Chapter 18: An Imperfect Prologue

  Something was off.

  Someone was standing by his bed and watching over him. Perhaps they were turning over a knife in their hand, carefully analysing which part of his body to strike to finish him once and for all.

  Felix rolled over and cracked open an eye. His heart skipped a beat when he saw a pair of eyes staring down at him. They caught the light of the dimmed nightlights in the room and shimmered a brilliant blue. He inhaled sharply. “Leonhart, what is it?”

  An eight-year-old Leonhart looked up at him with large puppy eyes. “I peed on the bed...”

  Felix yawned widely and slipped on his shirt. Shuffling towards the cabinet, he took out a fresh set of pyjamas and helped her change. His eyelids nearly fluttered shut, but he shook his head to keep them up. “Wake me up if you want to go to the toilet, alright? Don’t do that… again,” he said before he yawned widely. I’ll seriously die from a heart attack one day.

  Leonhart giggled and bounded towards her bed. As Felix was about to settle in once more, a hardcover book and a bean bag dog plopped on his lap. Leonhart tapped the tips of her index fingers together. “I wanna sleep here,” she said.

  “Why aren’t you sleeping in your bed?” he asked and helped her up.

  “Didn't I tell you? It's wet…”

  Felix groaned inwardly and let Leonhart snuggle up to him. He was not in the mood for changing out wet sheets. Leonhart hugged her stuffed dog close to her and waited eagerly. “Jack and the Beanstalk? You always pick this,” he said as he cracked open the book.

  “That’s because you won’t read me anything else.” She pointed at the stack of books she had filched from the Athenaeum with her lower lip stuck out.

  I don’t even understand half of what you’re reading! Felix sighed inwardly. “Next time, okay?”

  “You always say that, but you don’t ever read them.”

  “Okay, fine, tell you what,” he said, and put the book away. “I have another story for you.”

  “Really?”

  “Mm.”

  “You hear that, Gauss? There’s a new story for us!” Leonhart chirped, fiddling with the toy’s floppy ears.

  Felix reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a headband to push the hair out of his face. He had been growing it out for a different look. “This story is about… three sparrows and a loquat tree,” he started, only to be swiftly interrupted by Leonhart.

  “No book?”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I wrote it in my head.”

  Felix shifted so that Leonhart could rest her head on his chest. “Once upon a time, there were two sparrows living in a loquat tree. They were very happy birds-”

  “But you said there were,” Leonhart paused and held up three short fingers, “thw-ree!”

  “I’m not there yet.” Felix ruffled her hair affectionately. Leonhart was exceptionally sharp. Thankfully, she was as innocent as ever. “Anyway, there were two sparrows. One day, they found another sparrow under the tree. It was always looking up at them, but it never flew to join them. Instead, it hopped around in the grass patch under the tree.”

  “It must be a very shy bird.”

  “Mhm. You see, this sparrow had a unique feather on its wing. A golden one, in fact. All the other animals in the tree were talking about it. Bugs, birds and even the moss in the bark. They weren’t mean, just curious. The little sparrow with the little golden feather hid in the tall grass and lived on the loquats that fell from the tree.”

  Felix sighed. He had no idea how he was coming up with this story. It flowed out of him as though he had narrated it a thousand times. “The two sparrows flew down and said, ‘The loquats up here are tastier! Come on up!’ ”

  “Did the shy sparrow say yes?”

  “It didn’t take much persuasion before the shy sparrow finally flew up into the tree. The three sparrows became best friends. ‘Come, let’s share the sweet, sweet fruits!’ they said. The loquat tree started bearing horribly sour loquats for it. On the outside, the fruits were golden and ripe, but when the sparrows ate them, they tasted like shit--"

  Felix caught himself. His emotions had bled into the story meant for a kid. But Leonhart did not seemed to mind. Taking a deep breath, he continued, "The other two sparrows did not understand what was going on, as the loquats had always tasted fine before the shy sparrow joined.”

  “That tree is a meanie!”

  “The shy sparrow did not mind. It was grateful that it had a place to stay. It tended to it, pulling out dried leaves and eating up the little worms that tried to ruin the tree.”

  Felix sighed again and covered his eyes with his arm. “But then one day, the tree bore a poisonous fruit. It was golden but bled foul, red liquid. The shy sparrow knew about it and avoided it. It begged the others not to go near it. However, the sparrow king–”

  “There’s a king now?”

  “Yes, the sparrow king is uh… a quiet guy…”

  “Okay…”

  “Of course, the sparrow king ate it and died. Enraged, the other sparrows blamed the shy sparrow. ‘You poisoned it! The fruits were better before you came!’ they cried. The louquat tree turned on the shy sparrow. Its branches trapped it in a prison where it could not eat or dr–”

  Felix stopped himself. Leonhart suddenly became very quiet. She held the stuffed toy close to her, burying her nose into it.

  “Are you alright? Sorr–”

  “Go on, I want to hear more.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Felix exhaled and continued the tale. “The two sparrows came together, pecking at the mean loquat tree until it decided to let the shy sparrow go. When the little sparrow recovered, it cried, ‘Why? Why me?’ Then, it decided to fly away. No one ever saw it again.”

  “Did the two friend sparrows miss it?” Leonhart asked softly through half-closed eyes.

  Felix did not answer for a long while. He could feel Leonhart slowly drifting to sleep, judging by her breath against his skin. It was a bad habit of hers to breathe through her mouth. He gently closed her mouth and eased into his pillow. When he finally spoke up, she was sound asleep, inhaling through her nose.

  “T-They…” Felix had to bite down on his lower lip to stop himself. “The two sparrows missed it terribly. When the shy sparrow left, the skies kept crying. The rain hasn’t stopped since.”

  ===

  Eyes of grief, when will they know reprieve?