yahoo people! new chapter, despite cold and cough and homework! The lyrics in the beginning are by Coldplay, I listened to X&Y while writing this and I thought it fitted somehow. Have fun reading!
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IV
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Silence
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An answer now is what I need
I see it in the new sun rising and
See it break on your horizon, oh
Come on love, stay with me
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Can you hear me?
Nothing but the ticking of the clock. Her thoughts went out to Bartimaeus. Again.
What was he doing right now?
She couldn't think of anything to do but lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. And that scared her.
Bartimaeus? Can you hear me?
Such a loud silence.
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Reluctantly I had returned to the house. And absent-minded I had done the chores; you know, swung a feather duster and pretended it was cleaner afterwards; watered the flowers ((which was completely useless, as the ones in the house were already dead, and the ones in the garden were molding away because of the constant rain)) and...you know. Thought of the night.
A good night.
In the moor, every sound was swallowed by the wetness of the ground and the fog. It was so silent. In my head, I could hear Kitty speaking to me. Maybe I was going crazy after all.
'Course I can hear you, stupid, I thought.
Can you hear me? Don't think so.
And when I closed my eyes it was her face I saw.
What the hell was I still doing in this bloody house? I had to see her again. This couldn't wait, I missed her already. Maybe she'd come over again this evening?
Bye, silent house. Hello, silent village.
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...She hadn't come.
duh...
The next morning I was sitting at the little haven and felt lost again.
Maybe something had happened to her gran and she was stuck on that island and didn't know what to do? Thousand worst-case scenarios came to mind. One more improbable than the other, but still...I had to know. Had to see her.
The wind tousled my hair as I watched the distant shore of Calm Blue. Somewhere over there was Kitty. Somewhere behind all that blue.
Don't you already know what you have to do?
Of course I did. Of course. I had to get on that damn island. Calm Blue. Sure.
A bird should do. I became a sea gull and took off.
And soon realized that it wouldn't work that way. The wind became a little storm above the water, and though I was a being of air, water really got to me. The storm tossed me through the air like children throw a ball, and it took my whole strength to avoid being plunged into the ocean. Wet and tired I crawled on land again. It had to work some other way. I had to.
I had to go to Calm Blue.
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Someone was there, behind the hedge in the neighbour garden. Kitty heard him talking to himself and tried to find a hole in the hedge so she could take a look at the newcomer.
What an event, she thought, scolding herself cynically. Other people! I really must be--
It was a young man, around her age, a bit younger maybe. Kitty could make out dark short hair, a pale face, but from what she could see through the leaves, he seemed quite attractive. His eyes were dark and serious, and they widened when he heard her.
"Hello?" he called. "I'm your new neighbour."
Kitty left her spying place and rounded the edge of the hedge to face him.
Can't be...
Hey, she said.
Hey...
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When I was a kid, my grandma used to tell me legends, stories as old as the memory of mankind...
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"You're the new neighbour."
"Yes" she nodded, and not for the first time thought that this island was something special.
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tic. tic. tic.
somewhere there's love...
will you shut up?
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The next morning was cold, that kind of cold that crept into Kitty's head and somehow made her see everything clearer, a cold that made her watch the grey sea and feel that she was a part of it all.
The wind pulled on her hair and yellow jacket; it seemed to drive her forward, along the deserted beach. Almost deserted. On the far side, next to a group of rocks that shielded him from the wind, an old man sat in the sand. He had set up a little tent and at the moment tried to start a small fire.
"Hey" said Kitty when she stood beside him. The man looked up, nodded, looked at the sea, at Kitty again.
" 'morning."
Kitty took that as a greeting rather than a statement. "Need help with that?"
The man nodded again. Kitty sat down beside him when the fire was going and watched him making coffee. "What are you doing here?" she finally asked.
"I needed to get away" he answered and stared into the flames. "At home, it stinks. Where people die, it stinks."
People die everywhere, Kitty thought and drew circles in the sand. "Who died?" Tiny circles, bigger circles. Swept away.
"The stink" the man murmured, "My wife. My son. It all smelled of death. I had to get away. I need fresh air."
"Good thinking" Kitty said.
"I need to be alone."
Kitty stood up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"No no, stay if you want to..." the man said absent minded.
Kitty thought indeed that being alone was the last thing the man should do, as he'd probably been alone far too long already, but she didn't want to say it. Anyway, what would it mean, coming from her?
"I'm staying with my grandma" she said. "I lost my parents and all my friends."
Almost.
"You know..." she paused. "First I never wanted to see my parent's graves. But I think running away won't help. At least not forever. Because..." she stared at the ocean. "You must say goodbye, or they'll follow you wherever you go. Wondering if you didn't love them enough to say farewell."
She got up. "If you're hungry, please come to our house."
The man didn't seem to hear her. He was lost in the sea, the movement of the sea.
Running away won't help forever.
Yeah, right.
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I sat at the quay and watched the horizon. Everything blurred in the distance, a blue veil.
Can you hear me?
I thought I could feel her touch again and I shuddered as the voice inside started mocking me again: so lonely? Let me come up to the light and the warmth...
I buried my face in my hands. Shut up, I thought. I'm working on it. Talking to myself, this was just great. Not.
The nearing crackle of a motorboat made me look up. The little boat came to rest beside my dangling feet and the fisherman climbed onto the dock, swearing and coughing, dropping wet.
"Bad day?" I asked. He snorted. "You don't say." When he looked up I recognized him as the guy in whose hut Kitty and I had spent the night.
"Wait, I'll help you with that" I said and heaved the net out of the boat. "Thanks" he coughed.
"No problem." I followed him inside his shed and with a little gesture started a fire in the fireplace so he could warm up soon.
"Thanks again" he grinned. "A demon, eh? Well, I knew you were a good one. No need in having you and your girl arrested."
So he had recognized me too. Nice guy. ((I didn't' bother asking why he didn't run away screaming upon discovering my true nature. To keep things simple, I decided he was probably just a nice guy.))
"Do you know the fastest way to go to Calm Blue?" I asked.
"Calm Blue, eh? That's easy" he said and wriggled out of his soaked jacket. "The bridge is the fastest way."
"Bridge?"
"Yeah...maybe two miles from here. Direct connection."
I felt incredibly stupid. What had I thought, that Kitty in the bus had flown over the ocean? So, walking.
"What do you want on Calm Blue?" fisherman-guy asked.
"The girl." I said. "I want to see her."
"I'd want to see her again too" he chuckled. "You know what? Take my scooter to go there. You might want to avoid getting too much attention."
Nice guy.
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Did you notice it was rather long? yay...Please review and tell me what you think!