Nirvana

Chapter Seven: Lucky Charm

A gentle, soothing tune filled the air as birds sang their morning symphony, and to that, Lucy was stirred awake from her restless slumber. She sat up in bed, trying to piece together her thoughts and memories of all the events that had happened the night before.

Wishing that everything was part of a bad dream was doing her no good. It brought her no comfort, contrary to what she had hoped. Instead, she began considering the idea that she might be seeing things that weren't entirely real.

tap, tap

Lucy's head jolted, scanning the room for the source of the tapping noise.

tap, tap

Again, the same noise. This time, she was able to determine the direction of the sound– it was coming from outside her window. She tilted her head in skepticism.

"A bird, perhaps?" Lucy muttered to herself. She climbed out of bed and made her way to the window, peering through the curtains to see what might have caused the sound.

She discovered that the source of the sound was, in fact, not a bird but her little friend Alec, knocking on the window with the biggest grin on his face. He greeted her with a playful little wave.

Suddenly, Lucy couldn't help but match his wide grin with one of her own. She felt happier than she thought she would after finally seeing him again. Hurriedly, she opened the window,

"How did you get up here?" The window opened with a click, she leaned outside with her body, her elbows resting on the window sill.

"I climbed," Alec shrugged. She glanced down, trying to picture how he made it to the window so effortlessly. There was no way a child his age could have climbed this high so easily with so little support.

"Wow! You must have amazing climbing skills," she said in disbelief. "Be careful not to fall!"

"Don't worry, I won't," he spoke with certainty, emphasizing that it was very unlikely he would fall.

"How did you find out where I live?" Lucy would have invited him inside if not for her father, who might flip out if he saw a stranger in his house. She feared he might hurt Alec, especially if he was under the influence of alcohol.

"What do you mean? Everybody knows everybody in this town. It wasn't too hard to find you," he said, doing his best to avoid sounding like a stalker.

Lucy could clearly tell that Alec wasn't a bad person. If anything, she couldn't explain the strange sense of trust and comfort she felt around him, even though they hadn't known each other for long.

"So you asked around," Lucy concluded, receiving a nod from Alec.

"I brought you something I'd like you to see," he declared, eager to share what he had in store with her. She thought of all the things he might have gotten her but came up with nothing.

She was excited for the big reveal until her excitement was cut short by the sound of footsteps fast approaching her room.

"Oh, crap! My dad is coming." She squeaked. "Alec, come hide," Lucy gestured for him to hide inside her closet which was located right beside her window. She opened the closet door and beckoned him to get inside quickly before it was too late.

"Meet me at the bay in an hour." Lucy didn't have the chance to reply before the door to her room swung open. Her father stood in the doorway, holding a large bottle of rum in his hand. As soon as he entered, the smell of alcohol seeped into the room.

She wanted to facepalm so badly; after the progress of the previous night, they were back at square one.

"Who are you talking to?" He slurred, inspecting the room with unfocused eyes, trying to spot the person he thought he heard.