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I sat on the rumpled, reddish-purple covers of my bed and stared out of the small window at the end of the hall that was my room. I turned on a lamp and looked around. It was a large room; It wasn't very wide, but it was very long. Rain pounded so hard on the window you could hear the panes rattling, but that was what I loved about storms. They send a strange wave of restless energy through my entire body, as though I am one with the clouds, thunder, and lightning. While I sat with my chin in my hands, day-dreaming of the childhood I never had, Ariah knocked on the door. For some reason, I wasn't surprised in the least bit.
"Come in," I called.
I heard the soft patter of her bare feet on the polished wood as she leisurly approached me. She stopped to set the dented silver platter with our drinks on my redwood endtable, but frowned when she saw my face.
"Mistress? Are you okay? Whenever you look like this it means something's wrong. Is there anything I can do?" she asked.
"No, no, I'm afraid not," I said to her sadly. "No one can fix this now," I added softly.
"Fix what?' she asked conceredly, stooping down to look me in the eyes.
"I... I really don't want to talk about it," I told her, shanking my head to stop the onrush of tears I could feel was coming. I didn't want to her to see it. "It's late, you should go back to bed," I said shakily, choking back the tears. The lump in my throat made it near impossible to speak. She put her hand under my chin and pushed it up so we looked eye to eye.
"Sometimes it's hard to imagine you're 24," she said, smiling and shaking her head. "But if you insist, then I'll leave." And with that, she let my head down slowly and walked out. I heard her humming as she got further away, but soon that faded into the large, quiet, emptyness in the house. Except today, it's not so empty, I thought to myself, and felt myself truly smile for the second time that night; a rare occasion for me. At least ever since that day. I heard the creak of the bathroom door and turned just as the boy walked into my room.
"Will this bed be okay?" I asked as he he walked over, gesturing to the rather large bed that sat a few feet away.
"Yeah, of course," he said. "You're sure no one will mind?" he asked as he flopped down on the bed, and the large white bathrobe that Ariah had found him ended up covering his feet.
"It won't bother anyone," I said. "Ariah will just have to make one more bed in the morning. And I wouldn't make you sleep on the floor just because of that."
"Alright," he said sleepily, stifling a yawn. As he crawled under the covers, I thought I saw something shiny at his neck catch the lamplight.
"What's that?" I asked curiously.
"What's what?" he asked innocently back, although I saw his entire body tighten up, and his hand flickered up protectively to his neck for just a second.
"Nothing," I said quickly. "It must've just been the light."
His body relaxed again, and he turned over on his side so he could face me better.
"I've been wondering," he said. "What's your name?"
"Oh! My name. I'm so sorry, we haven't even been properly introduced. I'm Catherine. Catherine Spring. You?"
"Greg," he said, sniffing the air. "Something smells good," he commented.
"That would be our drinks," I said, reaching for the blue ceramic coffe mug full of milk. I handed it to him, and picked up the teacup with steaming chamomile tea in it. He sat up and took a sip.
"Is it good?" I asked, stirring a teaspoon of sugar into my tea.
"Yeah, really good. How do you make this?" he asked curiously.
"Just boil some milk and add about a teaspoon of honey."
"That's all this is? Wow."
I sipped my tea and felt the lump in my throat slowly disappear as the hot drink gradualy made its way down my throat. We sat in silence for quite a while, just sipping our drinks. After I'd finished my tea, I too made my way under the covers of my bed.
"Going to sleep?" Greg asked me.
"Yeah," I said, reaching for the lamp.
"I'm sure you're tired. Me waking you up and all."
"No, I was up anyway."
"Oh."
He placed his unfinished mug back on the platter on the endtable, and I switched off the lamp.
"Good night," I said in little more than a whisper as exhaustion claimed my body. I hadn't been sleeping well lately, and I knew it had to catch up to me sooner or later.
"Night."