Dream Beyond Life's Edge

Home Visit

While Talia's left hand had her chin in its palm, her other hand began sketching a picture of her sleeping brother.

Resting his head on the pillow, her little brother—Joseph—faced Talia. Hair as blue as her own was gently pressed into the white, feather-filled pillow. A snake doll as big as his head covered nearly half of his face and part of his body.

One of his hands laid folded on the bed, squeezed between his body and the bed. The other hugged the snake doll.

Talia pulled back her face from the paper and carefully analysed the sketch she'd made. "It's... so bad." And she flipped onto the next page to draw her little brother for the seventh time. But when she moved to grab her pencil...

"Why...?" she asked herself. "Why am I so bad?" Having only practiced drawing for three months, Talia's adeptness couldn't be compared with neither Noah nor Florres.

Then again, she was too late.

If only Talia hadn't made such a mistake, then maybe—just maybe—Florres wouldn't have taken Noah's heart with such ease.

"Ahhh! Why did I do that?!"

"Talia?" Rubbing his eyes, a drowsy Joseph arose from his bed.

The fury she had dissipated into nothingness, replaced by a sense of regret. "Oh, sorry. I shouldn't have been so loud." She went to Joseph's bedside and began singing a lullaby, trying to get him to fall back asleep.

With a bright smile on his face, Joseph told her, "Your singing is horrible."

"Ouch... That hurt." And she stopped singing. "Why did you have to get sick, huh? And right when there is a meet up too!" And now as Talia wasn't there, they were definitely going to get some alone time.

"AHHH!" Talia shouted, clutching her head.

"Uhhh... Talia?" Joseph—who was not going back to sleep—got up and sat on his bed.

Once again, his innocent expression melted Talia's heart. "Tch. I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Just go back to sleep or I'm going to get scolded by mom."

"W-why?" He tilted his head, his expression betraying his worry and confusion.

Because of you waking up! she wanted to shout, but she knew that would result in Joseph crying, so she ignored his question.

Joseph opened his mouth, presumably to ask again, but the knocking from the front door interjected.

"Wait here." As Talia ran down the stairs she shouted, "Coming!" She placed her hand on the handle and—

Gaia-ris: Brigirete junor.

—With a click, the door unlocked itself, letting Talia open the door.

On the other side was Alexia, waving her hand. "Hey. Why didn't you come? Did you get sick? You don't seem sick."

"No. It's my brother who got sick. But my parents are out so I can't leave. Can you apologize to the others for me?"

"Sure." Alexia's mouth formed a frown. "But I have some bad news. Noah didn't come to the meet up either, so he's probably sick..." Talia could already guess what Alexia wanted to say. The fact Florres wasn't here proved it.

"Florres' at Noah's place right?" Talia asked, to which Alexia verified with a nod. "I guess that's fine..."

I've already lost the race anyways.

"Good morning, Joseph! I heard you were sick. Is it really fine for you to leave your room?" Alexia began walking towards the stairs, which now had Joseph standing against its railings.