Breaking Enigma || The Imitation Game

◈ THIRTY- The Bounds of Friendship ◈

I awoke with a pounding heart. I must have had a bad dream, yet I couldn't remember a thing; only staring at the ceiling before falling asleep.

The small, dim table lamp by the window was still turned on, just the way I liked it. I glanced to the silver clock on the wall and checked the time- quarter past two. I felt like I'd been asleep for hours, even if I felt rather exhausted.

Whenever I would wake in the night, regardless of what time it was, I liked to grab a glass of water. Which I now got up, with stiff legs, to do.

The light in the kitchen was on. It was never on, even after everyone went to bed earlier a few hours ago. Maybe Father accidentally left it on when he came down for a drink, as tended to do that occasionally just like me. In the end, I thought nothing of it.

I took a small glass from the cupboard and went over to the sink, turning the tap and letting it fill my glass with freezing cold water. I then looked out of the window and saw the culprit of who had left the light switched on:

Allany Turing was outside, sat crossed-legged on the grass in her night shirt and trousers with her dark hair flowing loosely just above her shoulders. She was gazing up at the sky, breathing deeply and relaxed.

"What on Earth are you doing out here so late?" I questioned, perplexed, as I opened the back door, placing my glass down on the worktop.

"I could say the same about you," she replied, not bothering to look at me.

"Well, I woke up, like I would sometimes do in the night, to get a glass of water and then saw you sitting on the lawn... Why?"

"Fair enough," Allany shrugged. "But I can't sleep. And when that happens, I find the best thing to do is to stargaze."

"Lovely, but what happens when it's too cloudy?" I strolled outside and placed myself down next to Allany.

"That's never happened, so I don't know."

"Right... Why stargazing? What about reading or thinking?"

"I overthink," she said. "According to most people. I only like to read during the day and stargazing stems from my childhood."

"I thought you didn't like to reminisce your childhood."

She shrugged again. "Sometimes it can be nice to remember the past."

I pause for a moment. Allany was being awfully quiet and cryptic, unlike she normally was.

"Allany?"

"Hmm?"

"Who's Christianna?"

Her breath hitched in her throat and then she swallowed. "Why do you ask?"

"I thought that it was strange to give an inanimate object an name. Even for you. The name you picked was different from anything else that was perhaps common or even ordinary. But I know you, Christianna is unusual and you must know somebody with that name."

"Knew."

"What?"

"It's past tense. I knew somebody with that name," Allany corrected.

"Oh, sorry," I turn my gaze to the night sky. It was indigo and dark blue all at the same time. The moon was almost full and glowed ominously. The stars were clustered together, shimmering and shining. It was relaxing and soothing just to stare upwards and wonder what was beyond our world.