The Red Moon

Ch-11: Strange incidents

With all our prayers unanswered, the rain continued to fall. I looked up at the sky full of clouds. There was no sign of it getting cleared up.
" Oh, just for one single day ! Why can't the rain stop just for a singke day ! " I groaned.
A field trip was supposed to take place. Our school had arranged a field trip to the museum. Everything was planned and arranged, well in advance. Just a few days ago, the rain started to fall and then it never stopped falling.
Our school declared that if the rain doesn't stop the day before the field trip was scheduled, they would cancel it. Although the rain was mild and sometimes it stopped for a short time, and we could easily carry on with our day- to- day affairs, yet, our school thought that it would be difficult to handle so many students in the midst of rain. They were right though, I can't blame them.
That day I came back from school and sat by my wet window all day, hoping for the rain to stop , but there was no sign of the clouds departing. They covered the sky , making it dark below. I sighed.
After dinner, as I sat by my window, all I could hear was the raindrops falling and the rustling of wet leaves in the blowing wind.
There was a knock on my door.
" Come In! " I responded in a sad tone.
Fredrick swiftly entered the room.
" I see, the rain's disturbing you. "
" Yeah, it could just stop for one sometime. Just tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Then it can continue again. I've no problem. "
" Let's see if we can make such a thing possible ", Fredrick murmured.
I starred at him in utter astonishment.
" Go to sleep now" , he ordered.
As I woke up next morning, it was still raining with no signs of a clear, cloudless sky.
I set out for school with all my brothers. As soon as the last drop of rain touched the surface of the earth, Fredrick started coughing and sneezing. I was startled and looking up at him.
" Ericka ", he said, coughing, " look, the rain has stopped. "
I looked up at the sky, the clouds had started to depart and the bright sunlight peeked in from among the clouds. My joy knew no boundaries. I ran to school in excitement.
The field trip wasn't cancelled and with that announcement, all of us rejoiced in happiness.
The next day, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly at the field trip.
When I returned home, I was concerned about Fredrick, so I went to check on him after refreshing myself. He was there in his room, still coughing and sneezing.
" Do you have a fever ? "
I asked as I went near him and put my hand on his forehead. The temperature wasn't even the room temperature. In fact, it was so cold that I immediately withdrew my hand. It felt to me as if I had touched a dead body. Shocked, I starred at him for sometime.
" Did you enjoy ? " he asked,sneezing.
" Yes,yes, I did ! "
With that, I started to tell him every single detail of my trip and he seemed to listen to it with eager interest. He questioned me from time to time and kept responding to me.
I hadn't noticed that the sky had again been covered by those thick dark clouds, until the raindrops touched the surface of the earth once again. I starred out of the window for a while.
Then, as I observed Fredrick, I noticed something strange, which I immediately said, " You're not sneezing and coughing anymore! "
He chuckled with a mysterious smile and said, " Oh, I see you've noticed that. Well, I'm completely fine now! There is absolutely nothing to worry about me. "
Then he smiled slowly at me.
I got puzzled and asked, " Are you sure about it ? "
" Yeah, now, tell me, what had happened to that great king ? "
" Oh, yes, so then, he fetched for his son and told him that..."
Fredrick knew how to divert my attention from discovering something they didn't want me to. I again got lost in my own workd of stories. Moreover, I was happy to be able to share my experience with someone else. It gradually started to feel lije a family.
The other day, I was standing at a distance and watching the girls play badminton. I've had my turn, and now being exhausted, I was resting for a while, after handing over my racket to someone else.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a football came flying at me, and I thought that this was my end. As I closed my eyes, I didn't feel anything hurting me for a while.
I opened my eyes and found Richard holding the football and standing in front of me.
" Careful, sis ", he said,before throwing over the ball to the juniors and then himself dashing away to play with his friends.
I didn't understand anything, he wasn't anywhere near me, nor was he playing with those kids who had thrown the ball towarda me. Then how in the world did he understand that I'd be attacked by the ball and how did he even come at the right time to block the ball and save me ?
I was completely startled for a while and kept looking in the direction he had just run away.