steps back from the pit. He feels something in that moment. An idea he has trouble putting into words. It\u2019s a phrase like: Something has inscribed itself on me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
23.<\/p>\n
Meadowlark thinks he hears a sound in the woods at the edge of the Ancient Plain. He scans the tree line, but there\u2019s nothing. Everything is calm.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
24.<\/p>\n
He looks into the pit again. The shadow is still there, gazing up at him. Meadowlark can see the figure better now. It looks something like a child. A frightened boy. The boy has set aside his bowl of cereal. He\u2019s watching, wondering what will happen next.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
25.<\/p>\n
Meadowlark puts on his silver goggles. He adjusts his ruff of brown feathers. Then he goes to his rock and sits. He thinks: Something has inscribed itself on me. He can\u2019t stop himself from thinking this. He shakes his head. He tells himself Gray Falcon will return soon. The boy in the pit doesn\u2019t matter. Everything will be as it should be. Meadowlark is sure of this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meadowlark looks into the pit again. The shadow is still there, gazing up at him. He can see the figure better now. It looks something like a child. A frightened boy. The boy has set aside his bowl of cereal. He\u2019s watching, wondering what will happen next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":22335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3530],"tags":[4076],"class_list":["post-21721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flash-fiction","tag-adam_mcomber","writer-adam-mcomber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21721"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22336,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21721\/revisions\/22336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}