The Flying Woman

Olympus City awaited a mile off the coast, and Miranda came in high and fast, determined to neither crash into a building nor show up in any pictures.

The city’s main retail district was situated shortly beyond the Poseidon Bridge. The area had plenty of tall buildings with flat roofs, but none of the more imposing skyscrapers. Miranda designated a random rooftop as her landing pad and aimed herself at it, flinching the whole way down, assaulted by visions of crashing through floor after floor like a cartoon character. But she avoided that embarrassing fate by stopping slightly too early. Hovering a few feet above the roof, she reached down with one foot until she connected with the solid surface. Then she planted her other foot, thus completing a safe return trip that imperiled no one else. She congratulated herself with zero enthusiasm.

A breeze tickled a small patch of exposed skin—a tear in her shirt. Miranda shuddered.

Standing in the middle of that rooftop, unsure how to move forward, she stared deeper into the city, where a cluster of the tallest skyscrapers loomed over everything, high enough to eclipse the low evening sun. They dwarfed her utterly. Clever people had built them up over the course of decades, creating this thoroughly modern metropolis that surrounded Miranda. She was a single speck within, incapable of building a skyscraper, starting a business, or creating anything else of lasting value.

But she could wreck it all. The world had become fragile. If she wasn’t careful, it could break apart in her hands. She could do so many terrible things if she were a worse person.

Flying had been the greatest thing. Better than sex. Better than applause. Then it became the worst thing. How could she ever fly again? Yet, how could she not?

A glare peeked between two backlit skyscrapers. The scarlet sky, so peaceful now, seemed to invite her up.

Lowering her gaze, Miranda happened to look straight ahead at an aging apartment building a couple of streets over, right as a person tumbled out a top-story window.