Flight

Chapter 22

It had been four weeks since she left to find her mom. The punishment she was carrying was worse than she feared.

No flying for two months.

Kallisto had been devastated and no one had been there to comfort her. When she was in tears and ignoring her dad, he had tried to fix the situation by saying it was for her own good. His definition of "for your own good" must have been different from Kallisto's because her weight began to plummet.

She wasn't allowed outside of her apartment except for going to school. She would stretch and flap her wings as needed to avoid the tingly feeling, but soon enough, her wings started loosing their feathers from her lack of nutrition. This worried her dad a lot and he did everything he could to try and get her to eat. It all proved futile, however, and Kallisto seemed to loose pounds by the minute.

Then Kallisto learned that her bedroom window could open.

It had been closed ever since she could remember. She never really thought about it until then. So she tried the lock on it. It was a little stiff from lack of use, but it was still able to open. She stuck her head out of the window and pulled her self out to make sure that she could fit. And she made it.

She pulled herself back inside of her window and closed it. She walked to the kitchen. Her dad was in there, cooking something that smelled like baked beans and fried chicken. About a month ago that would have sounded extremely appetizing.

"Hey, you finally emerged from your den." Her dad said, looking up from stirring the beans in the pot.

"I just came out to say that I was going to take a nap," Kallisto said, "so if you knock on my door and I don't answer, now you know why."

"Well, the food is almost ready," he said, "so you can stay out here and eat real quick."

"I'm not hungry," she said, "I'm going to go take a nap."

She turned to go to her room. Then she heard the angry klang of the spoon on the counter. "Kal, you really need to eat."

"I'm not hungry, dad," Kallisto replied

"Kallisto, you are going to starve if you don't eat." Her dad said.

"Well, boo hoo, whaa whaa, I'm not hungry," Kallisto said calmly.

"I don't like your attitude, young lady," her dad said, quite visibly getting agitated. "Keep acting like that and you'll be grounded for an extra month."

"I don't like what your doing, old man. I think it'll feel more like your punishment if I don't starve first," Kallisto said with a blank face. Her dad's eyes widened at her choice of words. Kallisto turned around and walked to her room. "I'm gonna take a nap."

"Kallisto--" her dad was cut off by her closing and locking her door. He sighed and thought about what she said.

Meanwhile, Kallisto put a blanket on her bed and she fixed her pillows. She then opened her window and climbed out. When she jumped and flapped her wings, it was harder for her to keep her altitude level. She assumed that it was because she had lost so many of her feathers. She was still able to fly and she knew exactly who she was going to visit.

Onward, she thought to herself, to Marcus's house.

***~~***

Marcus was in his room downloading music onto his iPod. He then heard two dainty knocks on his window. When he opened his window, the shock almost made him scream. It was Kallisto.

"What are you doing here?" Marcus asked in a hushed voice.

"Whaaaat, can't a girl visit her boyfriend totally unexpected while grounded and on the verge of getting a longer sentence because she can't stand her father's tendency to make assumptions and other stuff that annoys her?" Kallisto asked in one breath.

"Okay, I see your point." Marcus said, getting out of the way so Kallisto could enter. Once she was inside, they exchanged a small kiss. "So, I'm assuming that you flew over here, right?"

"Yes sir, I did," Kallisto said cheerfully, "Why?"

"Well, I know you haven't been hungry over the past few weeks, but I have some leftovers from earlier. Do you want some?"

As if on cue, Kallisto's stomach made a sound that it hadn't made in almost a month. It seemed to be screaming for something to fill it. "Uh, yeah, that sounds good."

"Okay, stay in here. I'll be right back," he said. He turned and left. Kallisto didn't want to just stand there, so she looked around. She saw so much less than a normal boy's room. She saw no posters, trophies, or anything else for that matter. It looked so...humbling to see that someone who was so close to her had so little.

She sat down on what she assumed was his bed. There were two beds in the room. One was piled with clothing and the other had a plain, gray blanket over it. Naturally, she sat on the empty bed. The blanket was coarse and scratchy.

She looked at the corner in which the bed was stuffed in. The only thing on his wall was a selfie they had taken last October. When they were still only friends.

She heard someone come up the stairs. Marcus poked his head through. He was holding a bowl of something that smelled delicious.

"You don't mind that the only thing we have is beef stew, do you?" He asked.

"Not at all." She said.

She ravenously ate. As Marcus watched her eat, he thought to himself, how could someone starve their kid like this? He watched her as she practically licked the bowl clean. Once she was done, she figured she had to leave, for it had been almost forty-five minutes.

"Thank you so much for the food," Kallisto said with sincere gratitude. She gave Marcus a tight hug.

"Thank you for finally eating," he said back. A few minutes passed and the hug started feeling long. "Um, Kallisto? I thought you had to leave."

"Just let me appreciate the squishiness a little bit longer," She said.

Marcus laughed softly. "Alrighty then."