No Place Like Home

Prompt: “Write about the adventures of a child who is flying a kite when it suddenly soars higher into the sky and keeps on going up, taking the child with it.”

 

“Dylan! Be careful with that kite!” A woman’s voice called after her son.

The young boy took no notice of the warning. He was going to fly his kite higher and longer than anyone could, or ever had. It was a brand new kite too. He had been looking forward to flying it since the very first day he had gotten it, and nobody was going to keep him from that desire.

As far as he knew, it was only himself and his fiery dragon kite. The kite’s main body was decorated like the scales of a dragon, shimmering when they caught the sun just right. The tail fluttered and danced along the string connecting the boy to the kite as it soared higher and higher up into the sky; and the small head adorning the top in the kite, made the boy’s kite look like it was the ruler of the skies.

The King.

With that thought the boy continued to let his dragon fly higher and higher. With each foot he let out his mother called another warning.

“Dylan! Pull it in a bit, sweetie! You don’t want to lose track of it!”

But the boy did want to lose track of it. He knew if he let it out far enough, it would become nothing more than a red, glowing speck in the sky. So, again he ignored all the warnings from his mother.

He continued to fly his kite higher and higher. How he admired all the attention he was getting.

“Wow! Look at that fly!”

“That’s really high up there!”

“That’s incredible! Will it be able to come back?”

Dylan just smiled. This was just what he wanted.

He kept going, letting his kite go farther and farther until he suddenly started to feel lighter. Then lighter still. Then the praise of how high he was flying his kite stopped. And the cries of praise, became more worried.

“Can we get him back?”

“How far up is he?”

“Where’s his mother? Someone call the fire department! Or police! Or somebody!”

The boy looked down and realized he himself was soaring away! Oh, what a journey this could be!

Though, the boy was a bit afraid. All he had to do was let go of his kite and… No. He didn’t want to think about that.

A sky high adventure! This would be a story to tell!

He watched the people, who now looked like a family of ants he used to spend so much time squashing, gather and gaze up at him. Another few feet and the crowd would be gone all together. He watched as one larger red ant came up behind the horde of black ants. The boy waved, knowing that the ants couldn’t see him, but smiling and laughing at the thought that they somehow could.

He placed the hand he had waved with back on the reel of the kite and held on as tight as he could as a strong gust of wind sent him soaring toward the vast expanse of blue the he knew was the ocean.

What would he encounter first?

The boy soared over islands that had no names and watched whales jump out of the water to greet him. He smiled at them in return. He flew with birds and played with the velveteen cotton of the clouds.

When the wind slowed, he steadily landed onto the beach of an unknown land. The people spoke a different language than he did, but they seemed mesmerized by the kite. So, naturally, the boy put on a show and danced the kite in the wind for the people. The people quickly fell in love with the boy, his kite was a magical thing to them. Too soon though, the boy had to leave, and he was lifted off once again by his dragon.

He waved good-bye to the people and they waved back. As they had when the boy first took off, the people on the ground formed a crowd and watched him soar away.

Again, the boy was among the clouds and the birds and he flew over unknown islands and greeted the whales with smiles and played with the velveteen cotton of the clouds. Until, again, the wind slowed and he landed.

This time he was in a place with incredible fragrances filling the air; and unusual, but cheerful sounding music. The boy thought he may stay here a while so he pulled his kite in and took a seat at a little outdoor café, and tying his kite to his chair, he waited and someone came to him with a fresh basket of bread and butter. Of course, the boy was hungry from his travels, so naturally he ate the bread after slathering it with as much butter as he could fit on one slice and then adding extra.

He listened to the music too. It made him want to dance, but he didn’t want to leave his kite. So he simply tapped his feet on the brick sidewalk and clapped his hands to the music. People sitting near him stared at him. Probably wondering how he gotten there, and wondering where his mother was.

Almost sooner than the boy wanted though, he was off again, soaring into the sky with his kite, and the chair from the café!

The boy continued to see unusual places and meet new people. All of who were mesmerized by his kite and wondered where he had come from. Though none of them ever asked where his mother was. And if they had, the boy didn’t know they were asking, he was too busy entertaining them by making his kite dance for them, at least until it took him off his feet again.

After his last stop though, the kite only soared higher, and higher, and higher. The boy was starting to get really afraid now. Even the ocean, so large, and so full of life, was starting to look small.

“I want to go home!” The boy yelled as loud as he could. “I want to go home! I want to go home!”

He closed his eyes tight and held on tighter than ever before to the reel of his kite. When he opened them, he was back in the park he had left. He was in his mother’s arms.

He smiled at her.

“I had such an adventure!” The boy said. “But… I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” His mother said, and held him close.

The boy now realized how torn his kite was, but he didn’t care.

He was home, and happy.