Chapter One – Tour of the House
"Hey, you're awake," Ray said to Zarine, coming in from the door connecting their rooms.
Zarine chided, "Next time, knock before you come in. What if I'm changing or something?"
"Why would that matter?" he asked jokingly.
She gave him a light punch on the arm. "Watch what you're implying, mister."
"I'm just kidding," he protested.
Zarine got out of bed, and took out a hairbrush. "When will I get to see the rest of the house?" She began to work out the tangles in her curly hair. "Can I see it now?"
"It'll take too long. Besides Kai said that we have to go visit Hilary in an hour," Ray told her.
She sighed disappointedly, "Fine."
"PRACTICE TIME!!" Grandpa's yell echoed in the room.
"AH!!!" Tyson jumped up from his bed. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?"
"Wakey, wakey, sleepy head. The others are waiting for you to get up. We're going to see Hilary, remember?"
"Alright, I'm getting up," Tyson groaned.
Zarine looked around at the surroundings. She thought Tyson was so lucky to live in a dojo like that. She wanted to explore the whole place, but she didn't want to just poke her nose in where she wasn't supposed to.
"Ray, why don't you show Zarine around the dojo?" Grandpa suggested when he saw Zarine's curiosity.
"Okay," Ray said, getting up from the floor.
"I never knew Tyson lived in such a cool place," Zarine said to Ray. Her eyes were full of awe as she walked around the dojo with her boyfriend.
"Well, now you know," he said. "This is Tyson's room."
He opened the door and saw that it was extremely messy. Clothes were all over the floor and there was a pile of crumpled up pieces of paper in a corner. They could hardly see the surface of the desk for pencil crayons covered it.
Ray quickly shut the door before Zarine could peek in. "What did you do that for?" she asked crossly. "I want to see it."
"It's not as nice as the rest of the dojo," he replied quickly, trying to curb her curiosity.
"Like I care, I just want to take a look," she said. She opened the door before Ray could stop her. "It can't be that bad." She shut the door quickly. "Uh, maybe not."
"Ray, Zarine! Let's go," Tyson called.
They walked to Hilary's house, which was only two blocks away from Tyson's dojo.
"Hi, Hilary!" Max said when he saw her.
"...cough...Hey...cough...guys," Hilary said with a smile.
"Hilary, this is Zarine. Zarine, this is Hilary," Kenny introduced them.
"Nice to meet you," Hilary said, before a coughing fit came. "I'm alright," she said after it had passed. "I heard you guys had an exciting time in Hong Kong. It's not fair! I wanted to be there."
"It was dangerous," Zarine said quietly. "And if I had the choice, I would prefer that it never happened."
They all looked at her, surprised. She noticed and quickly assured them, "I don't mean that I had ever regretted meeting you. It's just..."
"We understand," Max said.
"I know that it was dangerous. Ever since I've been with the Bladebreakers, I've been in tight and dangerous spots all the time. Adventure is what makes life more exciting," the sick girl said.
"Yes, but adventures are not always fun and glorious. Danger is always around the corner," Grandpa said.
"It's better to have an exciting but dangerous life rather than a safe but ordinary life," Tyson declared.
Ray suggested, "Let's change the subject now. We didn't come here to be all serious."
"Oh yes, before I forget, Mr. D. said that all of you have to go to school next week after this weekend," Grandpa informed them.
Tyson and Max groaned. "Grandpa, do we have to?" Max asked.
"Yes, my man," Grandpa answered.
"School stinks," Tyson grumbled.
Zarine thought it would be nice to be at a school. She hadn't gone to a real one since two years ago. Then a horrible thought hit her. She was a year younger than the rest of them. That meant she would have to be in Gr. 9 while the others go to Gr. 10.
"Zarine will be all alone. She's a year younger," Ray spoke up the thought that was going through her mind.
"I'll talk to Mr. Dickenson about it and see what he can do," Grandpa promised.
"So what happened in Hong Kong?" Hilary asked.
Max told Hilary the story with occasionally help from the others. When Max finished, she demanded, "How long have you guys stopped training?"
"A week," Kenny answered.
"As soon as I get better, you guys are starting again," she said. She glanced at Zarine to see her reaction.
"Doesn't Kenny take care of your training?" the silver haired girl asked.
"We both do it," Hilary answered smugly. Zarine couldn't possibly take her position as the trainer away, ever. How could the others let that girl train them? She didn't look like she's capable of even launching a blade. To Hilary, Zarine looked more like a hooker than a blader. She better not try and make a move on Tyson!
"I see," Zarine answered with a leveled gaze at the girl with brown hair. If Hilary was there to train them already, what was the point of her being there?
Kai noticed that Hilary looked at Zarine with great dislike, and decided that it might be best if they left. "We've got to go now," he said to the others.
"Why??" Max asked.
"Because Zarine was promised a tour of my house," the team captain replied.
Zarine cheered, "Yay! Finally I get to see how big his house really is!"
Hilary stuck her tongue out at Zarine's back when she was leaving. "How can you let that hooker train you?"
"Zarine is not a hooker," Tyson said, shocked at Hilary's first impression of her.
"She certainly looks like one," she remarked. She coughed.
Tyson was confused. How could Zarine look like a hooker? She didn't even wear anything slutty.
"Look, just because she is good-looking doesn't mean she's a hooker," Tyson reasoned, feeling irritated that Hilary was being so childish.
"She's really nice," Max said.
"Hilary, you shouldn't get so jealous. Just because she trained them in Hong Kong doesn't mean that the boys had replaced you with her," Grandpa said. "You two can train them together."
"Her, train them?" she asked disbelievingly. "She doesn't look like she can spin a beyblade."
"Yet she can, and she's better than any of us," Tyson said, "and she taught us so much in just two weeks."
"So now you don't want me anymore because she's better, right?" Hilary asked angrily. How could Tyson be defending that hooker?
Tyson answered loudly, getting more irritated by the moment, "I never did! If we didn't want you, it would be because you're such a loudmouth. It wouldn't be because of her!"
"Yeah, right! By the looks of it, you're ready to fall down on your knees whenever she looks at you!" she yelled heatedly. The yelling caused her to have another coughing fit.
"You're so—" Tyson began to retort. "OW!" Grandpa had just hit him.
"Stop it, Tyson. You're making her cough worse," Grandpa scolded.
"Like it was my fault! She's the one who's being difficult!" Tyson protested.
Grandpa turned to Hilary and said, "Look, dawg, you should really cool down and think about it. Zarine is a really nice girl and you should get to know her better before making any decisions to hate her. We better go so you can think about it."
Zarine was wondering why on earth Hilary didn't like her. She hadn't done anything to offend her or anything. She supposed it was just one of those hate at first sight situations.
"Hilary isn't always like that," Ray said. She looked up at him in surprise. How could he always manage to read her mind? Was she really that transparent to him?
"Yeah, and your point is?"
"What I'm trying to say is, there's still a chance that you can be friends."
"I'd say she's just jealous. She probably thinks that we've replaced her with you," Kai said, "which is not true. Since we have the rest of the day, you can have a tour of the mansion."
First, Kai showed her the kitchen. It had two stoves, ovens, fridges, and dishwashers. There were two chefs working at something. Zarine couldn't figure out what they were trying to make. Then, he led her to the library. There were comfy chairs in the middle, and set up to make a circle. They surrounded a low table. She took a glance at some of the books. They were mostly about law, psychology, and science. (Remember what Biovolt did? Criminals...Controllers of Children's Emotional Development, and Bit-beasts Creators.) It might as well have a big fluorescent light sign that screamed, 'BORING!'
"Who lived here with you?" she asked Kai, turning away from the dust covered books.
"My grandfather," Kai replied in a flat tone.
"Why isn't he here now?"
"None of your business," he snapped. If there was one thing on earth he hated more than Tyson's appetite, it was the mention of Voltaire.
She was taken aback by his tone, but let it pass, for now. "Geez, just wondering."
"You better stop wondering now," he said, walking off. "Ray, you show her the rest of the house."
She looked worriedly at Kai's shrinking figure. She didn't mean to get on his nerves. What did his grandfather do anyways, that was so bad for him to talk about?
"He's always been unwilling to talk about him," Ray said quietly.
"I'm sorry," Zarine said. "Didn't mean to make him snap like that."
"You didn't know. I'll tell you about it later, after you've seen the house," he said, taking her hand in his.
Ray led her to the ballroom. There was only one word for that room. GIGANTIC! The thing that drew her breath away wasn't the size of the room, or the crystal chandelier that hang from the ceiling. She stared at the grand piano in the corner. It looked exactly like the one her mother owned and played often. It wasn't the ordinary ones that you can get at the store, which came in mostly black.
The legs were carved in a way that made it look like vines were crawling up. A cluster of flowers were on the cover of the piano in the shape of half a heart. There was a sun carved onto the inside of the cover (the thing you lift up to reveal the keys). She ran her hands along the designs.
This was similar to the case of the portrait. The piano was a lot like the piano she had at home, but there were differences. For one, a star was on the inside of the cover, not a sun. The cluster of flowers formed the left half of the sun, but on the one she had known all her life, it formed the right half. This was seriously getting weird.
"Do you play?" Ray asked. Zarine nearly jumped up at the sound of his voice. She had forgotten that he was still there.
"Not for a long time now," she said. It had been two years since she had last touched one.
Ray looked at his girlfriend. She kept on running her fingers on the sun, and had a far away look in her eyes. Neither of them spoke.
Suddenly, Zarine spoke up. "At first, I was hopelessly inept at it, until my mom taught me. From the time she had sat by me and patiently taught me, I enjoyed it immensely." She had a sad smile on her face.
"Can you play me something?" Ray asked. "You don't have to if you don't want to," he said hastily when she didn't say anything.
She studied him for a long time. Finally, she answered, "For you, I will."
She sat down, and her fingers began to move on the keys as if they had a mind of their own. She recognized the melody, it was her mom's favourite song.
She began to sing softly, "When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
There is no life ?no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be."
Ray was spellbound by her voice for the second time in his life. When she finished, she sat there, stunned. She had vowed never to play the song or sing it or even think of it ever again. It used to be her favourite song too, up until the day her mother died.
She felt like crying, but she struggled not to let tears spill out. What was wrong with her anyways? She was over her parents' death. She didn't want to remember. It hurt too much.
"That was great," Ray complimented, unaware how the piano and the song had affected her.
"Thanks," she said softly, getting a firmer grip on her emotions.
The tour took a couple of hours. Kai's house was huge after all. "Until you know your way better, you shouldn't wander around," Ray said.
"Why not?" Zarine asked.
"Because the first time I stayed here, I got lost ten times trying to get to the kitchen from my room. Kai had to look for me every time," he told her with a laugh.
"I certainly hope you know the way around it by now," she said amusedly.
"Well, if I got lost now, at least I'll have you for company," he said. "I'll show you the outside tomorrow."
"You mean this is like an estate?" she asked incredulously.
"Yep, you'll love it," he said confidently.
That night, when she was getting into bed, Ray knocked softly on the door.
"Zarine, are you asleep yet?" his voice came from the other side.
"No, come in," she said.
Ray came through the door. "Get up early tomorrow, I want to show you something."
"All right," she said yawning. "Good night."
"You're going to send me away without a kiss?" he asked, pretending to be scandalized.
She sighed, and kneeled on the bed. She gave him a soft peck on the lips. "Happy now?"
"See you tomorrow," he said brightly before closing the door.
Zarine turned off the lamp by the bed and settled down in the bed. Her eyes landed onto the portrait. She could see the woman's eyes clearly, since the moon gave light that night. She would never call the person in the picture her mother. Sure, she looked a lot like her mom, but her mind refused to accept that there might be a chance that it was her in the picture.
She fell into an uneasy sleep. I mean, who could sleep well with a freaky painting staring at you all day? She dreamt that she was back at home again, and completely happy. She was just about to have a piano lesson with her mom and she always enjoyed them.
"Zarine, play me something you have leant this week," her mom said, smiling. She smiled back, her mom always looked so beautiful when she smiled.
She began to play, but she kept on making mistakes.
"That's alright, start again," her mom said patiently.
Zarine kept on trying but she just kept on getting worse and worse, until she couldn't remember what she was suppose to be playing at all.
Her mom was furious. "What's wrong with you? Did you lie to me about practicing all week about the new song you've learnt?"
Zarine answered in a small voice, "I did practice! I didn't lie to you, Mommy."
"Play it then."
"I can't!" she gave her mom an appealing look. Usually, her mom didn't get angry with her about such things.
Her mom took a stick from no where and started hitting her with it.
Zarine woke up with a start. "It was just a dream," she said to herself, breathing a sigh of relieve.
Then she scowled. That, was one of the most ridiculous dream she had in her life. She looked at the painting. The lady seemed to be looking at her amusedly. She turned her gaze away and got the pillow beside her. Hugging it tightly, she fell asleep again.
It seemed like that she had only close her eyes for an instant before Ray woke her up. "I'm still sleepy!" she said waspishly to him before covering her head with the blanket
"Come on, you promised you would get up early today," Ray said, trying to get the blanket away.
"You didn't tell me that it would be this early. The sun's not even up yet!" her voice sounded muffled from under the covers.
He pleaded, "Please?? I want to show you something. I know you'll really like it."
Her head poked out from the blankets. "This better be good!" She got up and put the pillow that she hugged to sleep on top of the other pillows.
"Let me have a little privacy. I want to get dressed," she said.
"There's a bathroom across the hall," Ray said.
"Nice try, but your room is just through that door. Besides, this is my room, and I say you go somewhere else while I get changed," Zarine ordered.
It wasn't long before they walked down the street. Zarine slipped her hand into her boyfriend's. "So where are we going?"
Ray smiled mysteriously, and replied, "You'll see when we get there."
He stopped beside a forest. "You have to close your eyes, and promise not to look until I say so, alright?"
"Okay," she said reluctantly.
"I'll have to carry you since we are going down some stairs," he told her. "Get onto my back, but don't peek! I don't want to spoil the surprise."
Any guess to the place where Ray is taking her???
"Hey, you're awake," Ray said to Zarine, coming in from the door connecting their rooms.
Zarine chided, "Next time, knock before you come in. What if I'm changing or something?"
"Why would that matter?" he asked jokingly.
She gave him a light punch on the arm. "Watch what you're implying, mister."
"I'm just kidding," he protested.
Zarine got out of bed, and took out a hairbrush. "When will I get to see the rest of the house?" She began to work out the tangles in her curly hair. "Can I see it now?"
"It'll take too long. Besides Kai said that we have to go visit Hilary in an hour," Ray told her.
She sighed disappointedly, "Fine."
"PRACTICE TIME!!" Grandpa's yell echoed in the room.
"AH!!!" Tyson jumped up from his bed. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?"
"Wakey, wakey, sleepy head. The others are waiting for you to get up. We're going to see Hilary, remember?"
"Alright, I'm getting up," Tyson groaned.
Zarine looked around at the surroundings. She thought Tyson was so lucky to live in a dojo like that. She wanted to explore the whole place, but she didn't want to just poke her nose in where she wasn't supposed to.
"Ray, why don't you show Zarine around the dojo?" Grandpa suggested when he saw Zarine's curiosity.
"Okay," Ray said, getting up from the floor.
"I never knew Tyson lived in such a cool place," Zarine said to Ray. Her eyes were full of awe as she walked around the dojo with her boyfriend.
"Well, now you know," he said. "This is Tyson's room."
He opened the door and saw that it was extremely messy. Clothes were all over the floor and there was a pile of crumpled up pieces of paper in a corner. They could hardly see the surface of the desk for pencil crayons covered it.
Ray quickly shut the door before Zarine could peek in. "What did you do that for?" she asked crossly. "I want to see it."
"It's not as nice as the rest of the dojo," he replied quickly, trying to curb her curiosity.
"Like I care, I just want to take a look," she said. She opened the door before Ray could stop her. "It can't be that bad." She shut the door quickly. "Uh, maybe not."
"Ray, Zarine! Let's go," Tyson called.
They walked to Hilary's house, which was only two blocks away from Tyson's dojo.
"Hi, Hilary!" Max said when he saw her.
"...cough...Hey...cough...guys," Hilary said with a smile.
"Hilary, this is Zarine. Zarine, this is Hilary," Kenny introduced them.
"Nice to meet you," Hilary said, before a coughing fit came. "I'm alright," she said after it had passed. "I heard you guys had an exciting time in Hong Kong. It's not fair! I wanted to be there."
"It was dangerous," Zarine said quietly. "And if I had the choice, I would prefer that it never happened."
They all looked at her, surprised. She noticed and quickly assured them, "I don't mean that I had ever regretted meeting you. It's just..."
"We understand," Max said.
"I know that it was dangerous. Ever since I've been with the Bladebreakers, I've been in tight and dangerous spots all the time. Adventure is what makes life more exciting," the sick girl said.
"Yes, but adventures are not always fun and glorious. Danger is always around the corner," Grandpa said.
"It's better to have an exciting but dangerous life rather than a safe but ordinary life," Tyson declared.
Ray suggested, "Let's change the subject now. We didn't come here to be all serious."
"Oh yes, before I forget, Mr. D. said that all of you have to go to school next week after this weekend," Grandpa informed them.
Tyson and Max groaned. "Grandpa, do we have to?" Max asked.
"Yes, my man," Grandpa answered.
"School stinks," Tyson grumbled.
Zarine thought it would be nice to be at a school. She hadn't gone to a real one since two years ago. Then a horrible thought hit her. She was a year younger than the rest of them. That meant she would have to be in Gr. 9 while the others go to Gr. 10.
"Zarine will be all alone. She's a year younger," Ray spoke up the thought that was going through her mind.
"I'll talk to Mr. Dickenson about it and see what he can do," Grandpa promised.
"So what happened in Hong Kong?" Hilary asked.
Max told Hilary the story with occasionally help from the others. When Max finished, she demanded, "How long have you guys stopped training?"
"A week," Kenny answered.
"As soon as I get better, you guys are starting again," she said. She glanced at Zarine to see her reaction.
"Doesn't Kenny take care of your training?" the silver haired girl asked.
"We both do it," Hilary answered smugly. Zarine couldn't possibly take her position as the trainer away, ever. How could the others let that girl train them? She didn't look like she's capable of even launching a blade. To Hilary, Zarine looked more like a hooker than a blader. She better not try and make a move on Tyson!
"I see," Zarine answered with a leveled gaze at the girl with brown hair. If Hilary was there to train them already, what was the point of her being there?
Kai noticed that Hilary looked at Zarine with great dislike, and decided that it might be best if they left. "We've got to go now," he said to the others.
"Why??" Max asked.
"Because Zarine was promised a tour of my house," the team captain replied.
Zarine cheered, "Yay! Finally I get to see how big his house really is!"
Hilary stuck her tongue out at Zarine's back when she was leaving. "How can you let that hooker train you?"
"Zarine is not a hooker," Tyson said, shocked at Hilary's first impression of her.
"She certainly looks like one," she remarked. She coughed.
Tyson was confused. How could Zarine look like a hooker? She didn't even wear anything slutty.
"Look, just because she is good-looking doesn't mean she's a hooker," Tyson reasoned, feeling irritated that Hilary was being so childish.
"She's really nice," Max said.
"Hilary, you shouldn't get so jealous. Just because she trained them in Hong Kong doesn't mean that the boys had replaced you with her," Grandpa said. "You two can train them together."
"Her, train them?" she asked disbelievingly. "She doesn't look like she can spin a beyblade."
"Yet she can, and she's better than any of us," Tyson said, "and she taught us so much in just two weeks."
"So now you don't want me anymore because she's better, right?" Hilary asked angrily. How could Tyson be defending that hooker?
Tyson answered loudly, getting more irritated by the moment, "I never did! If we didn't want you, it would be because you're such a loudmouth. It wouldn't be because of her!"
"Yeah, right! By the looks of it, you're ready to fall down on your knees whenever she looks at you!" she yelled heatedly. The yelling caused her to have another coughing fit.
"You're so—" Tyson began to retort. "OW!" Grandpa had just hit him.
"Stop it, Tyson. You're making her cough worse," Grandpa scolded.
"Like it was my fault! She's the one who's being difficult!" Tyson protested.
Grandpa turned to Hilary and said, "Look, dawg, you should really cool down and think about it. Zarine is a really nice girl and you should get to know her better before making any decisions to hate her. We better go so you can think about it."
Zarine was wondering why on earth Hilary didn't like her. She hadn't done anything to offend her or anything. She supposed it was just one of those hate at first sight situations.
"Hilary isn't always like that," Ray said. She looked up at him in surprise. How could he always manage to read her mind? Was she really that transparent to him?
"Yeah, and your point is?"
"What I'm trying to say is, there's still a chance that you can be friends."
"I'd say she's just jealous. She probably thinks that we've replaced her with you," Kai said, "which is not true. Since we have the rest of the day, you can have a tour of the mansion."
First, Kai showed her the kitchen. It had two stoves, ovens, fridges, and dishwashers. There were two chefs working at something. Zarine couldn't figure out what they were trying to make. Then, he led her to the library. There were comfy chairs in the middle, and set up to make a circle. They surrounded a low table. She took a glance at some of the books. They were mostly about law, psychology, and science. (Remember what Biovolt did? Criminals...Controllers of Children's Emotional Development, and Bit-beasts Creators.) It might as well have a big fluorescent light sign that screamed, 'BORING!'
"Who lived here with you?" she asked Kai, turning away from the dust covered books.
"My grandfather," Kai replied in a flat tone.
"Why isn't he here now?"
"None of your business," he snapped. If there was one thing on earth he hated more than Tyson's appetite, it was the mention of Voltaire.
She was taken aback by his tone, but let it pass, for now. "Geez, just wondering."
"You better stop wondering now," he said, walking off. "Ray, you show her the rest of the house."
She looked worriedly at Kai's shrinking figure. She didn't mean to get on his nerves. What did his grandfather do anyways, that was so bad for him to talk about?
"He's always been unwilling to talk about him," Ray said quietly.
"I'm sorry," Zarine said. "Didn't mean to make him snap like that."
"You didn't know. I'll tell you about it later, after you've seen the house," he said, taking her hand in his.
Ray led her to the ballroom. There was only one word for that room. GIGANTIC! The thing that drew her breath away wasn't the size of the room, or the crystal chandelier that hang from the ceiling. She stared at the grand piano in the corner. It looked exactly like the one her mother owned and played often. It wasn't the ordinary ones that you can get at the store, which came in mostly black.
The legs were carved in a way that made it look like vines were crawling up. A cluster of flowers were on the cover of the piano in the shape of half a heart. There was a sun carved onto the inside of the cover (the thing you lift up to reveal the keys). She ran her hands along the designs.
This was similar to the case of the portrait. The piano was a lot like the piano she had at home, but there were differences. For one, a star was on the inside of the cover, not a sun. The cluster of flowers formed the left half of the sun, but on the one she had known all her life, it formed the right half. This was seriously getting weird.
"Do you play?" Ray asked. Zarine nearly jumped up at the sound of his voice. She had forgotten that he was still there.
"Not for a long time now," she said. It had been two years since she had last touched one.
Ray looked at his girlfriend. She kept on running her fingers on the sun, and had a far away look in her eyes. Neither of them spoke.
Suddenly, Zarine spoke up. "At first, I was hopelessly inept at it, until my mom taught me. From the time she had sat by me and patiently taught me, I enjoyed it immensely." She had a sad smile on her face.
"Can you play me something?" Ray asked. "You don't have to if you don't want to," he said hastily when she didn't say anything.
She studied him for a long time. Finally, she answered, "For you, I will."
She sat down, and her fingers began to move on the keys as if they had a mind of their own. She recognized the melody, it was her mom's favourite song.
She began to sing softly, "When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
There is no life ?no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be."
Ray was spellbound by her voice for the second time in his life. When she finished, she sat there, stunned. She had vowed never to play the song or sing it or even think of it ever again. It used to be her favourite song too, up until the day her mother died.
She felt like crying, but she struggled not to let tears spill out. What was wrong with her anyways? She was over her parents' death. She didn't want to remember. It hurt too much.
"That was great," Ray complimented, unaware how the piano and the song had affected her.
"Thanks," she said softly, getting a firmer grip on her emotions.
The tour took a couple of hours. Kai's house was huge after all. "Until you know your way better, you shouldn't wander around," Ray said.
"Why not?" Zarine asked.
"Because the first time I stayed here, I got lost ten times trying to get to the kitchen from my room. Kai had to look for me every time," he told her with a laugh.
"I certainly hope you know the way around it by now," she said amusedly.
"Well, if I got lost now, at least I'll have you for company," he said. "I'll show you the outside tomorrow."
"You mean this is like an estate?" she asked incredulously.
"Yep, you'll love it," he said confidently.
That night, when she was getting into bed, Ray knocked softly on the door.
"Zarine, are you asleep yet?" his voice came from the other side.
"No, come in," she said.
Ray came through the door. "Get up early tomorrow, I want to show you something."
"All right," she said yawning. "Good night."
"You're going to send me away without a kiss?" he asked, pretending to be scandalized.
She sighed, and kneeled on the bed. She gave him a soft peck on the lips. "Happy now?"
"See you tomorrow," he said brightly before closing the door.
Zarine turned off the lamp by the bed and settled down in the bed. Her eyes landed onto the portrait. She could see the woman's eyes clearly, since the moon gave light that night. She would never call the person in the picture her mother. Sure, she looked a lot like her mom, but her mind refused to accept that there might be a chance that it was her in the picture.
She fell into an uneasy sleep. I mean, who could sleep well with a freaky painting staring at you all day? She dreamt that she was back at home again, and completely happy. She was just about to have a piano lesson with her mom and she always enjoyed them.
"Zarine, play me something you have leant this week," her mom said, smiling. She smiled back, her mom always looked so beautiful when she smiled.
She began to play, but she kept on making mistakes.
"That's alright, start again," her mom said patiently.
Zarine kept on trying but she just kept on getting worse and worse, until she couldn't remember what she was suppose to be playing at all.
Her mom was furious. "What's wrong with you? Did you lie to me about practicing all week about the new song you've learnt?"
Zarine answered in a small voice, "I did practice! I didn't lie to you, Mommy."
"Play it then."
"I can't!" she gave her mom an appealing look. Usually, her mom didn't get angry with her about such things.
Her mom took a stick from no where and started hitting her with it.
Zarine woke up with a start. "It was just a dream," she said to herself, breathing a sigh of relieve.
Then she scowled. That, was one of the most ridiculous dream she had in her life. She looked at the painting. The lady seemed to be looking at her amusedly. She turned her gaze away and got the pillow beside her. Hugging it tightly, she fell asleep again.
It seemed like that she had only close her eyes for an instant before Ray woke her up. "I'm still sleepy!" she said waspishly to him before covering her head with the blanket
"Come on, you promised you would get up early today," Ray said, trying to get the blanket away.
"You didn't tell me that it would be this early. The sun's not even up yet!" her voice sounded muffled from under the covers.
He pleaded, "Please?? I want to show you something. I know you'll really like it."
Her head poked out from the blankets. "This better be good!" She got up and put the pillow that she hugged to sleep on top of the other pillows.
"Let me have a little privacy. I want to get dressed," she said.
"There's a bathroom across the hall," Ray said.
"Nice try, but your room is just through that door. Besides, this is my room, and I say you go somewhere else while I get changed," Zarine ordered.
It wasn't long before they walked down the street. Zarine slipped her hand into her boyfriend's. "So where are we going?"
Ray smiled mysteriously, and replied, "You'll see when we get there."
He stopped beside a forest. "You have to close your eyes, and promise not to look until I say so, alright?"
"Okay," she said reluctantly.
"I'll have to carry you since we are going down some stairs," he told her. "Get onto my back, but don't peek! I don't want to spoil the surprise."
Any guess to the place where Ray is taking her???
