beautiful snippets

The sky above is one unbroken pane of blue; the sea crisp and clear. Max’s laugh is a bubbly cackle in his ear as their sodden wings bump against each other.

The sun is shining, but it doesn’t burn. It warms.

Daniel doesn’t need to do anything except live. He has his flock and his wings.

He has all the time in the world.

It had been worth it – all the blood and the cruelty and the fight. All the younger generations entering the sport – Ollie, Kimi, Franco – all of them are protected now. Formula One will never see an eighteen-year-old with freshly trimmed wings like Max again; it will never see another George Russell, pushed into wing dysmorphia. It will never see... See more

Daniel’s takes a breath. Leans his cheek into Max’s hair.

He looks down at his feathers, fiery yellow and red and deep, sea blue, shimmering softly in the brightening dawn.

There was a time he thought it was good he wore Red Bull’s colours.

But maybe he’s been wrong all along. They’re not Red Bull’s colours. They’re his.

“Max.”

“Hmm?”

“What if I...”... See more

The air smells of burnt rubber and kerosene. The track is grippy and rubbered-in from the hundreds of karts that pass over it every day. The sounds of the city beyond fall away; the roar of the two-stroke engines and the squeal of tyres mixes with shouted curses and laughter.

The track blurs past, again and again; Daniel doesn’t need to think to... See more

Oh.

The world rearranges itself.

Daniel had left Max because he loved him too much.

Max lets this settle in his chest, warm. He reaches out, pulls Daniel into a hug, wrapping his wings around Daniel’s back.

“Okay,” he whispers.

“You are very good flock to each other. But I think this is hurting you.”

He breathes a silent goodbye to each feather he places; the last time he will ever touch Lewis’s feathers, the last time he can pretend Lewis is still his flock. One last gift, before their final farewell.

They stagger on the sand, holding each other up. Both of them are giggling a little deliriously; Max is very close, their wings meshed together.

Daniel doesn’t realise he is crying until he feels the tears on his cheeks. He doesn’t know why he thought flying would feel different, when it felt like getting into a well-set-up Formula One car again;... See more

The corridor to the hospital lobby seems to stretch on and on into infinite space; Max staggers on, Christian’s hand under his elbow, until suddenly the white walls and low ceiling peel away and he is under the cloudy winter sky.

It is the most beautiful sky Max has ever seen.