Chap­ter 70 of If These Wings Could Fly begins with a sense of chaos and height­ened ten­sion as the air is thick with the scent of smoke, leav­ing con­fu­sion in its wake. This unusu­al aro­ma, caused by a fire that doesn’t seem to fit the cir­cum­stances, hints at a deep­er mys­tery, as guns typ­i­cal­ly don’t set fires. Leighton, the pro­tag­o­nist, finds him­self pushed against the stairs, with his moth­er anx­ious­ly try­ing to assess whether he has been injured in the melee. Despite his reas­sur­ances that he is unharmed, the scene around them paints a dif­fer­ent pic­ture. The wall near them has been shot, and it appears to be “bleed­ing” as if cry­ing out for help, demand­ing imme­di­ate atten­tion. This unset­tling image serves as a metaphor for the dam­age that has been inflict­ed upon their world, both phys­i­cal­ly and emo­tion­al­ly. Leighton’s inter­nal tur­moil inten­si­fies as he real­izes that the dan­ger they’re fac­ing is more than just physical—it is psy­cho­log­i­cal as well.

As the chaos con­tin­ues to swirl around them, the urgency esca­lates. Some­one begins fran­ti­cal­ly search­ing for keys, mov­ing through the scene in a pan­ic, their mind focused on the search rather than address­ing the dam­age to the wall or the dan­gers around them. Their actions only serve to height­en the sense of con­fu­sion and dis­tress, as pri­or­i­ties become mis­aligned in the face of mount­ing pres­sure. It is in this dis­or­dered moment that a crow named Joe unex­pect­ed­ly makes his entrance, fly­ing through an open win­dow and land­ing on Leighton’s shoul­der with an almost super­nat­ur­al pres­ence. This sud­den, almost sur­re­al occur­rence imme­di­ate­ly draws the reader’s atten­tion, as Joe’s arrival seems sym­bol­ic, rem­i­nis­cent of the Mor­ri­g­an, the myth­i­cal fig­ure asso­ci­at­ed with fate, chaos, and trans­for­ma­tion. Joe’s errat­ic behav­ior only adds to the mount­ing dis­ar­ray, as he knocks into a cof­fee table, send­ing trin­kets and items fly­ing across the room. Among these objects, Juniper’s per­son­al belongings—pennies, paper clips, and cru­cial­ly, the truck keys—are scat­tered across the floor. The keys, catch­ing the light in the moon’s glow, become a piv­otal item in the chaos, sig­nal­ing the need for escape and action.

The sym­bol­ism of Joe’s entrance becomes even more appar­ent as fire­works light up the night sky, cre­at­ing a brief moment of clar­i­ty amidst the sur­round­ing con­fu­sion. The explo­sion of col­or and light con­trasts sharply with the dark­ness and dis­or­der with­in the house, ampli­fy­ing the sense of urgency and the frag­ile nature of their real­i­ty. In a swift, almost preda­to­ry move­ment, Joe picks up the keys with his claws, his errat­ic flight leav­ing the room just as sud­den­ly as he had entered. His depar­ture, marked by the same chaos that pre­ced­ed it, leaves behind an air of unpre­dictabil­i­ty. The pro­tag­o­nist, along with the oth­ers, is left in a height­ened state of ten­sion, won­der­ing what the next move will be. The sud­den­ness of Joe’s actions and their impact on the unfold­ing events reflects the pre­car­i­ous­ness of their situation—one where con­trol is elu­sive, and even the small­est actions can lead to pro­found con­se­quences. As Joe exits through the win­dow, the ten­sion with­in the room reach­es its peak, and the read­er is left ques­tion­ing what will come of the keys and whether this unex­pect­ed turn of events is a sign of fate or sim­ply anoth­er chaot­ic twist in their unpre­dictable real­i­ty.

As the chap­ter unfolds, the urgency con­tin­ues to build, blend­ing dan­ger with the inex­plic­a­ble pres­ence of Joe, who seems to embody the ran­dom­ness and unpre­dictabil­i­ty of their sit­u­a­tion. The ten­sion between the super­nat­ur­al and the every­day becomes more pro­nounced, with each event adding lay­ers of com­plex­i­ty to the nar­ra­tive. The fire­works that illu­mi­nate the night, along with Joe’s unpre­dictable pres­ence, cre­ate a sur­re­al atmos­phere, leav­ing the pro­tag­o­nist and the read­er alike with a sense of unease. The ran­dom­ness of Joe’s actions, though seem­ing­ly incon­se­quen­tial, serves as a reminder of the fragili­ty of their world and the unpre­dictable forces that shape their real­i­ty. In the end, the chap­ter presents a vivid, almost dream­like por­tray­al of chaos and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, blend­ing super­nat­ur­al ele­ments with every­day strug­gles in a way that keeps read­ers on edge, uncer­tain of what will hap­pen next. The scene leaves a last­ing impres­sion of both dan­ger and hope, as the pro­tag­o­nist and those around him grap­ple with the unknown.