Blink

Chapter 30: People change when they are hurt.

IYA'S POV.

"I hope you packed a sample of your teline project?" Mr Simpson said for probably the thousandth time. He peered at me from the driver's mirror, expecting an answer, the same answer I gave him for the past hour.

"Yes sir. It is here. Beside me" I said trying to hide the frustration in my tone.

It had been 3 months, 1 week and 3 days since Michael died and Mr Simpson was taking it rather nicely. For the first few weeks, he seemed distant, not that he hinted sadness, not that I would have been deceived that easily but that he said fewer words than normal. He didn't complain about the twins being messy as much as usual, he didn't complain about Mrs Simpson "being too nice", and he didn't even complain about the nurse being too slow. It was almost as if he didn't want anyone to accuse him of being apathetic to Micheal's death it was as if he didn't want me to accuse him.

"HEY, IYA! LOOOK!" Diana yelled behind me, jerking me away from my thoughts.

"Wh-what is it?!" I playfully responded panicky, just to satisfy the girl.

"She wanted you to see the ark statue," Stella said dryly, eyeing her sister.

"Oh-" My voice trailed away as I stared, mouth wide at the statue on the left side of the road. Calling it big was an insult to its size, it was in the least humungous, It stretched wide, in width and height, casting a dark shadow on all that was beside it.

"You know, it isn't really a statue. It is the actual ark, this one crashed so they couldn't put it in the South Minervan Museum" Mr Simpson stated, with a proud smile.

"Woahhhh," The twins said in unison.

The ark looked like a giant oval seed plunged into the ground, it strangely stood sideways, at a height of at least 600 meters indicating that more of its structure was under the ground. The surface of the ark was covered with numerous tiny rectangular boards that harshly reflected the light of the sun. It was smooth all around, with no grooves or windows, "where is its thruster? How did people get in? How did they see outside?" I thought.

"Did you know that it has no windows?" Mr Simpson added, peering at me from the driver's mirror.

"No, I didn't," I replied dryly, trying hard to hide my interest in what he was saying.

"It's truly amazing," he said proudly, looking at the ark.

"Daddy, why don't we have more arks now?" Stella asked

"Well, it's because we can't build one, it is said that Aiden himself built all the arks, and he didn't share its secret with anyone, till he disappeared," Mr Simpson said with a sigh.

"B-but couldn't they replicate the existing ones somehow?" Mrs Simpson asked timidly.

"No honey, they claim that the technology in that ship is beyond replication, though there is an ongoing project to copy it"

Mrs Simpson's cheeks turned red, she pursed her lips to hide the smile that was slowly creeping onto her face "Okay" Mrs Simpson said flatly, trying to hide the happiness in her tone.

I peered at Mrs Simpson's red face as we drove past the ark, no woman should be this happy that her husband called her 'honey' I thought, with a sigh. Mr Simpson glanced at his wife, for probably the fourth time in the last minute, then with a smile, he peered at the rest of us through his driver's mirror. His smile reminded me of the old Mr Simpson, the one that we had when I was only four feet tall, the one we had before he returned from the war.

As much as it pained me to say, Micheal's death had changed Mr Simpson, somehow. He seemed a lot nicer now, he smiled a bit more often and he seemed to manage his short temper a bit better. I just wished he'd changed when Michael was alive, Michael would have loved to see it.