Chapter 53
Kairi glanced at her hallucinating mother. She watched her as she lay on the boards, doing absolutely nothing. Kairi knew that at that time, near sunset, they must start looking for dinner. But her mother wasn't getting up. If Kairi tried talking to her, Lana would respond with, 'Go away.' If she tried pushing her mother, Lana would completely ignore her.
Kairi did not have the strength to push her off the side, but if Lana was near the edge, it would be slightly possible. Kairi thought of this, but wasn't going to risk it. What if, when she did push her off, the water didn't wake her up? Then she would drown, the sharks would eat her, and she'd have no mother. It was too hard to even think about.
Lana woke up.
"Oh Kairi….It's time for dinner. Why didn't you wake me from my nap?"
Kairi had no response. Her mother always asked her why Kairi never did things like wake her for her 'nap'. But Kairi was too young; she didn't know how to respond, or why her mother blamed her for not waking her up. She tried. Really.
"Well, whatever." She brushed aside Kairi's mistake and picked up the fishing line. She hooked some dried fish meat on it and dropped it over the side.
A while later, she felt a tug. She pulled it up and saw a medium sized fish connected. She smiled and said, "Dinner Kairi."
The two looked hungrily at the raw fish. Lana took her knife made of bone and cut the fish open. Water spilled out, and she pulled out the insides. She saw a sack of white jelly, with a million black dots in it.
"Caviar." She smiled. She took off the meat from the bone and gave most of it to Kairi. Kairi ate it in an instant and looked for more.
But there was none.
They both fell asleep hungry.
xxxx
Four days later.
Kairi poked her comatose mother. She was hallucinating again.
xxxx
Lana walked inside. She was sweaty and dropped the basket of groceries on the counter-top.
"I need a bath," she muttered. She looked around and decided to procrastinate the work of putting the groceries away.
She boiled gallons of water, and put an equal amount of cold water in the bathtub to get the tub to a lukewarm temperature.
She quickly undid her bodice, and slid off her skirt, petticoats and slip. She grabbed a towel from the rack and quickly stepped in her tub. She sighed in pleasure and reached for the soap. She bathed herself from head to toe, except her back, and washed her hair. She closed her eyes and felt the lethargy of her day.
She closed her eyes to take a deep breath and fell asleep.
xxxx
Kayl came inside from doing outdoor chores dripping wet. He had just plunged into the block's pond to quickly wash himself off. He looked around and saw unpacked groceries and put them away for Lana.
He walked upstairs and passing the bathroom, in which the door was slightly ajar, he glimpsed Lana sleeping peacefully.
He smiled and quickly changed before she threw a fit about the water stains. He grabbed two roses from the bouquet downstairs (he bought them for her birthday) and picked up a jewelry box hidden in his sock drawer. He opened it to look at it once more. It was a heart shaped silver locket, included with miniatures of him and her, and the other side a picture of Leon and Kairi at the current ages, seven and two.
He snuck into the bathroom, and lit a rose scented candle. He plucked the petals off and sprinkled them onto the still water, with a beautiful clear picture of his beautiful naked wife. He opened the box and picked up the necklace.
He knelt by her ear. "Lana…." He whispered. "Happy birthday, love," he put his hand with the necklace in front of her face.
Her eyes fluttered open and she focused in on the hand in front of her. It was holding the most beautiful piece of jewelry she had ever seen.
"Oh my…" She trailed off, sitting up. "Kayl! It's beautiful! Where did you find this!"
"Anything for you love. Open it."
She opened it, and saw two miniature paintings of her family. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Kayl…I can't even begin-"
"Shh." He placed a finger on her lips. "I know." She twisted her body around too half-see Kayl. He kissed her gently on the lips. She smiled and kissed him back.
"Stand up. I want to see how it looks on you." She stood up and gave it to him. He placed it on her neck. It hung perfectly, sitting right where it should for a locket.
"Kayl, It's perfect. Thank you so much." She turned around to face him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him again, saying 'Thank you.'
xxxx
Days later.
Lana sat in front of the mirror dressing her hair. It was a simple braid, and then that long braid was wrapped around in a tight bun. She fixed the flyaway's and pushed multiple bobby pins in her hair. She looked at her jewelry box and picked out her simple day-to-day jewelry. She put on a simple slain chain and a matching bracelet. She looked in the box once more, ready to close it.
But she glimpsed her locket and pulled it out. She looked at it lovingly, thinking of, of course, Kayl. She opened it and looked at the perfect pictures inside. She closed it, gazing at its cover.
It was flat and there were swirls covering the entire border. On the inside, there were two matching scythe like imprints. They were thick and the point at the top was almost like the scythe blade and the one on bottom was like a thorn.
She flipped it over and saw the same outside border. But what she missed the first time she saw now. There were some more swirls in the middle. But they were words.
And they wrote,
To You From Me,
I Love You.
A/N:: Yea...its sweet. I liked this one alot. reviews are nice. I start school tomorrow. wonderful!! NOT. [ senior year tho...it'll be fun and sad.
