Destructive (On Hold)

A Change

We didn't end up sleeping in an alleyway, but in a doorstep of a motel that wouldn't accept the few petty coins I offered. Eventually they switched the luminous MOTEL sign sitting atop the roof off and the buzzing little town quietened down. Calypso huddled into her decrepit old coat and buried her face into her untamed curls. She shivered. It wasn't winter, but the weather in England is so unbelievably temperamental is always feels like it is. Although I remember going to the beach with one of my foster parents a few years ago, and the sun was beaming down on the sand and making the black rocks steam. My ice cream melted immediately.

That was just one day though. Mostly it's cold.

I shifted closer to Calypso. "You all right?"

She sighed into her folded arms and briefly lifted her mass of curls from her solemn face. "I'm fine," she replied huskily. "Just let me sleep."

I did.

She drifted off soon and I stared up at the stars. It sounds cliche, but there was nothing left to do. There were a lot of artificial lights around that distracted me from the natural beauty of stars. I frowned at a dull streetlight that flickered and cast an ugly yellow glow on the pavement.

The moon was a luminous crescent admist the navy blanket of sky. It was such a beautiful thing, but so overlooked. What if one night, in the forseeable future, the moon just disappeared? And the sky was empty except for the lone stars?

Would it matter?

If Calypso and I disappeared, would it matter?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our food and money supply was scarce. I began to think that maybe, just maybe, this was not a good idea. However, I felt that I'd made a trustworthy friend in Calypso, and I don't remember if I'd ever had a friend before. I was beginning to forget the hazy memories of my childhood altogether.

Travelling along backstreets and rarely used roads to avoid anyone who may be looking for me made it feel like Calypso and I were the only ones on Earth. The few towns we came across were ghost towns, with old fashioned cars and old ladies glaring at us in our filthy clothes, dismissing our forlorn expressions. 

We'd been walking for an hour, knowing our destination, but not how to get there. We entered a town with a cheery sign announcing that we were now in Seaview. Which was weird because we were nowhere near the sea.

"I'm hungry," I declared, interrupting the silence.

"I know," Calypso said simply.

"Are we... can we find a shop, or something? Honestly, I'm starving."

"You should get used to it," Calypso replied bitterly. 

I was quiet for a moment. "You don't... you don't eat often?" I asked timidly.

She laughed. "I'm homeless. I aint got no money. I'd be lucky to have more than one meal a day. It's been a long time since I had somebody to take care of me, like you did. But you just passed it up. Don't expect any sympathy from me."

"But they weren't treating me right!" I protested. "They were supposed to make sure I got the most fulfilling life that was possible in my circumstances, but they didn't! They abused me."

"The world's not always nice, you know. People won't give you a bed when you're tired, or a mother when you're lonely. Now you're hungry. Suck it up."

I'd never seen this side of Calypso before. I thought she was overreacting. Surely it wasn't too much to ask that a child have something to eat? Not that I could be considered a child. But close enough.