✔THE STING (onc-19)

3. 'The epiphany of symphony'

Kai wiped his drenched forehead and started towards the trunk, which was sitting in the corner. He knelt down, running a finger along its icy metallic edge. A thin beam of light emanated from the keyhole and sintered on his freckles.

Kai's lips trembled, as his mind gave away for the melody of her song. A song which felt nothing more than a symphony of chaos, yet he found his heart torn, wanting more of it.

"Hurry, Kai..." The voice trailed off with a soulful giggle.

He shook his head vigorously. His mind now more determined than ever, as he forcefully pulled the lid open; rusted hinges groaned a creak. He instantly checked on Chip and his father. Leaving a sigh of relief, he studied the insides of the trunk which now filtered a bright glow from beneath. He ran through the clothes until he found it.

An unusual glowing antique, almost like a big fish's scale, but many of them stacked upon each other to look like a book, the spine of which had carvings in an unknown language. Kai traced his fingers along the bizarre looking circles and spirals, reliving the memory of last time he had touched it.

'Kai, listen.' His mom had held his hands before going into a spasm of cough, with a gush of blood spluttering out of her mouth.
'Stop crying, Kai. I know my son, he is brave, he can look after his sister while I am gone. Your father, he is gonna be there with...' She had stopped looking at his father with a pair of hopeless ocean eyes.
'Now, listen. Here. It's very important. It's my grandmother's. You take care of it. Don't open it till the time comes.' With what seemed like a harmless red parcel, she had put a weight of a mountain on Kai's shoulders, when he was barely eight.

'I shouldn't have opened it in the first place,' he thought, 'I should have listened to my mother.'
A mirage of guilty tears blurred his vision. He sniffed and stuffed the book underneath his shirt and tip-toed out of the shabby cabin.

His eyes warily searched for shadows, anything and everything. As he walked over the deck, ever so sneaky, he bumped into something or, someone perhaps. He gulped as he lifted his fretful face up.

"Aaah..Kai?" Uncle Jay exclaimed. "Get a good night's sleep son, you are gonna need it." He patted on Kai's shoulder and left.

A rustling breath escaped out of Kai's mouth, as he neared the edge of hull. He ran his fingers along the letters and went through the pages for one last time. Not that he could read a thing, but the things he saw inside it, always amused him. He stopped at a page which looked like a transparent cloth, but only a little rough with a texture of some kind. He squeezed his eyes and scratched his head, but nothing, nothing took shape.

A chill crawled up his skin, as the glowing texture started to dance like a group of small glow worms, arranging themselves into a face, then a body and a fish tail; his legs a pair of fragile ropes and his chest a tight drum. The woman in the book glared straight into his eyes and bowed a little, blinking her glowing orbs.

'I am still dreaming!' He whacked his face, and the woman in the book smiled. The ethereal voice returned, only to question his sanity with another playful giggle.

He closed his eyes, convincing himself, 'It's just the sea madness, it must be.'
He took a long breath, wondering at the epiphany inside him; a craving desire to keep it, yet one more, to get rid of it. He shut the book and stood up, heaping his courage into a huge pile and then tossed the book into the crashing waves. He stood there watching, until the bright glow of it submerged into the foamy waves, with it faded her haunting hushabye.

He lowered his relieved shoulders and started his way back. But, the barrel on the way reminded him of his parched throat, so he stopped by. But a wavering shadow made his heart skip a beat. "Who's there?"