The Girl in the Glass

five

Five

Cait woke up to silence. She lay still for a moment, listening for anything. Only when she was completely silent did she hear the steady sound of breathing.

Cait sat up and looked to where Gideon was sleeping. He was turned away from her, and by the steady way he breathed she could tell he was still asleep.

She set her bare feet silently onto the creaky wooden floor and slowly shifted her weight. The wood made a protesting squeak, but remained silent otherwise. Being careful not to touch Gideon, she crossed the floor and crept down the stairs.

The house was eerily silent. Cait went to checking the cupboards, upon opening the first one. She came across several painted boxes. Being the curious girl that she was, she moved each one to the table.

There were four boxes in all, each about the length and width of the size of Cait's hand. Each box had a different pattern painted onto it, the one that Cait liked the most was black with tropical neon flowers each the size of the tip of her pinky finger spread across the top and sides. She picked it up and slowly lifted the lid, as she did a jaunty tune drifted from the inside.

Cait smiled to herself, they were music boxes. When the song from the black box ended, she went to the next one, a dark blue box with gold squares painted inside of each other, each one smaller than the last.

As the first few notes played, Cait's vision went fuzzy. A moment later it cleared, but she wasn't in the little house anymore. The song still played in the background, but now she stood in a beer hall, or nightclub of some sort. Steady hands held onto her waist, and hers were draped casually around the same man's neck. They were dancing, or swaying, more like.

"So, you're the infamous Nova Gallagher."

Cait felt a smirk stretch across her lips, "I'm not sure what I've done to earn that title."

"I thought you'd be..."

"More mysterious?"

"Shorter," Gideon, or rather, Silas looked at her through lowered eyelashes.

"Sorry to disappoint," She shrugged, glancing over her shoulder, feigning disinterest.

"No, not that. You are far from a disappointment, Nova." Cait felt her pulse speed up.

The blue and gold music box ended. Her fingers played over the edges of the box. If she restarted the song, would the memory play again, like a scene from a movie? She so badly wanted to feel the giddy excitement that came with that particular memory again. It was far from any other feeling she'd had this entire time.

"Was that the first time they met in secret?"

Cait jumped. She turned around to face Gideon. "Yes," She chewed her lip, "At least I think so."

"Don't go catching ideas now," Gideon said, his voice only hinting as sarcasm.

Her cheeks flushed. Cait turned angrily to the music box and slammed the lid shut. She began putting the boxes back where she'd found them. "So there was something you wanted to talk about this morning? About riding?"

Gideon looked lost for a moment. "Uh? Yeah, about you riding with your stitches."

"So?" Cait said, her annoyance obvious in her tone.

"We could walk."

"No we can't. It's too slow and this burden needs to get back to her 'family'." Cait made dramatic air quotes around the word family.

"Fine," Gideon replied bluntly.

With that, Cait pushed past Gideon and ascended the stairs. It took her a minute to collect her thoughts and her things, but by the time she was back downstairs, Gideon had already moved outside.

The barn was some ways away.

Big snowflakes fell lazily, enough to look pretty, but not enough to stick to the ground.

She walked to the barn, enjoying the peace and quiet. In her home, there was always some sort of sound in the background. Whether it was her brothers horsing around or her mom humming in the kitchen, there was always something. Here, there was nothing except the slight breeze.

The barn was larger than the house. It was painted bright red and had a white roof. The large doors were wide open and Cait could see several stalls inside, all were empty except one.

"Took you long enough." Gideon muttered as Cait approached, backpack in hand.

Cait rolled her eyes. She batted Gideon's hands away when he tried to help her up onto the horse. She tossed her backpack to him and used the stirrup, saddle horn, and the short wall of the stall to get herself up. When she'd succeeded, she gave Gideon a smug smile. Although she never would admit it, her shoulder was throbbing.

Gideon gave her a mocking thumbs up and handed the backpack back to her. She positioned it in front of her, and Gideon quickly joined her on the horse. He took the reins and steered the horse out of the stable. The horses' speed was picking up when Gideon shouted, "We'll reach the River Croix today."

"Okay." Cait answered, but her words were lost to the wind. She closed her eyes for a brief second, she was only a day away.