Original Ficlet: Strangers Can Hurt Without Knowing

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Title: Strangers Can Hurt Without Knowing

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: OCs

Rating: G

Word Count: 150

Summary: The careless words of strangers can hurt, even when they’re not actually aimed at you.

Written For: The prompt ‘A man with wings’ at dailyprompt

A/N: A snippet of original fiction in a drabble and a half.

As he walks past the school gates, he overhears two boys talking and laughing about the comic book they’re reading.

“A man with wings! That’s nuts, totally unreal. It could never happen,” says one.

“It’d be kinda cool to be able to fly though, don’t ya think?” the other asks.

“Nah, it’d be weird. Wouldn’t work anyway, people are too heavy to fly, I learned about it in biology. Birds can fly ‘cause they’ve got like hollow bones, makes ‘em weigh nothin’, or near enough. If a kid got born with wings, it’d never fly. The parents wouldn’t want it anyway, probably sell it to some freak show, that’s all it’d be good for.”

He pulls his overcoat more tightly around him. He’s always known he’s different from the other kids; his parents say he’s special, their miracle. He’s never been made to feel like a freak.

Not until now.

The End