The long-awaited Ne’tib finally arrived. Sophie glanced at her reflection in the mirror and dabbed on the makeup she had applied to her face. She looked from this side to that side and then sighed. “You look beautiful.” Rhys said it from behind her. “A lot of men would dot on you today. And a lot of girls would wish they were you.” Sophie rolled her eyes. “I’m serious. But even if all the other girls became you, I would only choose you.“ He stepped closer and wrapped his arm around her. Sophie threw her head back and sighed again. They had evolved, she and Rhys, in the past five days after their fight. It seemed as though they were closer. More peace. She fished around in her bag, brought out a wet wipe, and began wiping the makeup off. Rhys stared at her in astonishment. “I seriously don’t understand your women. You spent so much time and so many hours on that face, and you will just wipe it all off without even showing it off? Then why did you put it on?” Sophie grunted.
Rhys honked the car, propelling her out of the memories she had conjured and into reality once more. They were already quite close to the market, but the traffic did not let them move. Sophie pulled out her notepad and wrote on it. “We could just find a place to park and walk to the market. We are already close enough to it.” Rhys nodded and looked behind him at the other cars that went on. How long have they been here, and there are already so many cars behind them? “It looks like we are locked in.” Rhys said, nodding towards the back. “I can’t reverse us without bumping into them.” “And we can’t leave the car here.” Sophie wrote. “I guess Brioche would have to wait.” “Your aunt might get upset.” She shrugged. “We can’t get around the traffic, and we can’t abandon the car here. I knew this much was going to happen.” She looked up to make sure that Rhys was following her hand, and when she was sure he was up to date with her, she wiped it. "Besides, she already prepared enoug
“I’m so happy to see you both again!” Raul beamed. “It's just so bad that whenever you go into that mansion, you barely notice the world outside.” Sophie laughed. “It's not like that.” She signed. “We’ve all been busy.” Raul raised his chin. “With what, mm? You would just leave your friend like that. Not one word from you both,“ he said, turning to glare at Rhys. “I am more upset with you, man. I thought we bonded that day.” He said it, feigning a hurt expression. “We just had so much to do.” Rhys chuckled. “And I know it’s definitely not related to the festival, because the festival is today, and I haven’t laid eyes on you both for weeks.” He picked out some fruits from the table, wrapped them in a paper bag, and handed them to a waiting customer. There was a crowd in his shop, and Sophie wondered how he could attend to them all and still find time to talk to them like this. “I saw your aunt out here the other day.” He said this to Sophie. “She did not look so good. I suppos
“I move most of the stuff to the basement from time to time. And I just leave others here for easy access. No one needs the room anyway. “The chair?” he reminded her. “Oh yes.” She stepped in. He followed. Despite housing so many ancient things, the room looked fairly modern. The wall painting seemed new, and the room was sparkling clean. Rhys imagines Eliana on the floor, scrubbing hard whenever she is upset. “Here.” She said, calling his attention to the wheel chair beside her. Of all the things in the room, the wheel chair would be the youngest. He grabbed the chair and began wheeling it until he was out of the door. Once he was outside, he stopped and waited for Sophie’s aunt to lock the storage room and join him. Adrian was as light as a feather. It had taken Rhys no strain to lift the man from the bed and transfer him to the chair, which Sophie’s aunt was now wheeling away. He did not see why she needed him. She could leave Adrian if she wanted. A new-born child would we
They sat facing each other. Some had forced smiles on their faces, some had fake smiles, and there were people like Sophie, Rhys, and Raul whose smiles were a mirror of their hearts. They sat on a long bench around a table packed with various assortments of food. Rhys was amazed by the festival and how they celebrated it. Each family brought with them coolers of foods and drinks, and they each laid out one delicacy on the table. And there were more tables than Rhys’ eyes could count. He had been able to count fifteen before he was distracted by a girl who hung from his arm. She appeared to be drunk, but he could not push her away. Sophie gave him the pity look and then returned her attention to Raul, who was explaining something to her animatedly. Music blasted in the background. Just sounds from locally made instruments and the occasional hooting of what Rhys believed to be a madman. Raul called it spirit music, and the hooting man was the most spiritual person they had in town
I’m sorry, man,” he said. “For coming on at you like that before, I just... don’t know. Sophie is going through a lot. You know, you’re her friend.” Raul nodded. “I am. I have been for the past twelve years or so, and one thing I know about Sophie is that you cannot make her confide in you. She prefers to go through her problems on her own, and if you want to be there for her, then you have to respect that and allow her to come to you when she wants to. At her own terms.” The noise from the festival celebration filtered into their ears. Whispering sweet tales of the pleasures they were missing. Raul was tempted to run away from here and into the crowd. He felt his body sway with the rhythm of the spirit music. He nudged Rhys with his elbow and grinned. “Lighten up, man!” He stood up and began dancing. “Its Ne’tib. We are here to celebrate life and love. Dance!” he exclaimed with a twirl of his waist. “Be happy!” Rhys laughed. Raul reminded him of a cartoon character he used to se
Death was something most humans feared. The things that came after, the uncertainty of what was beyond. Anxiety plagued them in their belief that nothing came after this existence. Yet he held onto none of those fears. He did not get the fact that once he was gone from this world, he was gone forever. All he wanted was to be gone. It did not matter what came after. He was tired of the suffering, of the shame, and of the guilt, which slowly and painfully obliterated him. He had begged for death to come faster. To end all these with one single blow to his heart. If he were stronger and his limbs were not so weak that they no longer needed his calls, he would have prayed to death until they arrived at his door. But Eliana was faster. Ahead. It was because he was here, bedridden like this. If not, what was she to him other than an annoying fly that he could easily swat away? She could not have been faster, nor would she have had the thoughts of punishing him or putting those thoughts i
The festival had been a blast. After Sophie joined them, they danced and twirled till their eyes saw double, and they lost control of their bodies. Then they joined the rest of the villagers and continued the celebration till dawn. Rhys was the first to wake up from where they had crashed into the rock. He could not remember what time they had come back here. Memories of the night were foggy and broken, but he remembered the shouting as their bodies rocked each other, the eating, and the clapping. He stumbled to the sea and retched, discharging half of the food he had eaten yesterday into the water. If food would intoxicate someone, then that was what must have happened. Or perhaps it was the drinks. His head throbbed painfully, and he held it in his hands as though that would help him get rid of the headache. He looked around; Raul and Sophie were still asleep; she placed her head on his shoulder; and the clearing in which the festival had taken place was strewn with half-fini