Flight

Chapter 8

Once she got into her room, it was two minutes to midnight. Blake and Marcus were already there. Blake was the first to notice that Kallisto was alone and hurt.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Blake asked, a faint trace of panic in his voice. "Where is Allison?"

"She's coming home with her mom." Kallisto said.

"Geez, lady, you look like you've been through the war." Marcus said.

"I wasn't in a war," Kallisto said, her bruises throbbing and her scratches stinging, "I was in a fight."

Both boys instantly perked up.
"What!" They both yelled.

"What happened?" Blake asked, panicking.

"Who was it with?" Marcus asked in a slightly calmer tone than Blake.

"Abigale." Kallisto said quietly.

"What!" Both boys yelled again. Kallisto winced. Tears of trauma and helplessness that she didn't let out for fear of looking weak began to well up in her eyes.

"Yeah. Good old, mean, obnoxious, useless, rude, untalented, WORTHLESS, UGLY--"

"Hey, hey, hey," Marcus said in a soothing tone. Kallisto fell to her knees and let all of the anger, fear, frustration, and confusion flow out in tears. She took off her helmet, threw it across the room, and buried her face in her hands. She received a hug from Marcus, then from Blake. She then heard someone open and close the front door.

"First you embarrassed me, then you objected to my having fun, then you ditch me with--"

"Listen, now's not a good time." Marcus said impatiently. Allison saw her friend sobbing in his arms.

"I'm sorry, Allison," Kallisto managed, still sobbing. Allison felt like she was shot in the heart.

"No, Kallisto, I should be sorry," Allison said on the verge of tears.

"Why?" Kallisto asked in an almost whisper. "I embarrassed you, objected to your fun, and I ditched you."

Allison wished she could take back her words. She wished she could make everything okay. She wished she could undo the wound and do away with her pain. She took Kallisto from Marcus and she held her. This completely undid Allison's composure and she started crying. They were mostly tears of regret but some were of joy. The joy of having her friend with her.

***~~***

The competition kept going on that night. The boys said they ended early. Their bags were about half full. They wanted to go easy on the girls. Both girls' bags were filled to the brim. The boys didn't understand why at first.

"Well, when you have a gorgeous lady and a flying being, you get to a lot more houses in less time." Kallisto said.

"How did you get that much candy from just one neighborhood?" Marcus asked, definitely looking like a confused puppy.

"Whose to say we didn't 'double dip'?" Allison said with a smirk.

"Well, I guess y'all really did win," Blake said in an old Western accent. "I guess you get our candy."

"No, keep it." Kallisto said, holding up her hand. "We'll gamble for it another day."

"So, then, do we sleep here?" Marcus asked.

"I am going to." Allison said, raising her hand.

"I guess I can." Blake shrugged.

"I know I can." Marcus said.

"Alright then, but Blake, Marcus, you two have to be outta here by nine o'clock." Kallisto said.

"Yeeeaaah, no can do, honeydew," Blake said with his accent. "This ranger don't wake up 'til high noon."

Allison smacked him upside the head. Marcus snickered.  The arrangements were that the boys would sleep in the living room. The girls would sleep in Kallisto's room. If the boys didn't wake up by eight o'clock, the girls were allowed to wake them up in whatever way that suited them.
They all went to sleep.

***~~***

Kallisto woke up with a feeling of someone being in the apartment. She didn't know if she was being robbed or if it was just someone looking for the bathroom.

She then heard a voice. A warm, motherly voice. It was coming from right outside her door. It sounded like her mother's voice, deep and soothing, and it was singing her favorite lullaby from when she was younger. Every time something didn't let her sleep, be it homework, nightmares, or stress of some kind, her mom would sing it and it would make her go to sleep.

Kallisto was uneasy, mainly because she heard her mother's voice right outside her door. A blue light began to emit from outside the doorway. There was mist that started to come in to her room from the doorway. Kallisto got up from her bed, careful not to step on the sleeping Allison. She crept towards the doorway. When she peeped around the corner, she saw a woman. The woman had the same light eyes as Kallisto. Her hair was a golden blonde in the blue light that seemed to emit like an aura around her. She looked and sounded like Evangeline Peterson.

Kallisto crept near the light. Her mom's figure dissolved and the light moved away from Kallisto. She outstretched her hand towards the light. The light kept moving away from her. She followed the light through the living room, past the boys, and through the kitchen. The light went under the door and down the hallway. She followed the light up the stairs in the emergency exit and out onto the roof. The light floated on the ledge in between the bent railings. Kallisto walked closer to the light. The mist sort of collected itself, as if fitting pieces together. It formed Evangeline, who appeared to be looking over the side of the building. Kallisto reached out to touch her shoulder. Just before she did, however, Evangeline fell over the side of the building. Kallisto looked over the side of the building to see nothing at the bottom of the building, nor anything symbolizing that Evangeline was even there.

Kallisto turned around. The sun was rising, turning the sky crimson. She turned to face the ocean. She then heard a scratchy voice. A scratchy hoarse voice. She spun around and looked around. Nothing. She went inside the door and went down the stairs, hoping that whatever was talking would not follow her.