Daddy strode across the sidewalk to reach me and then crouched down to my eye level. My eyes met his, and he raised an eyebrow at me.
"A snail?" he said.
I adjusted my black skirt as I crouched to look at a brown snail on the concrete. It retracted itself completely into its shell when I picked it up, my hand angling the animal overhead with its shell facing the bright morning sun.
"That's a garden snail," said Daddy, "They live almost everywhere... Deserts, swamps, on top of a mountain, and even in sea trenches. They're very diverse and quite resilient too. Though, if you remove its shell, the snail is no different than any slug you find."
"Can I remove the shell, Daddy?" I said, looking at Daddy with a huge smile on my face.
"Um, the snail grows with its shell, so it makes up a part of the animal. You will hurt it if you try to separate it from its shell. Besides, the reason snails even have shells is that it doesn't want children like Ava to peek inside."
"Eh? B-But I want to see what's inside..."
Daddy raised an eyebrow. "We can try to find a picture book about snails."
"Yay!"
We did go to the bookstore and even asked the cashier about it, but they didn't have much choice when it came to picture books. So instead, Daddy bought me a middle-grade fiction novel.
At night, as Mommy tucked me into bed, she pulled out the novel Daddy bought in the morning and read a few paragraphs of it. Mommy wasn't reading it to me but rather, she wanted to find out what kind of novel I was reading.
"So this novel is about a boy who goes on an adventure with his... talking book," said Mommy after she closed the novel.
"Um, I didn't know what kind of voice his book has, so I imagined Mommy's voice when I read it."
"My voice?"
"Y-Yes. Because the book always accompanies the boy at night until he sleeps. The book is like Mommy. A protector!"
"Hehe." Mommy put away the novel and then kissed my forehead. "Then, how about your Daddy? Did you imagined his voice when you read about the boy?"
"Yup! It would be strange if I imagined someone else's voice for the boy. I mean, Mommy and Daddy love each other very much. Daddy never stops saying that he loves Mommy."
"Haha. I see. Do you love Mommy, Ava?"
I nodded repeatedly. "Of course! Um, Mommy can be scary at times, but everything Mommy does is for my sake. It's because of Mommy that I know when to stop playing and go study, and restrict myself from, um... sleeping all day. I have hobbies because Mommy encouraged me to have some and that's why... that's why I love Mommy."
Mommy giggled and wrapped her arms around me and I returned the gesture as well. I could feel her warmth as she patted my back gently.
"Mommy loves you too. I always forgot how mature you've become... And here I am wanting you to be my little girl and never grow up."
"But I want to become an adult! Then I can work and we can have more money."
"Ava..." Mommy stared at me with her eyebrows drew together. In the next moment, her nose touched my forehead and she tickled my sides. A peal of untrammeled laughter followed afterward, my hands tried its best to push her away. She stopped after a while and ran her fingers through my hair.
"There are some things that can be achieved if you put in the effort. Even if you fail, don't stop and keep trying. You will get there. And... Ava, there will be times when you have to make difficult decisions all by yourself, and Mommy and Daddy won't be there for you."
"Why...?" I asked.
"..."
As I looked at Mommy, tears welled up in her eyes before it streaked down her cheeks. A teardrop fell to the floor, and I could not help but asked Mommy if I said anything that hurt her.
"...Remember, Ava. Even if the whole world is against you, we'll always be by your side and support you however we can. Mommy and Daddy love you very, very much, and that will never change."
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I opened my eyes and caught the sight of a ceiling fan up above rotating ever so slow. My hands put away the blanket covering me and I stood up from my bed, trying to remember the dream I had.
"Oh, it's five o'clock already," I said while looking at a cuboid-shaped digital table clock on my study table.
I was feeling sleepy after lunch so I decided to take a nap, but the fact that I'd slept for four hours miffed me. Normally, when I didn't have anything in particular to do, I would try to draw on my sketchbook or read some books I hadn't read yet. When the thought came to mind, I searched for my sketchbook in the room.
"Uh, ānisa. What are you searching for?"
Ayesha walked into the room with clothes hung on their hangers in one hand and a mug of hot chocolate in the other.
"Oh, there it is—I was looking for my sketchbook."
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She handed me the mug and then flipped through the sketchbook in my hand, stopping at a few drawings which caught her interest. I changed into the cotton plaid one-piece dress she brought with her before she tied my hair.
Ayesha gathered my hair at the crown and split it into three different sections. She crossed the right section over the middle section and repeated it with the left section as well. Still holding the sections with both hands, she pulled more hair from the sides to add to the right and left sections before making the crossover once again. Patiently, she repeated these motions until her fingers reached the portion below the scalp, and twisted the rest into a braid.
"This is... a french braid?" I said.
"Jessica and I talked about what kind of hairstyle would suit ānisa the best and came up with this. But I made a slight variation to it."
Ayesha pulled at the strands of my french braid outwards until she was satisfied with how I looked in the mirror.
"The braid looks fuller this way. Do you like it?" asked Ayesha.
"This... Oh..." I found myself staring at the mirror for a good few minutes, enraptured by the intricate yet beautiful hairstyle.
"Are you hungry, ānisa?"
I nodded at her in response. We walked out into the corridor and were on our way to the kitchen when a blonde man approached us. He had blue eyes, his hair tied into a short ponytail. After we held each other's gaze for a few moments, he adjusted his hickory-brown jacket and shifted to look at Ayesha.
"Gawain," said Ayesha, "How are they?"
The man's mouth parted, and closed after a few moments. He then cast a quick glance in my direction.
"We'd done everything we could. For now, they're stable and we have an adequate supply of clean clothes and water for them, so it should be fine for the rest of our days here on this island."
"Oh, that's good to hear. I wish I could help more but..."
Gawain dismissed Ayesha's statement with a wave of his hand. "We have it under control... More importantly, Ayesha, the Boss is at the entrance right now with the others. It seems like they're taking in more civilians the Second and Third Squad rescued."
"I'll check with Za'im if there's anyone I need to tend to among them. Anyway, are you heading off somewhere?" asked Ayesha with a frown.
"It's Jessica. She wants me in the control room."
Ayesha smiled at this and then giggled with one hand over her mouth. I tilted my head, repeating what Gawain had said in my mind.
"Yesterday, she spilled her coffee and it ruined the battle reports on her desk," said Ayesha, "So I helped her salvaged what we could from the pile of paper and printed out the ones we couldn't save. And, it happened the day before that too, when she segregated some reports wrong and got it mixed."
"...Has she been a bother to you?" asked Gawain, his head lowered slightly.
"No. Not even once. Jessica is always this kind of person who's awkward when doing her job, but she's very passionate. Don't you think so too?"
"I suppose she's just clumsy... Oh right, I need to get going."
Gawain walked past us and I watched his back just before our eyes met again. Did he want to say something to me? This question popped up in my head but Gawain tore his gaze away at the last minute, leaving me and Ayesha in the hallway.
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"Richarde, are we really going to win against them?"
"It just seems impossible. Your men are very few compared to those soldiers."
"Are we not getting any signal yet? Where's the Canadian Armed Forces when we need them? The Royal Canadian Navy? Their coastal defense vessels must've found out about our situation already! We've been left out from the outside world for four days now, so the Army must be coming, right!? Where are they!?"
The few dozen citizens at the base's parking lot argued with Grandpa and his friends when Ayesha and I arrived.
"Richarde! Why are they doing this to us!?" said a woman carrying a baby in her arms, "How can the government not know? Have they not heard? Those people are unbelievable. We're being attacked by terrorists right now!!"
The civilians circled Grandpa and his few friends and hollered their questions at them, wanting to know why they languished under this situation in the first place. The baby in the woman's arms started to fidget and sobbed, and shortly after, the baby cried as a man pushed forward and clasped Grandpa's shirt. Seeing that, Ayesha strode to Grandpa's side, her eyes glared at the man threatening Grandpa.
I'd never seen Ayesha like this before. She had a veritable scowl on her face and her fists clenched to a point where her fingers turned red.
"Stop this!" said Jeremy as he pushed the man trying to get in Grandpa's face with considerable force. Both him and Inghild, along with a few others, kept holding down those hostile civilians from getting near Grandpa.
Once Ayesha reached Grandpa, she glared daggers at a woman who got near him, and the said woman took a few steps back in response.
"Everyone!" said Grandpa, his voice raised.
The civilians and Grandpa's friends halted and turned to look at Grandpa.
"I understand your fears and concerns about what is happening right now. Our beloved Sea-Maiden Island is being attacked and no communication whatsoever can be made to the outside world. Even after three days, there's still no sign of the government doing anything to help us. But don't lose hope! We can drive them off with our own strength, and after that, we can finally get help from the mainland. This is a promise I make to all of you."
Grandpa's speech managed to placate the civilians a fair bit, and they were willing to follow Jeremy and Inghild inside the base afterward. Ayesha stayed by Grandpa's side and conversed with him for a few minutes before I walked up to him.
"...Ava," he said, pausing his conversation with Ayesha.
"Grandpa, Mommy and Daddy are with them, right?" I said, looking in the direction where the rescued civilians had gone to. "Where are they? They must've arrived earlier and I missed them."
Ayesha bit her lip and lowered her head upon hearing my question. Grandpa, however, sighed and crouched to my eye level with one hand on my shoulder.
"Alicia and Bart aren't with them. We haven't found them yet."
"..."
"Ava, its... Everything that's happening up until now is complicated. Let me be frank with you, our drones as of right now haven't picked up any sight of them anywhere. My friends went out day after day to rescue the civilians trapped in their homes, and... um, even they haven't seen your parents."
"..."
"I tried, Ava. Grandpa tried his best but..."
"...But, you said you'll find them. Grandpa's a liar... You said you'll find them! !You said you'll find Mommy and Daddy!"
Ayesha and Grandpa had a harrowed look on their face as tears streamed down my cheeks. They promised, they'd promised! Why would you make a promise if you could not keep it!?
"Ava, I tried—"
"Go away!!"
I pried Grandpa's hand away from my shoulder—when a pair of deep red claws with jagged surface sprouted out from the back of my hands. Grandpa hastily distanced himself away from me along with Ayesha. But I didn't care. I just wanted to see Mommy and Daddy again, and at that time with the overflowing emotions welling up inside, this was all which mattered to me.
"Go away! Liar! You're all a liar!!" I hollered.
The claws let out a deafening shriek as if it understood my sadness. My feet sidled to the sliding door leading to the corridors inside, and I turned my back against those two. The claws dissolved into thin air the moment I reached my room, and just then, an announcement blared through the ceiling speakers.
"Attention all members of Le Morte D'Angharad in the base! Soldiers belonging to the Great Corporate United have been sighted about five-hundred meters away. Go to the control room and prepare to fight! I repeat..."
Hearing the announcement, I stopped my tracks and looked up at the ceiling, my eyes opened wide.
"...They're here."