Falling With Style

The girl giggled from the corner of the ceiling, just as the shadow of the older woman approached. She passed underneath the girl, unknowingly, and stirred a pot simmering on the stove. Adanna hushed her Duskull and tiptoed over to the older woman, just behind her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small rubber spider, and carefully began lowering it over the old woman’s head. Slowly… Nearly there…

“I think it’s time for you to set the table, young lady.”

Drat, not as unseen as she had thought. Letting out a groan so her Gran would know of her complaint, Adanna reeled the spider back up and walked a bit away from the top of the stove. She pushed herself into a handstand and dropped off the ceiling. Thankfully table setting was easy, by far the best chore in the house, as it was just her and Gran. Two plates, two napkins, two forks, two knives. Easy, even Gatz the Duskull helped with two cups on a higher shelf.

Adanna sat in her chair by the table and waited eagerly for Gran’s dinner. “You’re getting good with that ceiling trick of yours. How long were you waiting up there for me?”

“Mm, about five minutes?” Adanna said, watching Gran spoon a meaty sauce over long strands of pasta. “I can stay up there for longer though! Maybe… fifteen? Thirty!?”

Gran chuckled. “Don’t overdo it.”

Adanna speared the spaghetti with her fork and twirlled it into her mouth. “Hey Gran,” she said, not waiting to finish chewing. “Can I practice outside yet?”

Gran sighed. When she had told Adanna that she would be allowed to use her powers in public “when she was older,” she was hoping that Adanna would drop the subject. That had clearly not worked as Adanna used every opportunity to remind her that she was, technically, older now. The old woman would have to be more firm with the girl.

“No, child.”

“But I promise not to float up too high!”

“I believe you. But this isn’t about endangering yourself with your powers anymore. What you can do is extraordinary, child. So extraordinary that you will draw attention to yourself. People of all types will want to meet you.”

“…Bad people?” Adanna asked quietly.

“And good. But yes, bad too. When you reveal what you can do, you must be prepared for all types of people you will meet. When you are an adult, you can choose if you are ready.”

Adanna pouted and poked at her dinner. She wanted to be ready now. How many bad people could catch her on the ceiling anyway?

“Hey Gran, how come I’m the only one who can do this stuff?”

Gran hummed to herself. “I wish I knew. I would tell you if I did.”

I bet it was Dad, Adanna thought. Dad, the figure who dropped Adanna off at Gran’s house when she was barely a year old. Adanna had no idea if the mysterious man really was her father, but who else would be carrying around a baby? But, why would he not want her? Where was Mom? Did something bad happen to her, and Dad couldn’t take care of Adanna anymore? But lots of Dads took care of kids without Moms.

No, not Dad. Maybe her real parents were caught in something… Like an accident. And then the mysterious man came to rescue them, but could only take one, so her parents begged him to save their child before the last, uh, flames consumed them!

Hm, that sounded really sad. Maybe her parents were aliens who placed Adanna on Earth as a spy so they could take over it in twenty years, and then Adanna would have to make a choice betweeen her blood parents and the kindly farmers who raised her, like… like a TV show! Or maybe it was a TV show she was remembering.

Of course, none of this answered why she could effect gravity the way she could. Except maybe the aliens.

Gatz floated over to Adanna’s wistfull expression and pulled back the ghostly folds near where his mouth would be in a sort of silly expression. The attempt snapped Adanna out of her daydream and made her laugh. He was good at catching Adanna in a spiral of negative thoughts, as she often did when contemplating her origin. It was no use, in the end. Even if she did meet the man responsible for her life with Gran, she certainly wouldn’t know it was him. They weren’t going to meet. She would never know. She’d have to just get used to that.