A Ball
The world around Callisto shrunk into nothing, leaving her isolated in a dark space and unable to move a muscle.
Callisto recalled the first couple instances of her hearing animals talk and understanding them. First was when she noticed a puppy in a pet shop complaining about it having an upset stomach. The second was when she encountered an orange cat just as she and her father left the Megaverse book store.
From then on, similar occurrences happened from the first time she set foot in her room in Oner's apartment building up until now.
"Hearing them talk and understanding them felt so normal to me, I even felt bad and apologized when a cockroach in the variety store got mad at me because we got scared by each other."
Callisto did not think too much about all of it. At least until Elesis made her realize just how unusual everything was.
A flood of questions plagued the young lady's mind.
"How? Is this an effect caused by the Mutated DNA Fusion? Is this supposed to happen? Papa never mentioned anything about it though."
"Callisto... Callisto...? Hey..."
The world around Callisto started fading back in, a distant voice slowly grew closer and louder than the last.
"Callisto, are you okay?"
"Huh?"
Elesis's concerned voice finally became clear and audible, pulling Callisto back to reality.
"You look pale," Elesis said in worry to the silver-haired girl next to her. "Are you all right?"
"I'm all right."
The young lady forced a smile, trying to reassure the concerned red head.
"Let's go."
Clearing her mind for the time being and recomposing herself, Callisto pushed herself off the wooden bench.
"There's no point in going here if we're just sitting in one place, after all."
Before long, Elesis's expression turned bright. She got up from the bench with renewed vigor.
"You're right. Let's check out the river."
Callisto allowed the red head to lead forward, continuing their stroll further into the nature park.
They eventually took a quick stop nearby a river that was connected to the one they saw before going into the Mt. Tierra subdivision.
"I remember flipping rocks with some friends to look for crabs underneath them. We usually find two or three little ones hiding in the same rock and they'd scatter around as soon as they're exposed. And they are really quick, too."
"That sounds fun."
"It is! Wanna try it, Callisto?"
"Sure, why not."
The two of them admired the beauty of nature that was captured perfectly by the park.
Peaceful and quiet.
"Callisto, look! There's a lot of baby frogs on this spot."
"Aren't they called tadpoles?"
"Yes, that's what I meant. Tadpoles! Anyway, I saw a big crab run straight under that rock."
"Then, there might be one more underneath it."
However, Callisto wasn't as enthused as she used to before witnessing the love story between the kingfishers unfold.
Ever since she realized it, she couldn't brush off the fact that she alone was able to understand and talk to animals, which was causing her to worry.
Callisto was well aware that the answer to the questions that were clogging her mind right now could only be attained by speaking with her father.
Only he would be capable of giving her a peace of mind.
Or the complete opposite.
And that was what scared Callisto. Because if things turned out for the worst, she would most likely return to the hospital and be kept there for god knows how long.
Callisto wouldn't wish for someone to live like she once did, a prisoner of her own illness, isolated from the whole world and without knowing if the freedom she was so lucky to have now would come or not at all.
And she certainly wouldn't want for it to happen to her ever again.
However, she also felt utterly conflicted just thinking about keeping something that might lead to some serious consequences later in the future to herself.
"Ahhh," Callisto raged internally. "What should I do?! Should I talk to Papa? But I don't want to go back to the hospital."
"Hey, let's go check out the grass field."
"All right."
Unable to make a compromise, Callisto followed the red head towards a wide grass field located at the heart of the nature park, keeping her frustration hidden underneath a nonchalant demeanor.
"As I thought, there's a lot of people in here."
Elesis's footsteps went to a halt as they arrived to their next stop, her crimson marbles scanning the vicinity.
Some people had set up tents to relax cozily. Others were taking a stroll just like Elesis and Callisto. While some youngsters were enjoying their youth, playing together under the nice blue sky.
Callisto stood next to the red head.
"Well, it's summer vacation."
The young lady's voice was as calm as the refreshing breeze gently ruffling their hair and the trees surrounding the field. It was almost as if her mind wasn't going through a turmoil at the moment.
Bounce! Bounce!
Out of nowhere, a volleyball rolled up before them, drawing their attention towards it.
"Huh? A volleyball?"
Elesis casually grabbed the ball off the ground with both hands.
As she stood upright once again, she faced the direction the ball came from and found two young boys stopping just a short distance away from her and Callisto.
Both of them appeared to be a few years younger than them.
"Sorry," one of the boys said politely. "Can we have the ball back, please?"
The boy pleading for Elesis to return the ball seemed calm and unfazed, but also being cautious about the two older girls in front of him as he maintained his and his friend's distance from them, his eyes darting from Elesis to Callisto and back.
Unlike with the red head though, the boy seemed like he couldn't maintain eye-contact with Callisto longer than a second.
On the other hand, the other boy just stood quietly next to his friend. However, this entire time, his gaze remained fixated on the silver-haired girl, his cheeks colored with a tinge of pink.
Callisto took notice of it and cluelessly thought; "He probably thinks I look weird with my cat ears or something."
Elesis beamed a warm smile at the two young boys, hoping it would make her seem approachable to them.
"Here you go."
She stretched her arms with the ball towards them, but the boys did not move a muscle. Still beaming that same smile at them, Elesis thought to herself;
"Am I that unapproachble?"
Feeling dejected, Elesis was thinking about just throwing it back to them and be done with it. But before she could do so, a set of hands manifested from her side and took the volleyball instead.
"Callisto?"
"Hey, mind if we play, too? I'm not really good with volleyball, but I figured I can learn from you guys."
Elesis's attention shifted to the boys and they appeared really stoked by the silver-haired girl's request.
Although, unlike the quiet one who was staring intently at Callisto the whole time, the one who spoke with Elesis seemed to realize his own reaction and tried to hide it with a straight face.
In his attempt to act calm and collected, his posture awkwardly stiffened.
"My name is Callisto Mandjet, but you can just call me Callisto."
"Callisto Mandjet..."
"Callisto Mandjet..."
The boys repeated her name in unison as if they've been hypnotized.
"And this is Elesis Fredream."
Elesis forced another friendly smile. This time, the boys finally acknowledged her attempt to appear approachable.
"Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you."
"Yeah. Nice to meet you, too."
The red head gave the girl next to her a tender gaze. She watched as Callisto tossed the ball towards the boys.
The quiet one caught it with his hands. For some reason, he stared at it as if it just became the most prized treasure of his, his cheeks was flushed with pink. A clear indication that he was the owner of the volleyball. And most likely something else.
Before long, a few more boys and girls arrived to the scene, all were curious as to what was going on.
"They said they wanted to play with us," asked the girl to the two boys, her voice laced with worry.
"They introduced themselves to us and they seem nice, too," the quiet boy explained, almost like a plea for everyone in their circle to agree and let us play with them.
"But..."
While the boys and girls were in the middle of their discussion, Elesis used the chance to lean closer to Callisto.
"I'm glad you're here," she whispered, her voice filled with gratitude for the silver-haired girl. "I get why they feel reluctant though. Lately, it's really hard to talk to people you don't really know anything about. But still, the way you easily got those boys to your side... you're really something else."
Callisto chuckled softly at Elesis's remark about her.
"I'm glad I could help."
In truth, the young lady was only thinking about trying to get her mind off of thinking about what to do about her discovery. But that wasn't something she deemed the red head didn't need to know.
After patiently waiting on the sidelines, the young boys and girls finally turned to face Callisto and Elesis. The group seemed to have reached a compromise that made the quiet boy beam a bright smile.
"You can join us if you like," one of the girls declared. "But you can't be on the same team."
Callisto and Elesis's expression brightened.
"That's fine. As long as you're willing to teach me along the way, that is."
The young girl gave Callisto a confident look, her stance accentuating her confidence.
"Okay then. Let's begin!"