The Mercy of Birds

CHAPTER 7: THE WOMAN

CHAPTER 7
THE WOMAN

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The period of waiting was the most excruciating. Two weeks after he had delivered four variants of the letter to Dr. Singh's office, he hadn't heard an update from her at all other than the news that the psychiatrist had chosen the fourth simplest one of them to relay to Clementine. He didn't know what factors influenced her decision, but as he looked back in retrospect, it might be because the other three were too revealing of his intention to bring her home and there were many instances that narrated about their family there.

"I think out of all of us, Nico has changed the most. Do you remember? He used to be such a crybaby even though he's the oldest, always tagging along behind you wherever you go, but now I'm not even surprised if he says he's some underboss in the American mafia or something," the text-to-speech program recited the file of the letter from his phone that he had connected to the car audio system. The letters had been on the loop, now reading the first draft again for the third time, which was the most frank of them all as he drove to the airport on his way to Las Vegas. He had actually typed all of them on his laptop before rewriting them manually by hand because Dr. Singh deemed it would feel more personal that way and he would do just about anything she wanted him to if it meant that he could attain a rank on her good side.

"And about Victor. He is still the most reserved one but he also has a drastic change physically. It's pretty jarring, in a good way, of course. He's also a doctor now at just the age of twenty-four."

He pondered about the ineluctable day that would arrive. In all honesty, he wouldn't know what Clementine's reaction was going to be like because he didn't know her well enough to predict it, but he could almost just envision what would go down with his brothers.

Nicholas would be incendiary. He would most definitely lash out at him, aflame with fury that would consume him until there was nothing left to burn from within, which Cameron could only hope he would be able to rebuild himself from the ashes. Whereas Victor would just stare him in the eye with the most shattering look of a man betrayed, turned around, and would never talk to him again for an extended period of time.

God, they don't deserve this, do they? So why am I so certain, so convinced that it is the right thing to do?

A blaring sound of his ringtone replaced the robotic voice of the text-to-speech and almost made him jump on his seat. He glanced at the audio screen that displayed a call was incoming as he pulled up when the red light flashed on the intersection. Victor's nickname was written in bold letters and he contemplated whether he should pick up or let it ring without answering.

Eventually, he couldn't find it in himself to ignore his younger brother's attempts at reaching out to him anymore.

"Hello," he greeted as he flicked the windshield wiper on when the fallen snow began to make it harder for him to see the road. It was a fairly slow day with not many vehicles going around, and if there were they were mostly driven with a moderately slow pace, in a cautious manner that prevented disaster from the glassy asphalt.

Everything seemed to be washed out in gray and white. The obscured sun on the horizon was also blanched out of its bright color and blanketed itself with the dreary clouds, as though it was out of commision from catching a cold today. Although the mood of the celestial beings among the sky was gloomy, there was a sense of festivities in the corner of the earth in South Dakota; citizens flocked to shops that offered discounted prices of Christmas decorations and gifts, and pedestrians relished in their short walk home with a smile on their faces even amidst the biting cold.

He skimmed his surroundings and caught the sight of fairy lights, garlands, and jingle bells with red and white accents hung on Christmas trees and banners that were established all around the vicinity. It reminded him of the words he wrote on one of the pictures that he attached with the letters and he made a mental note that he should stop by some store after he returned from Las Vegas to purchase the fairy lights that he had promised her.