Friday, November 9, 2012

Morning blues

Disclaimer: The characters, events and places portrayed in this post are purely fictitious. Any resemblance to any person dead or alive is purely coincidental. None of the matter in this post is to be copied in any way. No ideas are allowed to be stolen from here. If I see any such practice, dire consequences will ensue.



I pulled my blanket over my head; it was cold in my room and as any cold adolescent, I felt very lazy.
Abruptly, I felt something on my stomach and heard it squawk. Talon, my ‘I-won't-let master-loaf-around’ phoenix. I rolled over in an attempt to get him off, but he seemed to understand my intentions, and in spite, he clawed off my blanket, and jabbed at my head like a woodpecker.
"Ouch!" I pushed him off my bed. "Did it really require that!?" But Talon merely perched proudly on the head end of my bed, and ruffled his feathers.
I slid my legs off the bed and yawned, moving my long, uncombed hair to my back. "Fine, I'm up!"
I opened the window to let the haughty bird out, closed it after him, pulled down the blinds, and habitually knocked on the wall behind my table. No, I wasn't on plate 639 anymore; no longer in a small room, living next door to her. I was at home-where I should have been living since I was eight, but had only been doing so for about a month.
Their memories had been retrieved, and my parents had brought us to our new home. Though this was what we had been fighting so hard for, I still couldn't stomach the fact that it was all over; that I wouldn't have to use my bow and arrows anymore, that we had reached our goal, and parted, never to hear from each other ever again.
I pulled on my jacket, and lit up the fireplace.
"Mark!" it was my sister- Jasmine's voice. "Mother says you should come out quickly and go to bath."
"Alright." I replied, "I'm coming."
A different sight greeted me when I walked out of my room. Mother was dressed up in special attire, and so were Father and Jasmine! "Mark, cousin Aiden's old suit is already in the bathroom. Now be a dear and take a quick bath." Mother then rushed off somewhere else. Then, it hit me. "Father, does this mean that Grandmother and Grandfather are coming?"
"Yes" he answered, "Don't forget, we are to be at our neatest and on our best behaviour when they arrive.’Aven' is what you will be called. Now do hurry to bath and call if you need help with the clothes."
I rushed with my bath as I was told to. Grandmother and Grandfather were the most highly respected in our family, and had been reigning over Plate 371 for several decades. I had only seen them once before- on my uncle's wedding back when I was five. Every member of the family had to wear special attire, and looked like grown-ups and kids going to the same school. Grandmother looked very kind, though I didn't get to spend any time with her. Grandfather looked strict, and scary. Throughout the time, I was cowering behind Mother, hugging her legs, also in that dress code.
I stepped out of the bathtub, and started getting dry. I wondered what Grandfather and grandmother would think of us. I was still a shy person; would they be alright with that? I hoped so.
The clothes I was to wear looked princely, and probably were. The shoes looked uncomfortable, and had long laces. I managed to get all but the latter on, and had to ask for help. I tied my hair, as neatly as possible, and looked at myself in the mirror. “Dashing.” I laughed, as I picked up the shoes and walked outside to a chair.
“Father! How am I to tie these laces?” I called, practicing that politeness which I had to show them when they came.
He came, helped me out and then left again to help Mother get things ready.
“Aven and Azalea, Don't forget.” Mother reminded us. “Could both of you stand outside to wait for them?”
I gulped. “Y-yes Mother.” Jasmine-I mean, Azalea, and I walked carefully outside, and waited in the courtyard.
After ten minutes, Mother and Father joined us.
“Be careful, kids.” Father warned. “They’ll just appear out of nowhere.”
Out of nowhere indeed, a grand horse-cart trotting to our doorstep wasn't very obvious, was it?”
x--------------x

This has been lying in the drafts for a long, long time, so I thought I'd just give it a shot and publish it.
I hope you like it :)