Feathers Of A Bird

Chapter : Six (Part Three)

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

The waxing moon was visible vaguely through the window.
"Eight days till full moon..."
I thought.

I, for some unknown reason, loved the full moon.
The fact that it could only be seen at night, and never be glimpsed with the sun, both fascinated and scared me.

"The moon reflects the sun's light, it relies on the sun; and when the moon is reflecting the most- when the infatuation is being spread the most, they can't be noticed together! Unlike the other moon phases, which can be observed while the sun is shining."

I felt some unknown pain in my heart, couldn't find why.

Grace was reading a book, sitting at a corner of my bed. She was supposed to be staying in the room beside mine, but that didn't work as mom changed her mind.

"Grace usually doesn't sleep alone, her caretaker stays with her all night because she needs some things in the middle of the night sometimes."
Said aunt, earlier.

And right after hearing it, mom was like, yes, we have a servant in our house as well!

She looked at me,
"Kathy? Grace will stay with you!"
I let a sigh out very carefully, so they didn't notice, and nodded.

That's how we ended up staying in one room, together.

"I fear that she might tell me to stay on the floor because she didn't want to share the bed with me!"
I said in my mind and laughed all by myself.

I had no problem sleeping on the floor, though. The problem was, she didn't say a single word from the moment she entered this room.

She directly went to my table and put her black umbrella on it. While putting her bag in my closet, she took a book out of it; and had started reading it from then, beside the window. In the middle, she went out for a little walk and had to come back as it started raing. But it stopped sooner than expected. And I apent the afternoon making fries, or at least, TRYING to make fries. Even though, no one in particular liked the fries, I enjoyed eating them.
After coming back from the small walk, Grace had been reading her brown covered book constantly.
And for the first time in an eternity, I saw her smile for a couple of seconds while reading it. But the smile disappeared as she turned the page.

I couldn't help but wonder, isn't life like a book? You are the happiest when you're on one page, and then you feel miserable on the next one.

Did something cruel happen to Grace? Which made her laconic?

Grace wasn't like anybody I knew. She was probably one of the most intelligent and quiet people that I ever came across in my entire life. Her knowledge of any subject was much more than us. Though I was known as one of the top 10 smart students back in high school, I always felt less than Grace and had a deep respect for her; which has certain reasons.

If anyone ever asks, why do we sleep at night? I would probably ask them back,

"Oh? How would we survive without sleep?"

Or, to show a little wealth of knowledge, I would say,
"We work hard all day, so our working system gets slow and exhausted. And to re-boost it, we need a good sleep." - Which wasn't true to many others, including me; how can an insomniac patient possibly need sleep to recharge themselves?

On the other hand, Grace, a girl aged 17, would explain the exact same thing with her pure knowledge, and in a more comprehensible way.

She would say,

"Long sleep is needed for muscle growth, tissue repair and hormone synthesis and for our body to recover and regenerate." - And more.

It had been over half an hour after sunset, and I always crave tea at this time.

I got up from my bed, ready to go down and make some tea.
I started walking towards the door and turned back after taking multiple steps.

"I'm gonna make some tea, would you like to have some too?"
Walking back to the bed, I asked her.

She smiled and nodded.
"I would love to!"

I smiled back at her and started walking to the kitchen.

--------•--------

Holding the trey with two cups of tea on it, I walked upstairs.
I felt numb all of a sudden, both physically and mentally. Can't be sleeping properly for a couple of days, made me weaker.

"What were they talking about?..."
I wondered.

On my way to the kitchen, I overheard mom and aunt talking.
In the short time of passing the door of their room, I heard the words, divorce, and terminal.

"I wouldn't be surprised if mom and dad get divorced...however, pain..."

I, suddenly, felt my ears ringing; buzzing as if a piece of metal was being scratched to another piece right beside my ears.

I stopped walking for a second, closed my eyes, waiting for it to go away.
And started walking again as I opened my eyes, feeling a little dizzy.

"What do they mean by terminal?"

I entered my room, holding the trey tightly.

As soon as I walked in, Grace gawked at me promptly and said,
"I heard you like feeding babies!"