The Switch

Luke- Between Birds and Flowers

Two hours after dinner, I lay awake in my parent’s room, staring at the ceiling as I lay on the bed.

Sarah had long since fallen asleep. She was in my room, because I wanted to be in my parent’s.

Juan and Chrysler were supposed to be asleep in the guest room, but Chrysler had woken up and come over to my parent’s room to check on me.

The diary rested; face down on my stomach, where I had left it. I was too overwhelmed to continue reading. The things written inside made my palms sweaty and heart beat pick up.

“Why’s this happening?” I asked Chrysler, my gaze still focused on the ceiling.

“For a perfectly good reason, I’m sure” he replied.

I had told him about the incidents of that day.

“She talks about you in here…the time you met and the things you taught her”

“I knew her” he nodded, smiling “she was a very bright girl”

I pushed myself up on one elbow “and you never cared to mention any of it to me, because?”

“I didn’t think you were ready.” He shook his head “any whisper of things relating to your family and you’d start locking yourself up and clawing out that tattoo”

He was right. My hand went around my neck, and I could faintly feel the outline of my seal.

“Sarah never liked it” he chuckled “whenever you’d get upset that I mentioned your family and lock yourself up, she would glare at me angrily the whole day.”

“I was a nuisance as a kid, wasn’t I?”

“Yeah” he agreed, nodding “but I enjoyed looking after the two of you all the same”

I wanted to thank him, but for some odd reason, decided not to.

“Now go to sleep” he continued and walked over to the door.

“In a bit” I told him and lay back down.

“Any idea where Derek is?” he asked.

I sighed “Yeah. Outside, flying”

“He seemed rather troubled”

I didn’t reply. For the first time in my life, I had no idea of what to say to my brother.

Bound not only by blood and heart, Derek and I rarely had those moments when one didn’t know what was on the other’s mind; but, when we did…

I sighed.

There was an unsettling feeling in my stomach. I couldn’t just lie around when he was feeling that way.

I put the book aside and swung myself off the bed.

The only thing I knew was that Derek and I didn’t like such moments, and I couldn’t rest without doing something about it.

Pulling Flectare tighter to myself, I jogged out into the chill of the back yard.

I didn’t spot him instantly—the sky was dark.

I stared skyward for two minutes before spotting a dull shade of cream, almost the same colour of Derek’s skin.

“Derek” I called out to him.

No reply.

Groaning, I willed Flectare to help me take flight.

It was like watching an athlete practice his running.