How To Catch A Heart | ✓

chapter two: strangled heart

C H A P T E R T W O : S T R A N G L E D H E A R T

"serendipity (n. ) — finding something good without looking for it"

Thud.

My dreamless slumber was shattered, shredded to emaciated pieces. My eyelids refused to flutter open, glued to my lower eyelids. I did not want to recall where I was. All I know was that the white duvet resting on top of me weighed too much to be lifted at the moment and I was slowly losing consciousness again...

Thud.

It was frustration that forced my eyes open this time. My head strained to remember about the small beach town that I spent the night in, Suzy brushing me into her house and leaving the curtains down so the owls would not scare me in weird hours of the night. I remembered why I was wedged under the glow-in-the-dark starred ceilings and why there was a hat resting on top of my belongings, sprawled on top of the timber bedside.

I heaved a sigh that was heavier than my heart.

THUD.

Then it started to dawn on me. The third clunk was the loudest, ripping my back off the covers. Before a fourth could be heard, I kneeled on the bed, my knees touching the cold wall and tore the lavender curtain open. A mess of trees with sunlight penetrating through the spaces between branches greeted me but when I glanced downwards, I saw the source of my morning clamor.

He was wearing leg braces and I instantly remembered Suzy and Basil's conversation yesterday. He had pale hair that I almost mistook as white. His hands were poised backwards, his eyes focused on my window, a little squinted in the small distance. I tried to stop him by pasting my palm on the window but before my lips could shape an 'O', he launched the pebble in his fist.

I squealed and ducked, the similar thud followed his act. Removing the hands I attached to my ears and putting the covers around my head, I sprang up and pushed the window open. Suzy's warning rang in my ears but I was already shouting from the second floor.

"Excuse me, you're intruding my morning silence!"

The small boy sniffled but halted his fifth throw mid-air. "I'll stop if you come down."

"Why should I?" I asked, giving him a puzzled look.

A smug look covered his face and he lifted something above his head, shaking it slightly. It was my camera, with the purple rubber wristband around the lens, dangling from its black strap. I let out a sound, a combination of surprise and elation. It was the leg braces boy.

"Stay. Don't move, I'm coming to you," I told him and pulled the window flap with a small bang. Muttering a silent apology to Suzy, I jumped off the bed and ran towards the toilet. I brushed my teeth and splashed water to my face. I was multitasking, drawing the first set of clothes from my unpacked luggage and wrapping a checkered black headscarf around my head. I fastened my white rose shaped pin at the side of my head next to my ear while locking the door, pocketing the keys after that.

When I reached the last step of the stairs, the boy was taking a picture of a pigeon perched on the nearby roof.

With my camera, yes.

I coughed, "Excuse me, you stole my camera yesterday."

"Borrowed it," he replied, viewing the picture he shot from the screen.