Norah & Daniel

Chapter-9

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I was lying on the bed watching the ceiling which had a faint glow on it telling me that it was almost time for sunrise outside.

I rubbed my burning eyes to relax them. All through the night, I kept waking up after small durations and now the tiredness was making every inch of my body hurt and my brain felt as if it was made of lead.

Quietly, I shifted on my side and picked up my phone from the bedside table. As I pressed the power button, the screen lit up and flashed that it was 5:17 a.m.

I was about to get out from the bed without making any noise but my stomach decided to defy me and growled loudly. Exhaling, I look over to Shay to see if I had disturbed her but found her sleeping peacefully. My eyes narrowed at the area around her closed eyelids which looked puffy and red.

She had been crying.

I decided that I would ask her later about it and left the room, tip-toeing on my way out. I headed to the kitchen to find something to eat. Searching through the cabinets, I picked a packet of foreign looking chips and a bottle of water.

Sebastian was fast asleep on the couch of the central area wrapped in his blanket and looking like a cocoon.

I unlatched the front door and walked out in the fresh morning air.

The sky was just about to be fully illuminated by the sunrays in a few minutes, and the morning breeze felt like bliss against my skin. Sitting on the porch steps, I closed my eyes feeling their weariness.

After sensing the presence of someone, I opened my eyes to find Daniel walking out of the woods with a camera in his hand and his eyes towards its screen. He paused walking and looked up to me.

"Why are you up so early?" he asked walking up to the porch and standing in front of me.

He was still wearing the same clothes as the previous day and his eyes looked a little swollen which I surmised was because of the lack of sleep. His hair look disorganised but he still managed to look cute in a complete 'straight out of bed' way.

"I am usually a morning person," I said and then pointed towards the camera in his hand. "I thought the picture thing ended yesterday."

He scratched the back of his head with a hesitant look. "I couldn't sleep so I went outside to take some pictures."

"So you're into photography? Can I see them?" I asked and then patted the ground beside me signalling him to sit with me.

"They're not anything great or so. It's just something I like to do when I'm bored." He handed me the camera and settled on the steps.

I shuffled through the gallery section of the camera which had around 50 pictures. Some of them were of the early morning sky with birds, some were of the silent looking forests while others showed the beauty of the ocean in early hours of the day. The pictures were definitely way better than what Daniel had said. All of them seemed to have a certain life and looked as if they were captured at the perfect moment.

"You have some real talent in photography. These are absolute perfection, Dan. Especially this one, it's my favorite." I leaned towards him and showed him the picture I was talking about.

The image was taken standing near the edge of the cliff, the same on which we went to the previous day. The sky was still in twilight phase, giving just enough light to make everything partially visible while a huge wave of the ocean was about to hit the shore. The whole scene looked as if it belonged to a glossy photography magazine.