Feathers Of A Bird

Chapter : Two (Part Three)

(Listen to the music while reading for a better experience!)

"Wanna hear a secret?"

She says making me smile,
"Yup! I promise I won't tell anybody!"

I smile weirdly,
"Thank you!?"

I take her on my lap and whisper in her ear,
"The best part of my life was occurred in here."

"Best part?"

"Yup!"

"Wasn't your best part the day you got the booker?"

I smile at her and let a sigh out very carefully.
"No sweetie... Sometimes best parts aren't achievements and fame."

She blinks.
"Then..?"

I try to smile at her and say,
"Sometimes it's happiness that's the best part. Sometimes... it's love that's the best part."

"So, you had fun and happiness when you came here, for the first time, right?"

"Yes!"

"Why? What did you do so fun?"

I hesitate for a moment.
"I looked up at the sky."

She looks confused and then points at the sky through the window.
"You can look up at the sky now too...?"

I smile again.
"I can, but at that time, I looked up at the sky with someone special, with no tightness in my chest. With no fear in my heart. With no questions in my brain."

"Okay, that now sounds fun! I also don't feel good when I'm afraid of something."

"Oh really?! What is this princess afraid of?"
I ask her as I squeeze her cheeks.

She replies,
"No, I'm a warrior now, not a princess. A princess is princess in the castle, but when she's out of castle, she's a warrior. We all are warriors."

I laugh truly this time.
"Where did you learn all these?! You're even more matured than me!!"

"I wanna be a writer like you!"

I nod.
"You sure will be a better one than me!"

She giggles.
"And as you asked, what this warrior is afraid of-"
She points her little fingers to herself.
"I'm afraid of butterflies..."
She sighs.

"Butterflies...?"
My heart thumped.

"Uh-huh!"
She agrees.

I shake my head, trying childishly to shake the pain away.
"And objection, your honour! Who said I love all creatures! I don't like butterflies!"
That voice rings again.

Fiona mumbles,
"My friends think it's weird."

"It's not weird, Fiona! It's just a phobia called Lepidopterophobia."

"So hard to pronounce!"

I nod slowly.
"A friend of mine had Lepidopterophobia. He claimed he wasn't scared of anything else except butterflies!"
I laugh.

"Who is he?"

"Umm..."
My body makes me hesitate for a moment.
"Just someone who makes me happy!"

Fiona looks at me,
"Is he the one you were here in Snodonia with?"

I close my eyes, with the intention to stop my pain to come to light.

As I force myself to laugh, I say,
"You got it right! It was...him."

She played with her hair.
"He made you feel happier than the booker day?"

"He did!"

Fiona tries to make a serious face looking at me.
"What made you feel so happy?"
She asks.

"Umm...he did."

"What did he do?"

"Said something."

"What did he say?"

"A word."

"A what?"

"A word."

She now looks even more uncertain.
"What word?"

"Kalopsiacs."

"What's that?!"
She asks curiously.

I smile at her.
"You'll get it later, sweetie!"
I halt for a second.
"Just know that it's something revolutionary! It changed me, it changed everything in my world!"

"Please tell me what it is, Kithie!!"
She says in a sweet voice.

I chuckle.
"Some other time, love!"

It isn't like I don't wish to talk about it. I always want to speak about it, but whenever I begin, everything inside my brain seems to be starting to make up chaos. Destructive chaos. And I'm afraid of it. I'm afraid of pain. It makes me want to avoid it as much as I can.

Fiona makes a gloomy face.
"Fine! I'll wait!"

Then she instantly changes her expression, and asks me as if she had forgotten to ask something,
"Okay, so it's your happy place?"

I nod.

She glances at me,
"Then shouldn't you be happy to come back here?"

...

Once again, her simple solution and simple question make a shiver run through my spine.

How am I supposed to tell her?

"You're right! Let's get excited!!"
I smile at her, deciding to let go of this topic.

She giggles back.

***

"Show me one thing you don't like about this cottage, Mrs Williams!!"
Ethan asks Grace.

"Umm..."
She murmurs.

"No 'umms' allowed! You lost!"

Arriving at the cottage in the afternoon, after a long journey by the car, it felt like there was no other place in Snowdonia as beautiful as this one.

And the view from the cottage is bewildering! Beside the road, up in the hills, under that glorious sky which seems to be more glorious here up in the mountains.

Everything about it seems perfect, so far.

That's why Ethan is asking Grace to show something she doesn't like as she was disturbing him all the way. She was speaking up,
"God knows what cottage you have booked! If it isn't good enough, Ethan!!"

And now she's speechless! And Ethan is obviously taking the chance!

"I like everything about it, happy?"
Grace finally says.

Ethan shouts,
"See, Kathy!? Hear out your sister!

I chuckle and say,
"Oh, Ethan! Forgot what she said? She said, you would have to do whatever she told you if she didn't like the place!"

"Oh shoot! I forgot! Thanks for reminding!"
He looks at Grace.
"Mrs.Williams! Now you have to do whatever I say!"

Grace makes an irritated face and says,
"Nope, not happening! I is leaving! Buh-bye!"

And she starts walking.
Ethan and I, we both rush towards her.

Ethan laughs as he says,
"Gurl! No wonder Fiona is so stubborn! Okay, I surrender!"

Grace couldn't hold her laughter and started laughing.
And Ethan lets a sigh out and whispers,
"My God!"