"Did you find it?" I had Georgia on speaker phone, led on Dad and Julia's bed.
"No," I responded, wading my way through boxes in their wardrobe. The shuffling of boxes almost made me mute. "Nothing."
"I should come and help you," Georgia spouted. "I'm a Hufflepuff, we're good finders."
Rolling my eyes, I groaned at her. "If you say so,"
Despite my efforts on trying to find the second tape, it was nowhere to be seen. It was like the tape had heard the first tape being played, grew legs and ran away to Las Vegas -- all in the space of a few hours.
Panting, I gently jogged downstairs, leaving Georgia on the phone.
"What are you looking for?" Dad grumbled from his normal chair.
A million emotions ran through my body, racing each other to get to my brain. Hurt was in 1st place, followed by disappointment in 2nd, and anger in 3rd. Clenching my fists, I decided to ignore the race of feelings growing inside of my head, and smiled towards him. The little he knew about what I knew, the better.
"Some old school stuff," Nice thinking, Eleanor. "Do you know where my leaver's shirt is?"
His stress lines suddenly disappeared and a smile curved in replace of a frown. The smile I knew and absolutely adored. "They are in your shoe box, remember?"
"Ah, yes," I snapped my fingers, with a false, enthusiastic tone. "Thank you."
As I turned to leave, relieved that my Dad was suddenly submissive, he hadn't quite finished. "I'm glad that you're chirpier, Eleanor, it makes me happy. You make me happy, you know that?"
My lip quivered with all of the things I could say. The harsh, angry kisses I could plant on his forehead. The snappy pecks that could be blown in his direction. But I chose differently. I chose to be elegant -- something my father had lost to booze. Faking a smile, I turned and held onto the door frame for both physical and emotional support. "I know, Dad. You make me happy too."
My feet found their way into the kitchen, to greet Julia. She was slaving away, yellow rubber gloves strapped to her hands; doing the dishes. Her face was all scrunched up, and she made odd noises when one of her gloved fingers touched wet food.
Pulling her aside, I whispered gently into her ear. "Have you told him yet?"
She replied almost instantly, after removing her gloves. "He is in a good mood today, so, I will tell him tonight."
I nodded in agreement before letting her continue with the dishes. A small, genuine smile crept onto my face for the first time in centuries, as I casually danced up the stairs, and back to Georgia. The long day eventually ended, with the sun fading into the horizon at 8 PM. As I laid on my bed, staring at the sleepy sun paint the sky with a creamy pink colour, the conversation with Georgia came to a close. My heart frowned as I clicked the hang up button, leaving the sun and me alone. It's melting rays acted like the sky's orange stained tears, as if it was crying. My hands found their way to my shirt, gently lifting it and exposing my stomach. I circled my fingers over the non-existent baby bump, imagining the baby mimicking my actions from my womb.
"Hi," I whispered to my naked stomach. Was this weird? "My name is Eleanor," My stomach began to throb slightly, making me grin from ear to ear. "Don't call me Mum though, I kinda have mummy issues."
"Eleanor," Julia's voice rang with brutal fear, as it ran up the stairs and into my room. "Come down here please."
Tugging down on my shirt as quickly as I could, my heart boomed within my chest. You could probably hear it from the other side of the room.
YOU ARE READING
The Man on the Moon (The Man Duology)
Teen Fiction"If the man stayed on the sun for the entirety of his life and completely ignored the moon -- his happiness would soon burn out. If the man stayed on the moon and ignored the sun, his life would be dark and full of craters. However, if the man was t...
