thunder

He'd snuck outside again, and wandered through streets thick with cool humidity. A few strands of sunlight shone down, trying their best to warm the air. The cobblestone under his feet was wet and slick with fresh rain, which had washed away the unpleasant scents of the crowded city. He breathed in deeply like he'd emerged from underwater.

He pushed past people who never moved their eyes, slipping under their gaze. No one noticed an unattended child. They were too busy grumbling about the bad weather and hoping that there wouldn't be any more of this terrible rain. He wondered what would happen if any of them did look his way. In this tiny district, everyone knew each other, Would they drag him back, scolding him all the way for stepping out of line? He'd heard it all before, a hundred times.

No matter what, he knew one place that no one would look for him.

No one, especially on days like this, looked upwards.

He'd gotten very good at scrambling up buildings, finding hidden ladders or even handholds, and he'd plotted out several perches where he could sit and, for once, be himself. The particular outcropping he'd chosen for today was his favorite, but as time went on he noticed he didn't fit as well on it as he used to.

He was getting bigger. Older. And in a way, that scared him.

How long would it be before he'd stop looking up, too? Would the light in his eyes grow dim, and he would settle into the life that everyone else wanted for him? He'd learned quickly that some things drew praise from the adults, and absolutely everything else only brought eyerolling and derision.

Even something as miraculous as pointing towards the sky as he did now, and with a little effort tracing lines through the clouds, shaping them as easily as clay. Merely rain magic. Mundane and useless. The rains came naturally on their own. They didn't need his help. Do something productive with your time.

The more the words echoed in his head, the more that anger roiled in his chest, and the clouds followed suit, darkening to an angry gray. He'd already figured it out.

If the world would push him down, he would push back, twice as hard.

No one would take anything from him. He would take his potential and hold it close, and never let it go.

His determination streaked through the sky in a blinding flash, arcing through the clouds. The air flooded with the scent of ozone and cracked with a deafening peal of thunder.

He glanced down, and dozens of people, finally, stared up at the sky. At him.

He would make sure it wasn't the last time.