C2 Chapter 2 He's not that little anymore

The sun comes up, but Callisto is already inside their kitchen, preparing their breakfast, because he knows that his parents are exhausted from what happened yesterday, and his younger sister isn't of age to do household chores.

It occurred to him how insane it was. He was aware that he should not trust strangers he met anywhere, but what else could he do? He doesn't have any friends in the town of Isabela. He can play with no one but his little sister.

Anyway, he thought, he's not that little anymore to play with children. He has to be mature, because nobody stays young, and death. He knew death was inevitable, and although sometimes he wanted to be a cat, which is believed to have nine lives, still, what he remembered was his father. He observes how his black hair has turned gray, but he still wants to enjoy his teenage life before acting like a column in their home.

"Why am I thinking this?" He thought and sat down on the chair beside the table. "Perhaps thinking like this tells me that I'm not that little anymore."

After a few moments, Callisto heard some footsteps going towards the kitchen, and he knew who it was. No one other than the person he was thinking about, and he's thankful that amnesia can't kill a human.

"You woke up early?" Sebastian asked.

"Dad! I thought you can't go with us going to Mount Octover today," Callisto replied.

"It's our second day here, and the first one wasn't as good as we expected, but we can make the second unforgettable." Sebastian reminded, then got the electric heater, tested if it had boiled water, and continued walking towards the wardrobe.

"This town has a lot of crazy girls," Callisto said.

"And why won't you just play them instead of going to Mount Octover?"

"With those jerks? It would be better to play with my sister."

"Well, that's your choice. But don't forget to, you know, hang out sometimes, with friends and even strangers." Sebastian advised, then blended his coffee and sat down on the chair beside his son. "There are many beautiful girls out there, so have some fun."

"I wish to know that too, but I actually don't want to die young."

"And why are you thinking about that? Those girls won't kill you, right?"

"I can't trust those who could even kill them themselves. How much more others?"

"Who's she? Tell me and I'll call the police." Sebastian suddenly stood up.

"Don't be mad, dad. I'm just joking."

"I know you're joking, and I'm not as mad as you think!" Sebastian half-shouted. He left his empty cup on the table and went back into their bedroom.

Meanwhile, Callisto also feels like it's not summer yet, but winter as the cold air chills him. He didn't expect that it would be the climate of the town. But he knew that it was just caused by altitude, and if they came back to downtown, for sure, they would be like dust in the torrid desert.

Not bad at all, he thought. Now he knows the reason why his father chose to have a vacation in this place, and that's because of the tempting climate. Unfortunately, Callisto didn't bring any girls to help him make his bed warm. So, he just stood up and went to his parents' room.

Callisto acted in a manner that didn't give any privacy to those who wanted to make love, and then, his parents were not surprised at all that their son was glimpsing through the door of their bedroom. They both know that they made Callisto through it, but they were still frozen and eventually stopped.

"Oh, what are you doing in our room, huh?" Dorothy asked.

"I... Can I borrow your coat, dad?" Callisto replied, and shivered.

"It's on the washing machine, but you can check the closet upstairs."

"Okay, thanks. You can continue what you're doing now." Callisto slammed the door of his parents' bedroom and went upstairs.

He opened the door of what was once his grandparent's bedroom, but currently, nobody's using this room, except the dusts that could almost cover themselves. There was an old closet behind the door, and Callisto didn't hesitate to open it.

His father wasn't wrong, he thought. There were two pairs of coats and pants, all bloody red in color, and that attracted Callisto's eyes. He didn't know how these branded clothes hung in this old closet, but that's not important anymore. He locked the door and tried them all, and found out that they all fitted.

The door upstairs cried out, and a handsome boy in bloody red clothes eventually went out. And he's not content with what he wears. He also brought the other pairs, and as he felt in that, he walked out of their house and bragged about it to his younger sister, as there were no other people to talk with.

"Handsome," Ruth complimented. "Are you going to date a girl?"

"Oh! How could you know that, huh?" Callisto teased his sister, who had also run out of their house. Callisto chased Ruth, and they hadn't realized that they had already brought themselves to the foot of Mount Octover. The sun had just come out, and it stroked the glistening snow up the high mountain.

"I caught you," Callisto panted while going towards his sister.

"Brother look! Chunks of snow are falling down!" Ruth shouted.

"Goddammit, what trouble we brought here. Come on, run!"

Callisto held his sister's arm and ran, but while running, he completely carried Ruth in his back back to their house, as he knew that she would be buried by that snow if he didn't do that.

After a few moments, the siblings stopped at the front of their house. It was still early, but sweat covered their whole bodies. Ruth attempted to open the door, but Callisto stopped her.

"Wait." Callisto warned, "Promise me first that you won't tell mom and dad."

"Why? Don't you want them to play with us?" Ruth replied, and she completely opened the door, which made her brother scratch his head. Callisto took a deep breath and followed her.

Their parents were completely awake, and it seemed that they were mad. But Callisto can do nothing against what they felt, and what should they feel about what happened? He knew that they were just worried, especially about his sister, and he also just sat on the couch and turned on the television, but then his mother came and turned it off.

"God! What did you do to Ruth?" Dorothy asked in a mad manner. "Don't you want to say sorry, huh?"

"Sorry," Callisto whispered, and he laid down on the couch.

"You're not that little anymore. Have fun with older people, not with your sister," Dorothy advised. "Okay?"

Callisto is just lying on the upholstered couch in an inverted position. He's not really listening to his mother's counsel. He realized he wasn't that little anymore, so he stood up and walked out, walking as if he really wanted to run away from their house.

After a few moments of walking, Callisto reached the bench where he made his first kiss with the girl whom he didn't even know. He sat down there for a while and waited for something terrible to happen, but an hour elapsed, there was nothing, and he completely fell asleep from tiredness and boredom.

Across the street, there were four sexy girls wearing black and pink flimsy clothes. One of them was Linley, and they noticed the boy who was lying on the bench and sleeping soundly like a beggar.

"Look at that boy!" Delilah pointed her index at Callisto. "Do you think what I think?"

"Let's go, girls!" Adelaide commanded, and they went towards him.

"He's so handsome," Caroline complimented.

Handsome? Linley thought as she remembered the emigrant boy who talked about Stalin to her. And this boy lying on this bench has short bronze hair, bronze eyes, high eyelashes, pinkish lips, etcetera etcetera, and he wears bloody red clothes.

"Wait, what are you going to do with him?" Linley asked.

"What do you think? I can flirt with him and be his girlfriend," Delilah replied.

"Are you out of your mind? He's handsome and young, but for sure there are also many girls chasing him. He'll just fool you," Linley predicted.

"Well, she had a point. So let's go, girls!" Adelaide interrupted

The four girls left the spot where Callisto was, but Linley didn't. She was just looking at his face. Her mind was telling her to go, but her eyes wouldn't leave his face, and then she eventually sat down on the bench beside him. After a jiffy, Callisto awoke, and he saw the beautiful girl.

"Hi," Callisto greeted her, then sat straight on the bench.

"Hi... Um... Just... I just passed by when I saw you here," Linley stammered.

"Thanks anyway," Callisto said without explaining why.

"For what?" Linley asked in a curious manner.

"For driving those crazy girls away," he replied then smiled.

"So, you were just listening to us?" Linley asked without looking at him, as if she felt embarrassed.

Callisto nodded and stood up. "By the way, I'm Callisto. And you?"

"I'm Linley. Honestly, I have a friend named Stalin, and she already told me something about you. You know, with bronze hair and bronze eyes. She's a bit crazy, but it seemed that she had infected me too."

"Oh, I thought she was crazy, but it seems that she has many friends. Do you know that she attempted to commit suicide by letting those cars run over her?" Callisto asked.

"I don't know that, but perhaps because she was just exhausted and wanted to sleep on that road so she couldn't wake up anymore. But do you know that she even told me that a boy like you kissed her? Is that true?"

"That girl is undoubtedly crazy. She doesn't know how to lie," Callisto mumbled.

"So do you mean you did that?"

"I didn't... I don't know. I was busy, and... I have forgotten what I really did."

"That's okay. I'm not the one for you to talk about that. Well, if you want to talk with me, just come here. You know, let's hang out sometimes," Linley invited as she shook her shoulder left and right then stood up. She was surprised when someone held her shoulder.

"You're just here. Don't you know that I have been searching for you?" Lazaro (Linley's friend) asked. "Who's this boy?"

"Callisto, dude." Callisto introduced himself and offered a handshake, but Lazaro didn't accept it.

"You don't have to know who I am, and please, Linley, stop talking with strangers, and you boy must return to where you came from," Lazaro advised.

"What are you?" Linley asked, referring to "Who are you to tell us what to do?"

"Just follow me if you don't want to be beaten," he warned.

"You can beat a girl without any reason?" Callisto queried, then clutched his palm. Lazaro saw it as well. "Why won't you beat someone who's stronger than you?"