normality at its best

four

'waste of time' alex the astronaut

I awoke to the sweetest sound of chattering birds and a stretch of sunshine falling on my exposed skin. My eyes opened to see the lovely interior of the room in Falstone. The reason why I had escaped the London noise returned to me, and the faint pain in my chest and throat returned when I realised that I wouldn't walk into kitchen to see Alex already up, laughing and cooking breakfast. I rose and dressed out of my weekend bag that sat beside the little bed. My phone read eight o'clock in the morning. I wandered down stairs to see if anyone was awake. Kieran was up, boiling water on the old fashioned wood stove. We muttered our good mornings, sent each other smiles, then I confessed to him that I had my heart set on a quick walk about the countryside.

"I'll wake up granddad at about nine, if you're back around then breakfast should be ready."

I saluted comically, then pulled my woolly cardigan tight around my shoulders and stepped into the cool morning.

My breath rose in front of me, though the sunshine was warming. When the wind blew it certainly felt icy, but a thin path trailing down the small rise that held the house like a crown atop it was protected, so the walk became really quite nice. The trail dawdled into a small copse of trees, through which, I soon found, a thin stream sprinted, shimmering like precious metal in the sun. I paused here, taking a sip from the rapids as they hurried over the rocks. I felt so alive, and almost all my pain and worries were forgotten as I inhaled British countryside. I then realised that in all my enjoyment of the walk I had not really noticed how long it took me too walk here. The journey was at least twenty minutes each way, meaning that Henry would be waking soon and therefore I ought to be back shortly, in time for breakfast. I returned to the track and a while later, to the warmth and the food of the kitchen and the company.

The air blew off the water of the lake and raised the skin on my bare legs. I did not regret the dress though. Alex herself spotted it while we were wandering through Camden Markets one day. It was a quirky vintage find that cost me six pounds but felt like it should have been worth so much more. Particularly since she asked me to wear it to her wedding or her funeral.

"Whatever comes first" She winked.

The three of us stood on a small point that sat out into the water of the lake, where a pile of stones had previously been constructed. There was a large rock a little closer to the water where Alex used to sit and daydream about adventure. It was here that we would be releasing her into the free arms of the wind, water and earth.

"She was always a free spirit, though her body did not allow her." Henry was speaking.

"And she was always destined for greatness. Indeed, she was a queen in her own right, though the people never knew her name. She was a family type, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't introduce others into her family."

His attention fell on me here, our gaze veiled by the droplets in our eyes.

"Alexandra, my darling, the kindest girl to grace the earth with her footsteps. She's beyond us now, and we will release her from our embrace to the freedom of the wind."

He turned to Kieran, to ask him if would like to speak. As Kieran began, I couldn't help but think about Henry's words. The world should have known her name. Cathedral bells should be ringing, entire nations suffering from her loss. But instead she had three of us, the closest people to her in the world, on a tiny spearhead of land by a lake.

"Marley? Would you like to say something?"

The voice cut into my thoughts and I looked up at him and Henry. Then I cleared my throat.