Hiraeth Of The Heart (Tweek X Craig)

Chapter 24, Language

***Translations at end***

A gentle hand brushed my shoulder blade, bringing a warming comfort as it went.  A smile digging deep into my snow-kissed cheeks as I whipped my head around. 
"Grandpa."  I whispered through a giggle. 
Leaves crunched slightly beneath his feet as he bent down behind the tall grass to match my squating position.  His white hair dusted with snow - the exposure of lights mixing perfectly, his nose and cheeks a contrasted vibrant pink to his blue eyes, and crows-feet wrinkles forming from a warm smile.

"Do you know what animal you're spying on, Tweekster?"

Turning my attention back to my subject with a smile still plastered on my face.

"It's a cat."

A low chuckle rumbled heartily through his chest.

"A Lynx." He corrected, giving my hair a tussle. "But close enough.  Hardily ever see them out in the fields."

My eyes squinted as I hummed shallowly, letting my eyes glue to the animal.  It's brown and white furred cheeks sported heavy-white whiskers.  The ears twitched suggestively, and it's jaw pulled open wide in a shaky yawn; beautiful yellow eyes sparkling through a squint, and snow encasing its body, framing it's lean, slender build.

"It's pretty, isn't it?"

I glanced around to Grandpa, scrunching my face,  "It's a boy."

A finger poking my forehead in a teasing manner. 
"That doesn't mean it can't be pretty."  The man's lips thinned in a smile.

Mine followed in a similar manner - showing two newly missing baby teeth and a goofy smile.

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The warm memory clouded my thoughts, nearly distracting me from the sequenced turbulence occurring every few minutes.  I didn't think about the news.  I didn't want to.
Thinking about it means accepting it; accepting the loss of one of the few people in this world with a heart made of liquid gold.  No way.

The flight from Colorado to Sweden was scheduled to last nearly 8 hours, and that it did.  My heart skipped a beat thinking about returning to my old home.  Gothenburg was truly the happiest place on earth for me, yet this was probably the furthest from happy I could be.  Knowing the wooden mansion I'd return to would be empty of him left a boot-sized hole in my stomach.

Craig had slipped past security using his special little trick.  Of course my mom was too distracted with desperately clinging to me to really notice, I didn't much mind it. It was obvious that this was breaking her as much as the next person.

Six hours into the flight and no one had breathed more then a sigh, let alone spoke.

It was a given that I'd sit with Craig, and Mom would be seated with Dad - but things don't always play out consistently, and those were just one of those things.  Dad and Craig had, for the most part, been silent; looking back from my spot I had seen the both of them slouched sadly while watching Dukes of Hazard.  Truly ironic; That movie was practically one hour and forty-seven minutes of raw comedy.

Mom had rested her head on my shoulder in an attempt to sleep through the rest of the flight, although I caught her twitching her eyes open to silently peek up at me every once in a while, but she eventually did fall asleep.  The fish-eyed scenery swept past the smudged window.  Open fields doused in snowy terrain, forests, lakes, and hills splotched in the distance. The sun shadowing the dark clouds, and a formidable purple and red dusted the sky - It truly made the view look as somber and nostalgic as it had felt.