Taste the Rainbow (Editing/Rewriting, slow progress)

IV.

Chapter four: songbirds

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Yesterday at Daphnes had been real fun. We'd stayed till 11 in the night and talked about the most different things. Eventually Daphne had thrown us out after this saying that she had to do something important. Olivia headed straight home while Carly and I walked around a bit until it got even colder outside. But before we parted, we decided that we would meet tomorrow, which is today, in the park. Carly promised to inform Hotaru about it as well. 

I wake up to a bird sitting in front of my window and singing its throat out. My gaze wanders around my room across the multiple shelfs carrying nearly one hundred books and my attempts on drawing landscapes with acrylic paint and stops at my clock. I sigh when I see that it's only seven o'clock and fall back onto my back. 

After some time I decide that I can't go back to sleep just like that and get up. The bath is the first room I go to, to take a long refreshing shower. The water feels good on my skin and I stay under the rainy water for about one hour. When I step out of the shower I shiver for a moment because the air around me is way colder than the shower. I take a towel dry myself with it and wrap it around myself afterwards. 

The air smells like bacon and eggs when I open the door of the bathroom and walk into my room. As fast as I can I seek some matching clothes in my closet. I decide on a striped turtle neck and short jeans dungarees. Then I speed down the stairs into the kitchen. 

My mother is standing at the stove with a pan in her hand and a spatula in the other. She turns her head and smiles looking at me with her young brown eyes. They make her appear about three years younger than she actually is even though her hair has multiple white strands.

"Good morning Auden," she says with her silvery voice. 

"Morning Mom." I sit on the kitchen island just like Meg does all the time. In that exact moment my little sister comes down the stairs wearing one of my sweaters with an owl printed on it. It's way to big for her and she could easily wear it as a dress. 

"Look what I found in your closet Audy," she squeaks and comes to me. 

"You little thief." I lean forward grabbing her waist and tickling her. She laughs and tries to get out of my grip but I pull her towards me and lock my arms around her. Then I lift her up and place her on my lap. 

"You two–" She points at us with the spatula – "Could help your mother with the breakfast."

Meg immediately jumps off my lap and helps mom with the scrambled eggs. I get three cups from the cupboard and start to make coffee for me and my mother and tea for Meg. Then I take out some plates and put them on the kitchen table. While I do that I say "Mom, I'm gonna meet up with Carly and Hotaru in the park at nine. Just so you know."

"Ok sweetheart," she allows and puts the pan on the table. We eat breakfast and our Dad joins us in-between. 

When we are finished eating I help to clean the dishes before going into my room again. It's eight-thirty by now and to spend some time I plug my earphones in my ears and watch one episode of my favourite series on my mobile phone. After the episode is done I read some of the poems in my notebook which lays in a hidden drawer. 

At half-past nine I check the temperature outside and swap the turtle neck against a cropped blouse because it's about 19 degrees today. Seems like winter isn't early. When I leave the house it's a quarter to ten and I have to rush a little to get to the park on time. 

The huge archway of roses embedding a rusty sign saying 'city park' is the main entrance to the park. It looks friendly and I suck in the air smelling like roses. Behind the entrance, there's a gravel path weaving through the grass like the arm of a river. Trees stand spread across the meadow and in their shadows are sitting a few people. It's Saturday which means that there are quite a few people here already but going towards three o'clock there are going to be more.