**Trigger warning - Bigotry, verbal abuse, and self depreciation**

VINCE

Vince pauses in the entrance of the workshop. He sees Stein at his bench tinkering with the metallic bird. He has a large open book in front of him that he keeps glancing at for reference. Vince grimaces, it’s a simple automation book. Stein didn’t even understand the basics but was trying to make an automated animal.

Vince stomped over to Stein who leaned over the book intently. His hand hovered over the corner of the page and he slowly began to turn it, not even noticing Vince's presence. No one ever noticed Vince’s presence when he entered the room.

In his own household he knew his father ignored him as a choice most days. His mother was oblivious for other reasons, and Dore… He wasn’t home much anymore. Vince knew someday he’d be able to prove to them he wasn’t invisible. He ripped the book out of Stein’s hands. The page Stein had been turning tore out. Ridiculous. Vince only wanted to know what passage he was on. He didn’t need to hold on so tightly.

“Hey,” Stein said, finally noticing Vince was there. 

Vince flipped through the book. He skimmed the familiar content for a second or two. It was an old edition but similar enough to the one he had used in his own studies. Automation had always been a complex subject to him, though he did like it better than others. There was a certain harmony to automation. If the device worked right every gear would be clicking away at the same pace as every other gear. Hundreds to thousands of them would be working together peacefully. Harmony wasn’t something Stein’s people could comprehend.

“You’re not capable enough to read this,” Vince said.

“What?” Stein asked. Vince didn’t understand where the insult in Stein’s voice came from. He was just stating facts. 

Vince looked at the bird. It didn’t look like it was in too bad of shape. He’d actually done a pretty good job considering. The bronze frame shone under the work lamp. A metal plate had been removed showing the inner workings of the creature. The gears curled around the bird's breast, like muscles. He was almost impressed the creature would probably fly with only a few tweaks. 

He knew fixing this bird would be the best way to get Stein on his side. It seemed like the only thing he focused on and if there was one thing Vince understood it was inventors. His brother was the same way once he was fixated on something he could work on it for months without stopping. Vince would often have to stop by his work to ensure he ate his meals. They were a rare but predictable breed. 

“Get out of the way. I’ll fix it,” Vince said as he pushed Stein aside. He picked up Stein’s screwdriver and dug it into a few of the gears. It just needed some minor adjustments, but he doubted Stein could see that. He forced a few gears to tighten.

“Stop it!” Stein yelled. 

“I can do this.” Vince twisted a few more and all the others twirled in compliance. Harmony.

Stein tried to knock his hands away but Vince lifted the bird above the young boy's head. “Stop,” he begged. “She’s not ready.”

“Trust me,” Vince said full of confidence. “I learned this in my schooling.”

Vince tossed the bird into the air. Its gears turned, the wings flapped. He’d done it. Stein stood frozen in horror while Vince smiled. The bird was airborne. Its bronze wings glittered beneath the yellow lights. For a second it flew. Just for a second.

It suddenly nose dived crashing to the ground magnificently. Stein rushed to the bird's side. Vince's arms fell limp to his side. He didn’t understand what went wrong. It was working.

He watched as Stein lifted the motionless metallic body of the bird in his arms. It’s beak bent and head twisted at odd angles. Loose gears fell from her body. Stein’s hands shook as his eyes began to water.

“How could you…” Stein whimpered.

Vince lowered his head. He couldn’t see Stein’s face as he kneeled over his broken creation but he could feel the heartbreak in his words. “I thought I could-” he tried to explain.

“You destroyed everything!” 

He flinched at Stein’s words. He was good at upsetting people with his failures. Vince knew he ruined the bird and he didn’t even know how he did. “I- I- I messed up,” Vince said. 

Was he really that clueless? He didn’t even see what Stein saw when he insisted the bird wasn’t ready. 

“I- I didn’t mean-” 

Stein whipped around tears and rage filled his eyes. “Just leave! Leave!”

Vince flinched at his words again. It was always better if he left. “Yeah… Maybe I should,” Vince said, his voice sounding empty even to himself. He obediently marched out of the workshop as Stein collected the broken pieces of Vince’s mistake.

As soon as Vince exited the workshop he was greeted by Fiu’s thin eyebrows scrunched up in concern. “What happened?” He asked. “I heard a crash.”

Vince couldn’t muster the words to reply to him. He looked at his feet, silenced by guilt as a growing rage at himself cultivated. He walked past Fiu. Fiu doesn’t go after him.

Why would he? Vince would just screw something else up. He needed to get out of there. He looked up at the top of the mountain. The first thing he needed to do was find a gap in that line. He refused to believe the spouts created a complete ring around the island and a mountaintop would be a good vantage point.

He began walking towards it. Almost immediately Ayn hopped down from a tree blocking him.

“And where do you think you’re going,” she asked, arms crossed over her chest. She was unexpectedly tall. This was the first time they’d ever really been face to face. Her straight dark brown hair cupped her face in a short bob. Those dark brown eyes stared down at Vince menacingly. She might be the most intimidating person on the island, even more than Handi.

But at this point, Vince was too exhausted to care. “Does it matter? You don’t want me here either.”

She looked around for a moment. He didn’t know what she was looking for but she eventually moved out of his way. “Not gonna argue there,” she admitted. Her honesty was refreshing but hurtful.

He walked past her into the forest. He looked back for a moment. No one tried to stop him. Fiu had even vanished into the workshop to check on Stein. So he continued.

The forest wasn’t as hard to navigate as Handi had made it out to be. So long as he kept walking up it’d be hard to get lost. He could do this. His body grew more powerful as he built up his confidence. 

The forest opened up into a small grassy hill. After seeing the clear path his steps became even more determined. “I can do this. I can,” he reaffirmed himself. “I can get off this island. And I’ll do it all on my own.” He didn’t need them. And they didn’t need him.

He’d find the gap, build a ship, and leave this horrible place. “And then I’ll go to Hadzat. Just like planned. And then…” The thought of the future stalled him.  “Maybe…” 

He needed to be successful at Hadzat. To do something great like his brother. He began losing his breath. His feet became heavier with every step. He kept pushing forward. “I’ll do something right…”

His march slowed. He’d been trying for so long to do something right but he always got it wrong. He studied hard, but never excelled. He tried to help in the factory workshops and caused an explosion. He tried to help his brother with filing billing paperwork and he organized a hundred of them by first name instead of last and spent the entire day finding them and reorganizing them again. The final straw for his father was when he failed to get his manufacturer's license. With that he would have finally be able to official help with the family business. His head felt heavy like an anchor sinking to the bottom of the sea at the thought of another attempt.

Once he’d given his father a painting he made. He was proud of it. His mother and brother loved the ones he gave them. He marched into his father’s office nervously excited for his response. As a boy he felt small next to the tall desk. He looked at the buckles on his fathers shoes as he took the painting from Vince’s hands. Vince waited patiently for his praise. But it was a useless endeavor for a useless child as his father would say.

If only he could have gone to Hadzat like his father had wanted then maybe this time he’d be able to hear his praise. He’d need to get off the island first. He looked up at the tall mountain in the distance. He could make out a small sprinkling of snow at the top.

“I’m not an infant,” he said, with a resurgence of his determination. He picked up his pace. He’d prove to them all that he was capable and brilliant and worthy of their respect. 

“Handi’s the one who knows nothing about the world, none of them do,” he said. They weren’t better than him. The hill steepened as he climbed but he pushed forward until his lungs screamed for breath. 

“They’re… the ones… who can’t… do… anything… right…” He was barely able to get a word on two in before needing another gaping breath. “The one who…. Who…”

He fell to his knees. How in the world did they do this? He saw Handi march off with children, a toddler, into the forest like it was nothing. “Need to do better,” he said, as he began to catch his breath. He collapsed onto the ground and flipped onto his back. His muscles softened as he melted into the soft bed of grass. Sweat dripped from his body. He knew from experience his face was likely as red as a tomato from the overexertion. He stared up at the clear sky. The clouds floated peacefully above him as sucked in deep refreshing breaths. “They need to do better. To… contribute.”

If only they’d help him. He was so close; he could almost feel it. It was at Hadzat that his brother made a name for himself in the industry. All Vince wanted to do was follow in his footsteps. “I won’t be a disappointment anymore.”

It was starting to get depressing talking to get himself. No wonder people went crazy in isolation, he almost didn’t blame Handi for he madness. Once his breathing returned to normal he sat up and looked down the hill. Smoke rose from the nearby forest. The camp wasn’t that far from where he travel. He looked back up the mountain behind him, the peak far off in the distance. He groaned. “Why are mountains so tall?”

He laid back down let the grass tickle his skin. The bright sun shone into his eyes so he rolled over and watched the light wind blow the grass. His breathing calmed and the realization that he couldn’t even climb a mountain alone hit him. “At this rate I’m going nowhere,” he admitted.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to sit up. He stretched his back out then his neck. Sweat dripped down his neck from the overbearing heat of the island sun. With pursed lips he looked down the hill. He didn’t have much choice but to go back to Handi and her little cult. He took one more look up the mountain looming over him. He’d have to find someone to take him up. Hopefully, there was an easier route.

He sighed and started walking down.

That was a mistake. Vince didn’t realize how steep the hill was going back until gravity insisted on helping him on the way down. His descent quickly accelerated at an uncontrollable rate, until he tripped over his own feet.

“Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no!”

His whole body was thrown down the hill. Head curled in protectively, he tumbled down the entire hillside he had climbed, hitting a good number of rocks and twigs on the way down for good measure. His fast roll down was stopped shortly into the forest when his stomach slammed into a tree. The world spun around him as he groaned motionless on the ground. He hugged the tree that stopped his fall. Having something to grasp onto helped him stabilize himself. 

“Another bad idea,” he groaned.

Eventually he managed to stumble to his feet and slowly dragged himself back to the camp. He could only imagine how ridiculous he looked shuffling into the camp clutching his stomach, with more scratches and bruises than he left with. Wood shavings fell down on him as he walked under Ayn’s tree. 

Vince swatted them out of his hair. She seemed unconcerned at least. “Good,” she said. “You made it back. Handi might get mad at me if you vanished.”

Now he remembered why he’d left in a rage in the first place. “Then why…” he began to question. But it didn’t matter why she let him leave if she would have gotten in trouble anyway. He needed Fiu and his handy medical kit. “Nevermind.”

He didn’t get to take another step before Fiu came out of a shack and noticed Vince’s disheveled appearance. Vince felt the blush rising to his cheeks at the obvious concern on his face. Fiu rushed to Vince’s side. “What in the world?” He said. He gently touched a cut Vince’s face. He watched as Fiu’s deep inklike eyes outlined his body for injuries.

“I tried to go up the mountainside,” Vince bashfully admitted.

Fiu’s arm dropped. His concern vanished and Vince could see the hints of irritation or anger in his calm smile. “Of course you did,” he said. He sighed. “I’ll go get the medical kit.”

Vince watched as he walked off. His kindhearted worrying made Vince smile to himself. At least there was small hope for him to get along with his new island roommates.