Read First Flight for Free Online

give you things.”
    “That’s not funny, Chris,” Jesse said, giving him a sharp look. “Are you hearing things?”
    “Hearing what?”
    “Voices? Demons?” Jesse got up, moving toward the phone. “’Cause if you are, then we gotta get you some help.”
    Jesse was afraid of him? The idea was painful to think about, and he shook his head. “No! I just know it. As I know…. As I know eggs are good. To tell you that you are important, that I chose you, I give you things. And I feed you.”
    “You just know? ” Jesse crossed his arms but stayed where he was. “How do you know about eggs? I mean, you didn’t even know about silverware or names or clothes when I met you.” He pushed the bits about being important and chosen aside, for the moment.
    “Eggs…. It is something inside,” Chris said, trying to find the words for it. He touched his chest. “Here. Eggs are food, and eggs are… eggs are alive. Living. I remember, before, knowing that. As I know how to fly.” That was what dancing was like, his little voice said.
    Oh, well, that was different. That was more like—“Instinct?” Jesse had known that Chris wasn’t quite right, but it was another thing altogether to have it made plain. On the other hand, the look on Chris’s face seemed to speak to feelings that ran deeper than merely confusing fantasy and reality. “Uh, fly?”
    He hadn’t really thought about it until just that moment, had been too busy learning words and how to dress himself and about fruits and vegetables and how to tell if something was okay to eat to think about it. Now, though, it was as if something had fallen on him, heavy and inescapable. “I miss my wings,” Chris said, touching his face as his throat closed up and his eyes began to sting. “Hate listening to them, hate hearing them laugh about it. I want to fly again.”
    “Listening to who?” Jesse stepped sideways, toward the phone.
    “The ravens and magpies,” Chris managed, before he fled kitchen and house alike through the back door.
    Jesse bolted after him, the memory of Chris naked and silent in the back of his car flashing through his mind. It didn’t really matter if Chris was delusional or crazy or… or anything , he wasn’t going to let him go off on his own. “Chris!”
    He turned to his left as a harsh sound caught his attention, surprised by the ferocity of his relief. “Chris.” He knelt beside the other young man, who was scrunched up in the same corner he’d retreated to that disastrous first day he’d lived with the Swansons.
    Chris shuddered, another rough noise escaping him. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t look at Jesse, could hardly breathe .
    “Chris, it’s….” Okay would have been a lie. Whether Chris was imagining things or not, it was clearly affecting him. “Hey. I’m gonna go call Betsy and let her know we’re gonna be late or something. Do not go anywhere. I’ll be right back. Okay?”
    He nodded, though he stayed tucked into the corner.
    “Okay. I’ll be right back.” Jesse returned within two minutes, his phone held to his ear. “Uh-huh, I’ll let him know. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, if we can, we will, and I’ll definitely be in today, I swear to God. Yeah, thanks, Betsy. Bye.” He sat down beside Chris, leaning against him. “Betsy says she hopes you feel better,” he said.
    Jesse was warm, and it felt good to have him so close. It didn’t take away the press of sorrow, though; it didn’t make him feel any less alone.
    “I don’t understand, you know?” Jesse copied Chris’s pose, knees drawn up and arms around them, though he kept his head up. “I still don’t know how you got into the back of my car, but there you were. I brought you home, even though I didn’t know anything about you except that you weren’t on drugs and you needed help.
    “I still don’t really know anything about you, Chris, even after all this time. You don’t talk about anything. Your mom and dad, your friends, nothing before I