The Exile

Chapter 11: Taking Flight and Apologies

I waited for Fletcher to wake up. 

My hands were clasped in my lap, as I waited patiently for the small child to come down for breakfast. Koul was busy in the kitchen, humming cheerfully, and Myrina was sitting with Darius, who still hasn't apologized to me for what he's said. But I'm not focused on him. Or Myrina, in fact. I didn't even care at the moment that they were holding hands and sharing gooey looks. 

All that mattered right now was the little boy I had made sad. 

When I hear the stairs creaking, I straighten up, hands getting even tighter in my lap. Koul comes and kisses my cheek gently. Her touch normally calms me down. But not this time. I was too nervous, too set on making sure Fletcher was back to normal. 

He came down, rubbing his knuckles into his eyes. "Morning," he says to his parents, then sees me. He is frozen at first. I try and smile, hopeful that it might coax a smile out of him too. He frowns at me and walks past me. "What's for breakfast, Koul?" 

Oh my god. I can't believe this. He's ignoring me! 

"Ah..." she trails off, peeking at me. "Eggs and bacon." 

"Ooh, my favorite!" 

"Yes, Erin suggested it." 

Fletcher doesn't look at me, or even acknowledge it. He just stands up on the stool placed by the counter and watches Koul flip the egg. 

Slowly, I rise up out of my seat and move to the counter. "So... how did you sleep last night, Fletcher?" I ask, hoping he'll give me a rapid explanation of what he dreamed about, like he normally tended to do. But instead, all I managed to get out of him was a simple shrug. He didn't even look my way. He's mad at me. "Did you have any dreams? Any visions?"

He nods, but doesn't say anything more about it.

"Uh, hey, so maybe after you're done with breakfast, you and I could go out for a while." 

"Maybe," he says as Koul hands him a plate and he walks away with it, to sit by his family. Koul and I join them shortly after, we both share looks while Fletcher spoke to his parents. But never to me. I nervously fidget in my seat. 

I wait patiently for Fletcher to finish his breakfast, and when he finally does, I stand up. "So would  you like to go do that thing I mentioned before now?"

He sighs, like it's a huge nuisance to him, and gets up. I want to help him put on his coat, but the moment I reach out to zip it up for him, he swats my hands away and does it himself. He practically stomps out into the snow, chin turned up.

I give a look to Koul and she gives me a thumbs up back. "Good luck," she whispers. 

I follow Fletcher into the snow and he turns to me, arms crossed. "Okay, I'm here. Now what?"

I fall down to my knees, without hesitation. I don't even mind I'm wearing jeans with holes in them. I don't care about the sting on my skin. I grab onto Fletcher's hands and make him look at me. "Fletcher, I'm so sorry for ignoring you these past few days." 

He turns away from me, but I can see I have his attention. He also doesn't pull away. 

"I was in a really bad mood and I just needed some time to myself is all," I assure him, tightening my hands. I duck my head to catch his gaze. "But I'm here now, okay? And I'm not going anywhere." 

I'm quite surprised when I see his blue eyes are welling up with tears. My heart clenches in my chest when I see how much of an impact I have on him and as quickly as I possibly can, I pull him into my arms. His arms go around me at the same speed, like he wanted the same thing and we're both squeezing each other, holding onto each other as if for dear life.