Herdenmord - ONC2021

The Song of Spring

"God, this is good," I said, lying back on the rug.

The sunlight was so warm, and the cool breeze blowing over my skin smelt of wattle flowers and fresh cut grass. I breathed in deeply, trying to hold it all inside me. It had been way too long.

Aaden and Dimi had gone to get more bubbly, though we still had a bottle left. It was going to be that kind of afternoon. The shadows were beginning to lengthen but the warmth of the day stayed constant. I had a belly full of chicken and champagne and I was almost...almost...at peace for the first time since herdenmord.

Quan lay on the rug beside me, his forearm tucked under his head. He stared up at the cloudless sky. I loved the way his nose bent a little at the tip under the fierce black streaks of his eyebrows and eyelashes and how his hair was always perfectly in place. He turned his head and caught me staring.

I looked away, hoping my cheeks were so red from sun he wouldn't catch my blush. It was already weird enough crushing on one of my best friends without him actually knowing about it.

"Your hair's like copper," he said. His face stayed turned toward me.

"Yeah. In the sun."

"You should grow it long again."

I made a noncommittal noise, torn between being stupidly thrilled he cared enough about my hair to comment on it and annoyed he was telling me how to wear it. "I like it this way," I said, running my fingers through the short, shiny lengths. I'd wanted a bob forever.

"I like it that way, too," Jamie said, pouring herself another glass of sparkling. "You rock it."

I smiled. "Thanks." I did rock it. It framed my slightly rounded face perfectly and the blunt fringe made the blue of my eyes pop. Quan didn't have to like it. I loved it.

We all sat silently for a moment, content to let the bubbly fizz in our blood and air our heads.

There weren't many people in the park. Just enough to reassure us we weren't alone. There was a family of four by the playground. I could hear kids giggle and scream as they rocketed down the slide. It was a sound from happier times.

A woman pushing a stroller walked briskly along the path under the trees. There was a frisbee game going on by the ponds and an old couple sat on a bench by the water, watching the ducks. It really did feel like everything was getting back to normal—even if nothing would ever be the same.

I sat up when I heard feet swishing through the grass. Dimi and Aaden sank onto the rug, depositing another three bottles beside the picnic basket.

"That should do us," Aaden said.

"You think?" Jamie raised an eyebrow. "I'm planning to drink one of those by myself."

"Until the sun starts to go down," Aaden elaborated. "I'm not staying here after dark."

"Here's to that." Jamie raised her glass. We all raised freshly filled glasses with her, cheering the sun.

Quan and I fell into a long and boring (to everyone else) conversation about his parent's restaurant. Some imported ingredients were running out and Quan's parents were obsessed with how to make their food taste just as good, or whether to try something entirely new.

Everyone else ignored us but I didn't mind. It was good to have Quan to myself, jeering and laughing at each other's suggestions.

Aaden had the best idea though. "Just put chicken salt in it."

"Sure, chicken salt fixes everything," I agreed. "You won't get many complaints with that."

"Not in Australia," Quan grinned. "Problem solved."

"Hey, what's that?" Jamie interrupted, holding a hand up. She paused the playlist on her smartphone and sat with her head to one side, her cropped, blonde hair glinting in the sun. "Can you hear that?"

There was a strange, piping sound coming from the trees around us. It cut through the afternoon with piercing sweetness. I listened, my wine glass dangling from my hand. I took a sip of bubbly, and when I pulled the glass from my lips I was surprised to find it empty.

"Refill!" I said, holding my glass out to Aaden.

He picked up the bottle beside him and refilled both my glass and his own. Jamie held her glass out too. She didn't say anything, but Aaden filled her glass and she drank it in one go. I stared at her, until I realised my glass was already empty again. And I wanted more. Slow down, I told myself. All this sun and wine was going to my head.

"I didn't think I'd ever see magpies like that again," Dimi said. She raised her glass to her lips, hesitated for a second, and then tipped it back, gulping deeply.

"Those?" Jamie asked, pointing to a couple of black and white birds in the nearby wattle tree. The fluting melody swelled their throats.

Dimi nodded, opening a new bottle of wine.

"They're not magpies. Their tails are too long," Jamie observed.

"European magpies. I saw them in Greece." Dimi refilled her glass.

"Did they sing like that?" Jamie asked.

Dimi took a long sip of bubbly. "Not that I remember."

I grabbed the bottle of wine from Dimi and refreshed my own glass. I couldn't get enough of the light, fresh taste and the bubbles on my tongue. It went perfectly with the swelling song of the birds Dimi insisted were magpies and the warmth of the company.

The piping of the birds spread throughout the park. It was not just the long-tailed magpies that were singing. The Australian magpies were adding their mellifluous warbling to the tune. I listened for a time, sipping my wine until the glass was empty. "I've never heard a magpie sing like that," I said. I loved their early morning carolling, but their tunes were usually random, glorious notes in a liquid rise and fall. This was different. There was some melody, some tune that imbued the sunlight and the wine and the air around us.

We all sat, listening and drinking. I don't know for how long. The sun was warm on my skin, the wine was warm in my blood and the song was warm in my heart. It called to me somehow. It made me long to lie down on the earth and sleep. It seemed to affect everyone the same way.

Aaden was sitting, listening with his eyes closed, a wine glass slipping through loosening fingers. Dimi sat beside him, leaning against his chest, with heavily lidded eyes. She saw me watching and pushed herself away from Aaden, her eyes widening.

Aaden and Dimi? I thought, for a brief second, before another glass of wine washed my curiosity away.

Quan was lying down, breathing so slowly he must be asleep. I wanted to lie beside him. Desperately. I laid my empty wine glass down and let myself slump onto the rug.

#

Something shook me to wakefulness. Jamie. It was Jamie. "Get up!" she was saying, over and over again. "Wake up, we've got to go!"

I rose on one elbow, scowling at Jamie. "What the hell?" Somewhere, faintly, I heard someone screaming. I sat up, blinking against the sunlight slanting into my eyes. It was late afternoon. It was time to go.

"The birds!" Jamie was saying, shaking Aaden out of his trance. "It's the birds. That's how it happened."

"How what happened?" I asked.

She whirled to face me, her grey eyes wide and intense. "Herdenmord. It's here!"

(7116 words)