The Grim's Daughter

Chapter six:

People ran past The Robinson Hotel, clinging to their raincoats as they tried to find shelter, some hiding in the doorway of the hotel. Nevaeh sat on the balcony, rocking back and forth on the chair, watching them scurry like rats. But not one of them was Death, only humans running around, the heavy rain clashing with them; the pounding of the rain was all Nevaeh had heard for days. Even when it was sunny and she was in her room, she could hear the leftovers of the rain the day before, falling from her window pane. Drip, drop. Drip, drop. 

The balcony above her kept the rain away, so she could wait for Death, who had been gone much longer than he had said, leaving Nevaeh alone and waiting for him to knock at the door. But now that seemed impossible. 

The sky turned a dark, misty colour, even though the weather was predicted sunny and bright with clear blue skies by the man in the square box. The drowned the people not only in rain, but gloom. Their heads hung as the rain hit them, drenching them until their clothes became see-through. 

Nevaeh stopped rocking on the chair for a moment and put her feet firmly on the concrete as she moved forward to the steel bars that stopped anyone from falling. She leaned over, letting the rain fall on her pale face and soak her hair, making it become heavy. 

"You'll come back won't you? I mean, you wouldn't just leave me, am I right?" Those were the first words she had spoken in days. "Please?" she said, her lips quivering. "Come back to me."

Her bare feet felt cold, frozen by the breeze of the wind. Nevaeh was in her pyjamas with the yellow quilt from her bed, wrapped tightly around her shoulders. "I won't stop waiting," she said, wishing Death could hear her. 

Nevaeh had hardly slept. The door was always locked and the binds in her room always shut; it was only the door leading to the balcony that was open, in case Thrindle decided to fly in like he used to at home. 

Thunder ran through her ears as the rain became heavier. "I'm not moving!" she shouted so everyone could hear her. But the people in the street kept their heads down and walked on. "I'll wait," she then whispered. 

Something cried aloud in the distance, the distance drowning the voice. Nevaeh could see a small, black bird soaring through the rain, soaking. "Thrindle!" she gasped. Thrindle clung to the railing, looking up at her with his round, yellow eyes. "Are you OK?" said Nevaeh, wrapping him up in the yellow blanket. "Is my father alright? Where is he, Thrindle?"

Thrindle's wet feather's dampened the quilt. Nevaeh became silent while she hugged him, again, crying with joy to see he was OK. "Best get you warm before you freeze to death," Nevaeh told him. "Everything's going to be fine."

She took Thrindle into her room and carefullyput him down on the end of her bed with the uilt still wrapped neatly around him, but he didn't stay in it for long. 

The night came slowly. Nevaeh sat sleepless, sitting silently beside the window with Thrindle snug on her bed. The stars were surrounded in a beautiful sky, and a lantern or two glowing overhead, their orange flames eating at the darkness that lurkIt had been lonely the past few nights, with endless hours of Nevaeh drying over her father's disappearance, and the thought of never seeing her only perant again- she would be an orphan. 

A tear ran down eye. but she felt too tired and sad to even think about wiping it away. Her reflectiom in the chilly window looked pale and emotionless with her eyes looking empty and dim. Nevaeh put her palm on the glass, feeling the cold grip her hand as it became numb. 

Thrindle had jumped onto the white desk, gazing up at Nevaeh as she sat in the chair beside it. Soon though, Nevaeh moved back onto the bed and pulled the blankrt over her head, hiding from the world. 

"I want to go home," whispered Nevaeh, looking at Thrindle who had joined her once more. "I want him with me. He's coming back, isn't he?" 

Thrindle looked away, but Nevaeh knew even without him looking away, that Death wouldn't come back for her. Had he left her there and went back home?