Eigengrau

The beginning of something

Chapter 5:

The steps of the stairs that led to the living room creaked under Mia's bare feet. She tip-toed across the hall and out the back door, into the warm summer night.

The hairs on her arms stood up as a soft breeze blew in from the sea. She wrapped her arms around her own body and stood close to the railing.

In the next house to the right, Riley sat up straight on his bed -pissed by now, because he couldn't sleep- and violently put on a sweater and flip-flops.

He didn't even bother to be silent, for he knew his father's sleep was unwavering, and so was little Don's.

The night was clear of clouds, and the full moon shone big and round in the sky. The sound of waves and crickets was the background music for that beginning, as voices and the crackle of flames were the soundtrack for their next beginning.

Mia had a feeling in the pit of her stomach. Even though it was past midnight, and even though the place she was standing on was as strange to her as rocket science was to a child, she felt at home.

The sound of crickets reminded her of the countless nights in which she had star-gazed and firefly hunt with her father, or the times she'd been camping with her cousins. Crickets reminded her of her childhood, and her childhood reminded her of home.

Riley, on the other hand, was already tired of what his eyes saw. Nights like that one he'd seen a million. Those clear, hot, sticky nights in which everything was dipped in the silver light of the moon, and the dim shadows of things did not move until the sun started rising; those nights which so many considered breathtaking -including Mia, whose wandering eyes took in the scene-, Riley considered boring.

It took nearly ten minutes for them to notice each other.

When they finally did, they laughed.

"What are you doing out here?" Asked Riley, amused as well as concerned, as he walked toward Mia.

"I'm waiting for the carriage," she said, walking toward him as well, both of them being stopped by the railing that surrounded the houses. She then realized he wouldn't get the joke "Oh, never mind," she snorted in a self-mocking manner.

"What?" He grinned, hiding the fact that he hated it when people did what she had just done.

"It's a movie reference, but it's an Argentine movie. You wouldn't get it," she explained, shaking her head. "Anyway, why are you here?" she asked in return. Mia had thought not a soul would be awake at that time of nigh, so to have Riley's soul awake and in front of her was a surprise.

"My dad snores like son of a bitch. I couldn't sleep," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Mia repressed a laugh, for she didn't know Teddy Allen well enough to laugh about him being a loud snorer.

Silence fell over them, like a heavy blanket that suffocated them, and the music of crickets, frogs and ocean was louder in their ears.

Riley's curiosity was like tickling in the back of his neck and on the sole of his feet. He wanted to know what had been going on at dinner; that something his father and him hadn't been a part of. He wanted to know, but he didn't trust she would give him an honest answer.

He was debating with himself when his subconscious decided for him. When both his desires collided (the need of knowing and the ethic laws that forbade him from prying around), he started talking, and the words that came out of his mouth didn't make sense.

So he tried again: "W-what was going on at dinner?" He stuttered, tongue-tied.

He scratched the back of his neck again.