Moonchild

CHAPTER TWELVE

'...and I couldn't say anything to her from how busy we were at the coffee shop, and I couldn't cancel my plans and say what happened so far in my life, especially to someone I only just met, right? I mean, I want to tell her, like, what happened, but I'm afraid I might drive her away, like I drive everyone else –'

'Lucas? I –'

'–and I think I like her. My god, you should see how she smiles at me whenever I say stupid things, and, trust me, I say so many stupid things, like, you know how I say silly things whenever I'm excited, right? Right? Really, I would've thought that she might disappear, or that I might drive her away, like I drive everyone, and –'

'Lucas? –'

'–of course, I know that I can't concentrate and tell her everything, because many things happened since the incident, there at The Dark Place, remember? So many things, and obviously, I'm sure that she'd be great, and considerate, and thoughtful to what happened to me because of the book, and –'

'LUCAS!'

'What?'

'I can see you from the kitchen window, for God's sake. I'm gonna hang up on you now, and you come inside.'

'Oh, sorry. Ha ha. Open up, please.'

Before I even entered the main door, I was struck by the colours that came towards my eyes like tsunamis: from the bright yellow couch to the vivid orange cushions on it; from the expressive art pieces that hung on the walls all around the living room to the earthy brown wood of the floor. There were ceramic pots with strange indoor plants in every corner of the room, the plants watered frequently, as I gathered from their bright colour, and the curtains, that were tied on each side of the wide window, were a deep shade of blue. Whereas, the wall paint of the living room was so not how Mr. Peter wanted it to be like, as he told me when I first came here. He said that he wanted the walls white, clean and bright, but Mrs. Sophie, his wife, insisted on two walls of bright crème and two walls of cypress-green. She was a major sucker for plant life and she chose the cypress-green colour, specifically, in remembrance of her father's cypress trees in her old house's backyard, where she grew up. Mr. Peter loved his wife so much, and since he never met his father-in-law, had approved of the colour-related choices his wife made. For the furniture, though, with every protest that he could manage, had to compromise with Mrs. Sophie and he chose how to decorate their bedroom, and she could, finally, decorate their living room. The kitchen, dining room, two bathrooms, and the backyard patio were decorated by both of them.

A short thought of me coming here empty handed popped in my head but then I dismissed it. I was talking on the phone with Mr. Peter while I rushed here, being excited talking about Pani that I forgot to bring my host and hostess a cake or something. I should have brought something. Stupid, Lucas. I made a mental note to bring something next time. I also made a mental note to make an actual note on my phone to remember not to forget the cake next time. It was pretty sure that I would forget, so I actually turned around and took my phone out and made the actual note.

I never thought that anyone, who would sound angry on the phone for me not coming inside, would make me so happy to see him. Mr. Peter set off as an important part in my life now, whom without I would have died outside The Dark Place. I would have seized to extinction, swallowed by Mother Earth, just how my friends did, all because of my foolish self, and ego, and mind...No, Lucas, I thought, many years passed. You made peace with yourself and to what happened.

'Oh, my dear boy,' it was Mrs. Sophie who answered the door and spoke to me. By the time I turned around she was already hugging me, 'It's been a week since I last saw you. How you've been, paidí mou?'