Normal With You

Chapter 9

The free bird leaps

On the back of the wind

And floats downstream

Till the current ends

And dips his wings

In the orange sun rays

And dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks

Down his narrow cage

Can seldom see through

His bars of rage

His wings are clipped and

His feet are tied

So he opens his throat to sing.

Her books and maps lay scattered on the bed before her as if they were the multicoloured blocks of a Tetris game. Her pencil was clenched between her teeth as she scribbled furiously with the blue Bic pen in her hand. She didn't care for the seconds that passed on the red clock besides her be nor did she care that the night was darkening to black as she tried hard to remember whatever it was that she was looking at. She thought of little else besides Mid-latitude cyclones, map distances and demographics as she paged through her textbook one last time.

In three days time, her life would change once again.

She would no longer have to wear her navy and white striped blazer nor her navy tie nor her navy, pleated skirt. Her school shoes would be given away and her white shirt would lay tucked in the back of her cupboard to be forgotten till the day she would stumble upon it by complete accident.

She didn't want to think about it though. She didn't want to imagine not waking up knowing she would see him or sit with him or hold his hands as they sat behind a white car in the parking lot or closed their eyes in a darkened auditorium. She wouldn't pass him little notes everyday nor would she gasp in surprised delight on those rare occasions that he would stuff a little squared piece of paper into the pockets of her blazer without her ever noticing. She wouldn't look up at him as she sat beside him nor would she ever smile at the hundreds of freckles all over his face.

He would be gone. He would be 4 hours away in a strange city. He would be far away from her and she would never see him again...

But she didn't want to think about it.

She had to think about Mid-latitude cyclones and map distances and demographics...

That's what had to consume her mind.

Nothing else.

Just map distances.

Demographics.

And mid-latitude cy...

She heard the metal groan of the garage as it was forced open by the remote in his hand. It could only be him. Her mother had been sleeping for hours already. She didn't know he was coming back.He had been gone for almost a month without word.

But there he was. Just below her.

The garage door clipped shut as it hit the bricks below.His car door slammed closed and his footsteps seemed to echo on the tiled floors or the passageway.She didn't care for the smudge on her notes as her pen slipped out of her hands. He was on the stairway... she could hear the lilting sounds of his shoes upon each stair..

One step.

Two.

Three.

Four.