Chapter 10 Aanya

Chapter 10 Aanya

            I see a blaring white light wiggling in between the blinds covering my window.  I yawn for a minute and then turn my head to look at the time. 9:30, “I love Saturday,” I think graciously. I sit up in my bed and stretch to grab my phone off of its charger. I get up to stretch once more and go downstairs to the kitchen. I prepare myself a bowl of cereal and plop down on the couch. I take a bite of the fruity cereal and scan the couch for the remote.

            “Mom!” I call, “Mom!” I take another bite and then repeat, “Mom!”

            “Mom’s at the store!” I hear a little voice answer.

            “Brooklyn!” I call once more, “Brooklyn!”

            “What do you want Aanya?”

            I take a bite once again, “Come here!”

            “No!”

            “Brooklyn!” I yell again.

            After a few seconds I hear baby footsteps stomp down the stairs and into the living room. “What?” Brooklyn asks, quite annoyed.

            “Where’s the remote?”

            “You are so lazy,” Brooklyn exclaims.

            “I know, but can you still get it for me.”

            “Why can’t you get off your lazy butt and get it yourself?”

            “Because my legs are broken.”

            Brooklyn stomps off to the TV and picks up the remote and hands it to me, “Here,” she groans.

            “You’re the best,” I smile.

            “Whatever,” and she disappears back up stairs.

            I turn the television on and take a few more buts of cereal. I go to the channel guide and start scanning for something good.

            “Stupid, stupid, really stupid, okay, stupid, little kids, little kids, boring, boring, stupid, and even more stupid.” I turn off the TV and say, “Man, what a waste of time.” I finish off my cereal and rinse it off in the sink.

            I trudge back upstairs and turn the water in for the shower on. I head back out towards my bedroom to get a change of clothes, when I see a little black thing sitting on my while. I retrace my steps backward and look at the wall, “Oh it’s just a fly,” I tell myself. I get out of the shower and start to dry my hair. I look in the mirror and see a small person with sparkling wings and a pale face. I jerk around right where I saw the mysterious creature and I only see a fly once again. “I must be tired,” I think, after all Harry did kind of stress me out after school yesterday.

I finish getting ready for the day in a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I grab my sketch book and few pencils and head out into the backyard. I often like to spend my Saturdays out in my little cave, looking at and drawing nature. I walk through the green grass and into my little forest area where I sit inside of the boulder.

I open my notebook to a blank page and write at the top Saturday, May 2, 2014. I like to write the date on top of each drawing so I can see how I’ve improved and I know about my age and when I drew the picture. I look out into the trees where I see a small white dove swoop down onto the ground right in front of me. I put my pencil to paper and start to sketch starting at the top of the head. As I continue through the bird quickly, before it flies away, I get to the body where it seems as though the feathers are creating a dress. I look back at the bird to make sure I’m doing it right, and it turns out I’m way off, so I erase it and draw the real shape of the bird’s body.

As I arrive at the wing the bird takes flight and disappears off into the distance and I’m left with a drawing of half a dove. I sign my name next to it anyway and open up again to a new page, writing the date on the top. I find a nice knot hole in one of the trees that I begin to sketch out, putting things in it related to To Kill a Mockingbird. I draw Scout and Jem reaching into the knothole, as if they were doing it right in front of me.

             I draw for a couple hours before all of my pencils are finally dull and I set them down next to me away from the mouth of the cave. I tilt my head backwards against the side of the rock and close my eyes. “What are all those things I saw,” I wonder aloud. “I must be going mad,” I tell myself. My head begins to hurt and I realize I’ve been out here for hours not drinking any water. I head back inside and get a glass of water and my Mom walks down stairs.

            “Where’ve you been,” she interrogates.

            “I’ve been out in the woods,” I reply, taking a sip of water.

            “Having fun out there I see.”

            “I suppose you could say that.”

            “Here,” she says handing me my phone. “It appears Harry has some questions he wants you to answer.”

            “Mom,” I say embarrassed.

            “It’s okay, I approve of him, but I don’t want you to go out with him you’re only 15.”

            “Whatever you say Mom.”

            “Mom!” someone calls from upstairs.

            “What Brooklyn?”

            “Can you come here?”

            “I have to got help your sister, have fun talking to Harry,” my mom emphasizes.

            “Oh come on!” I say rolling my eyes. I sit down at the table and unlock my phone. I have 14 unread texts from Harry.

            I’m sorry Aanya

            Can you at least answer me?

            You’re scaring me here

            Aanya?

            Aanya?

            Look I kind of want to talk about what happened yesterday, but not until you reply

            So you’re still not replying?

            Aanya?

            Aanya?

            Aanya?           

            I’m going to keep spamming you till you answer

Aanya?

Aanya?

Okay fine. I give up. Can we just pretend like I never said anything. You didn’t hear or say anything.

            I finish reading over the series of messages and laugh to myself, “Oh Harry,” I murmur. I reply back to him saying, Sorry, I was in the cave and I left my phone on the kitchen table. I’m not sure I want to forget what happened. I pause for a few moments waiting to see if there’s a reply soon on its way. I finally text once more, I’m going back to the cave so if I don’t reply right away don’t freak out.

            I set my phone back on the table and finish my water. I head out into the garage and grab bottled water just in case. I walk back outside and once again enter my cave. I think hard about the different texts and things Harry said. I wonder to myself if I even like him back or if I should just let it go like he said, and enjoy the fact that at least one person on this earth likes me. I take a sip of water and look at the back of my small cave.

            As I stare at the wall that is lit only by the sun and I see a small rock settled at the bottom leaning against it. I look a little closer at the rock because it appears to be shimmering. I crawl towards it and pick it up. “It looks perfectly normal,” I say. I put it back down and stare at it some more to see if something will happen once again. I shrug and look at the sliding glass door as soon as my mom opens it and yells,

            “Aanya, time for dinner.”

            “Okay!” I yell back. I retrieve my bottled water and notebook and rush back inside. I drop them all on the table and sit in my usual spot.

            “Were you in your cave again?” Brooklyn mocks.

            “As a matter of fact I was. You wanna know somethin’? There’s no 9-year-olds in the cave to annoy me.”

            “That’s enough,” Mom tells us both. “Can’t we just get along? I’d like to have a nice family dinner.”

            “Fine,” I grunt piling tonight’s chicken onto my plate.

            “It’s all Aanya,” Brooklyn claims.

            “I don’t care who started it, I’m going to finish it.”

            “Sorry Mom,” Brooklyn and I say in unison.

            Even though we already apologized my mom begins to harangue, “You girls are fighting way too much. We are a family and families are supposed to stick together no matter what. I want this home to be a loving place; I don’t want every word said to each other to be some type of demand. After today we are going to start being nicer to one another and we are going to treat each other with respect. You guys are now only allowed to say nice wholesome things to each other for a week.”

“What?” we both whine, once again in unison.

“Yes, yes. Starting at tonight’s meal. Now say sorry and make up.”

            “Sorry,” I sigh.

            “With feeling,” Mom demands.

            “I’m so very, very, sorry,” I say a big smile stretching across my face.

            “I’m sorry too,” Brooklyn replies.

            “That’s not exactly what I was hoping for, but it’s better.”

            The rest of dinner tonight is silent and we eat quickly with ignorance. I finish first and rinse my plate off in the sink. I turn around to look at my mom and shout, “Look out! There’s something on your shoulder.”

            “It’s a bug,” Brooklyn claims, looking at me with a questionable look on her face.

            “Sweetie are you okay?” my mom asks.

            “Fine,” I reply, “just a little tired that’s all.”

            “Maybe you should get some rest sweetie.”

            “Okay, I think I’ll go to bed right now actually.”
            “A little early, but whatever you want sweetie.”

            “Goodnight guys.”

            “Goodnight,” they both say.