Tales From the Celestials

Hi. Bye.

"Breathe in, breathe out" I said taking one last deep breath before slowly opening the door just a crack. I closed my eyes and tried to remember the resolve I had when I left my bed after hours of just blankly staring at the ceiling.

"It's now or never Blessing..." I said to myself before fully opening the door and walking to the kitchen.

Before I reached the room, scents of sweet cinnamon and strawberry caught my nose. I kept walking till I reached the doorframe. There in the kitchen was my grandmother and Liam. My grandmother stood near the counter rolling up pastry and slicing strawberries. It only took her moments to realise I was there.

"There you are my child, I'm making your favorite for desert, Cinnamon rolls with strawberry filling, " she smiling warmly, though when I looked closer I could see the faintest signs of bags hanging under her eyes on her dark brown skin. Seeing her like that filled me both with comfort and worry, a blend of emotions which did nothing to quell the butterflies in my stomach.

She must have be worried about me. I don't blame her for all of this. She must have tried to keep the family's history a secret from me for years and now after all that effort the secret reaveled itself in the form of Liam. It's still difficult to believe but what choice do I have but to believe it?

I turned to see the main cause of all my newfound discoveries. Liam sat on one of the wooden chairs by the table, his head was hung low and he looked as if he'd lived a million lives in one day. I took a moment to gaze at him properly. He still looked so much like himself, he still looked so full of life...but upon closer inspection I noticed his body faintly glowing with a whisypy white light. Around him moths had gathered but I couldn't tell whether they were flocking to a bright light or a dead corpse.

"Hey, Liam" I managed to say after a few seconds of silence.

He lifted his head up slightly to gaze at me, his coal black eyes meeting mine. He always hated that feature about himself, he said they were like an empty void and it was unnerving, all I did was laugh at the notion of him being scared of his own eyes then. But now looking into them, I wished they were a void, a comforting void where I wouldn't have to face the truth.

"Can we talk outside for a bit?" I asked.

"Sure, it's not like I'm in a rush somewhere or anything" he said. It was a poor attempt at humour but I couldn't blame him for trying to lighten the mood.

I grabbed my favourite book wich was on the kitchen table, I knew I wasn't going to have time to read it but bringingit with me brought me much needed comfort. I opened the door and I stepped outside with Liam following suit. I walked past my grandmother's garden, out through the gate till her house was nothing but a speck in the distance, Liam followed silently. I didn't know where I was going, thinking about it all of this was dumb-illogical, I swear I was usually more rational than this.

My steps though aimless followed the path of my heart and we found ourselves on the rocky edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean.

"Dead Man's Peak. I'm loving the irony here, Bless" Liam said sarcastically.

I smiled just a bit at that, it's had been ages since I heard that nickname.

"In my defence it was our favourite spot before...yeah. We loved coming up here"

A few awkward moments passed. The grass cruched behind me and Liam was right beside me. We sat down on the ground and just looked at the sun dipping into the ocean.

"You're going to send me away aren't you?" he said

My head whipped to look at Liam and I could feel it now, the dam was breaking.