THIRTY-TWO
Her fingers and toes are chilled, but she's pretty sure it's not cold enough to worry about frostbite. A breeze ruffles her hair and tries to chill her further, but her clothes keep her body nice and toasty. She doesn't mind the cold, though; in fact, she prefers it over the sweaty heat of summer.
She looks up. Chooses a patch of sky, clear of clouds and farther from the moon, then works outward in a line. Through trial and error, she's figured out that it's better to look at points along a line instead of points within an area. It's easier to keep track this way.
In the night's silence, the ticking of her Papa's watch sounds clearly in her ears. For every tick, she counts one. Her head on her knees, the watch pressed against her ear, and a gradual increase.
But she only makes it to thirty-two before her train of thought barrels right past the next number and pulls into a totally different station.
Papa taught her and Carol how to count. Papa was a scientist. Papa told her and Carol to see the world.
That's what she remembers.
The watch isn't particularly important. He had all sorts of complicated time pieces for his experiments. It's only now that his watch is important, because it's all she has. Carol took Papa's glasses—
Just a little bit melted, and a spider web of cracks on the lenses.
It'd been a regular day for them, though Papa had been rather busy because of their recent move. She's not sure what town it was—Quedlinburg and Rothenburg come to mind, but honestly all the remote villages blurred together into a continuous countryside. All she remembers is that they'd been there for a week or so, and she and Carol hadn't been allowed in the actual village.
So they'd played in the fields while Papa worked… and they came home for dinner and found the cottage up in flames.
Villagers shouted and Carol freaked out and the fire just kept on burning, no one bothered to put it out, and she thinks she passed out, because then she was in a whole different place and Carol was so, so sullen.
She doesn't know why they were shuffled from city to city afterwards, but she's glad that before they left the social workers managed to find her Papa's glasses and watch. Berlin happened, then they were in Japan—Professor Ryouko was Papa's friend, apparently—and somehow Carol disappeared and Professor Ryouko disappeared and no one knew what to do with her.
Eventually she ended up in the Schnee Orphanage, mostly because it was vaguely German, though she knows now that it's insubstantial. Grasping at straws, as some people say.
Anyway, she's been here a while. A few months, more or less.
In that time she got used to the daily monotony of life in an orphanage.
Now she's looking at the stars and wondering if she wants to give Mrs. Maria and Mrs. Tsubasa an answer.
Because they asked a question.
She kind of wants to take her time… but she's sick and tired of going back and forth between feelings. Between remembering her Papa and leaving him behind on the other side of the world.
The picnic was nice. It's not anyone's fault she breaks down sometimes. And, she sort of missed having people to talk to—having people listen to her.
Mrs. Tsubasa and Mrs. Maria are awkward. It's not easy like it was with Papa, but that's normal.
She just wants to go home.
Except home doesn't exist anymore. It's where the heart is, and her heart isn't anywhere in particular right now, but she feels like she can get used to Mrs. Tsubasa's funny way of speaking and Mrs. Maria's over-eagerness. They're like Papa, only in separate people.
Or, well, they're their own people. With their own opinions. Like Papa. Who want her to have her own opinions, too.
Yeah, maybe she wants to go home with them. With them, not with Papa and Carol.
a/n: Longer than usual chapter. I pretty much fudged any/all historical and canonical accuracy this story has, so... yeah. Creative license.
Also, it's been a month since I published the first chapter! :D I am so proud of myself; tbh I expected to lose steam, like, five days into the story. Somebody send me a prompt for the next chapter or something, I feel like I can write anything on sheer joy. #33 involves Maria and pumpkin pie (pumpkins provided by Elfnein), so if you've any ideas how that should go, I'm willing to consider them!
Please review!