You, Me, and All The Spaces In-between

CHAPTER 2

Choosing a book to bring into English proved a harder task than I'd initially thought. I sat on the floor of my bedroom that afternoon, surrounded by books, flipping through them anxiously. Some of them were profound contemplations of life, others sappy romantic novels I liked to peruse for fun. I had a few classics, which were safe, but ultimately boring, bets.

And then...

And then there was my favourite book: 'The Midnight Train'.

Written by a little known author in the 1970's, it was a tale of love, of yearning...and of farming. Seriously, there was a lot of talk about working on a farm.

But while milking cows wasn't really my thing, the romance at its core had captured my heart long ago, and if I was going to be honest about this assignment, it was really the only book I could feasibly bring.

Caressing its worn cover, I flipped to a random chapter and began to scan the pages.

'Hector sighed into her mouth and tugged her closer, closer, pushing Elizabeth's hair from her eyes. "You're so beautiful," he murmured, scanning her porcelain face. In that moment, she was an angel, a piece of art, a-'"

I shut the book with a decided thud. Nope, definitely not that.

Sighing, I pushed the hair from my face and glanced over the books again. After another moment's consideration, I picked up 'Great Expectations' and placed it into my school bag.

Boring, but safe.

A soft knock at my doorframe drew my attention.

"Hey, Alyx." My sister, Elena, was leaning against the doorway and massaging her temples with her thumb and forefinger. "Dad's home."

Save for our dark hair, Elena couldn't have looked any more different from me. For one, she was tall, taller than I could ever hope to be, and while I had the same wide, watery brown eyes of my father, she had inherited Mum's gentle green gaze. She also had an elegant nose and a peppering of light freckles, while my face was small and squinty; people often thought I was scrutinising them from afar.

"That's great," I muttered, scooping the remaining books from my floor.

"I remember this." Elena reached for 'The Midnight Train' and smiled fondly down at its violet cover. "Is it still your favourite?"

"Yeah." I scratched awkwardly behind my ear. "Yeah, it is".

Elena smiled, and like Mum, it was a soft, secret kind of smile.

"Dad wants us to have dinner with him," she said finally.

I kept my voice indifferent. Bland. "Oh, does he, now?"

"I know its hard," Elena sighed, blowing her bangs from her face. "But just give him a chance, alright?"

With a meaningful stare, she turned away.

- - - -

In my house, dinners were an awkward, once-a-month kind of affair, and I generally regarded them the way one might regard a particularly gruesome bout of homework.

Tonight was no exception.

"How was school?" Dad asked as I sat across from him at the table. He was wearing a cheap suit and an ugly patterned tie. His hair was its usual disheleved mess, and the skin beneath his eyes hung in purplish folds of skin.

"Fine," I replied stiffly, reaching for the salad.

"Alyx won an award recently," Elena cut in.

I glared at her.

"Really?" Dad smiled eagerly, but there was an innate weariness to it. "What for?"