Chapter 1

The secret motives are revealed.

“Maybe they`re not here,” Robin, my sister, said to me, throwing another paper airplane over the boiling lava. Her greenish eyes under rich, dark bangs were wet and twitching. I put my hand over her shoulder; she was slightly trembling although the air was hot and dry. Still holding her, I rose my sight to see the last sunbeams illuminating the sea. Royal orange and yellow waves of thick, molten rock were slowly flowing towards the coast. The sky was violet tonight in contrast to usual greenish blue. Maybe that is why I managed to convince Robin again that this was the night when we were meant to see them.

Plane flew straight and far. During every evening of this summer, Robin had trained her throwing skills well. The plane lowered until about a foot above the surface and then it burst into greenish yellow flames. The sea put out a red, spiky tongue and pulled the plane under the surface, leaving a thin smoke steam hovering above.

“They have to come. One of those evenings, they will come,” I replied in a low, slow voice. I picked up a small rock and threw it along the shore, watching it roll and jump until it stopped. I wasn’t talking about the lava birds, though. I didn’t think they still lived here since the sea level had lowered some years ago. People had deforested the shoreline due to urban expansion. Richer people loved to overlook the lava waves at sunset. Where earlier grew tall trees, now tall glass buildings stood. Lava needed to eat, and if there were no trees, it had no reason to stay here. It was leaving. Of course, it meant more space for the city. That`s why no one objected much. No one was worried about losing the sea, since it drew back slowly.  

We could hear the urban, cheerful laughter and lazy conversations form over here. Every day at sunset, people gathered on the roofs and in the restaurants on the ground to watch the amazing sight of golden Sun drowning in the orange and red lava sea. After dinner, after the sunset, they would come down and walk in the sand and let lava keep them warm.

“They have to come,” I heard myself saying it aloud, and caught my sight lingering on the second to last house in the never-ending row of rich houses. There she is �" the dark haired one, a little shorter than both her sisters are, in a green, long dress. She is enjoying wine with her sisters, looking over the beach directly at the drowning Sun. But since the kiss, she never came down anymore.

“Brandon,” Robin had noticed my gaze and was now looking at the girl as well. “There are no birds here, are there?” she dropped the pile of paper sheets in sand and fell to her knees next to it.

“There are,” I partly lied to her. At least, there used to be. “And we are here to find them!” I took one of the sheets and started to fold another paper plane �" a treat to draw on the lava birds. When I was as little as Robin was now, flaming birds` arrows used to dive out of the lava to catch our planes and set them to flames. Then they swallowed the ashes and dove under the surface again. Sometimes they circled above our heads begging for paper, and sometimes they flew to the forest for branches and dry grasses, dragging long fiery tails along.

“I should have believed mom when she said it was silly,” Robin laid down on her back and her forehead frowned in two childish wrinkles.

“It is not silly,” I finished the plane and threw it over the lava sea. My plane flew higher and further than Robin`s had, and the sea underneath bubbled waiting for its next meal. Robin sat up again and watched the plane flying.

“We have thrown a thousand of them,” she said and primmed her lips. Plane lowered until it caught fire, and again a red lava tongue rose to suck the ashes in.

“Then we have a thousand more to fold,” I replied. I squatted down to take another sheet. Accidentally, my gaze glided to the second to last house where the girl was now sitting on the handrail. I swear, I saw her looking at me for a moment before she lowered her sight and sipped the wine. Her sisters weren’t there anymore. The way she sipped her wine!  It made me remember her lips swollen hot, dark red, and tender when she kissed me. Her soft breasts leaned against my chest, setting my skin sentient and stomach boiling. I still can feel her firm n*****s through her summer dress making me blind and deaf to the rest of the world.

“We don’t have to do this,” Robin said. I felt deep, weak pain in my stomach when tension released me. I drew lungs full of air since for a moment there I had stopped breathing.

Suddenly, Robin seemed this sweet, annoying child to me. Robin didn’t understand my fire yet, she only wanted the birds. Her greenish eyes were filling up with tears until it was too much, and one drop crossed over the lower eyelid creating a flowing river down her cheek.

“Oh,” I sighed and pulled her to my chest. I hugged her as hard as I could not breaking her ribs.

“It is ok, we will find them,” I whispered in her ear.

“We.. we`ve been trying… for the whole summer,” she sobbed, and I could feel her body hanging over me loosely. I soothed her hair. “And… and…you don’t really care!” her palm was wiping her face back and forth.

I felt bad, because she was kind of right. I didn’t care anymore and I couldn’t grip the moment when I had stopped caring about the silly birds. It had been almost three months since we were coming to this beach every night to throw planes in the lava and watch the greedy fire swallowing them. Had I ever actually believed that if I threw enough planes, birds would come back? Or did I always come for the girl?