SLUMBERING

We left when it was half past eight and I was feeling tired from not sleeping the previous night. I slept for most of the ride back home and woke up to go to my room when we got home. My new siblings wanted to see me try on the clothes but I was far too tired to do so and promised to show them in the morning. When morning came I first took a cold shower and changed into my own clothes that had been brought to the room and then I went to join them for breakfast.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." Michael said as I sat down next to him.

"Morning." I replied smiling at him.

"You must have been very tired. I'm sure you slept like a log." I heard Ray chuckle.

"Yes. I fell with a thud." I added,"Good morning mom and dad."

"Morning. I was wandering when you would greet your parents." Sam answered smiling back at me.

"Morning." Bella answered also smiling,"Did you sleep well?"

I nodded and she nodded too. Breakfast was mostly quiet with only Sam and Bella speaking in hushed voices that no one else heard.

"Maybe he should join Felicia's school. Ray will distract him." Sam whispered to his wife.

"But he'll be more comfortable with Ray." Bella insisted,"He is just settling in."

"I want to be with Ray dad." I jumped in and they looked at me like they were considering it.

"You have good ears. Your half-deaf siblings never hear a thing." Sam said smiling,"I'll think about it kiddo."

Something about the way he said that made it obvious that he did not want me and Ray to be in the same school but I'm hoping Bella will convince him. He seems to love his wife very much. When breakfast was done the others took me upstairs again to start showing them the clothes I had gotten the previous day and I did so without complaint knowing that they had waited to see the clothes. I put on every outfit and from their facial expressions I can tell that they were not too impressed with what I chose for casual clothes but they seemed to be more interested when it came to the suits.

"You picked them yourself, didn't you?" Estella asked with a knowing smile.

"Yes I did." I answered.

"You are very lucky that dad did not choose the suits for you." she continued to say and Celine nodded as well.

I have noticed that Felicia, Michelle and David a very quiet but that is not a problem they'll talk to me when they become more comfortable.

"You should see my suits." Michael said with a sad tone and everyone laughed but I remained just smiling because I do not know what they're laughing about.

When we were done checking out my clothes they said they wanted to show me around the neighborhood. I was very excited to be meeting new people and it was a good thing because all their neighbors were great people. We even run into Mr Tris on our way back home. I greeted him and he responded to me with the same calmness as from the day before.

"You should come by my house soon; my grandson wants to be friends with you." Mr Tris said.

I smiled that him and nodded my head.

"I'll be sure to do that. When is the best time to come by?"

"Anytime you're free. He's always home unless on school days of course." he answered.

I nodded again and bid him farewell. When we got home I was feeling unnaturally tired but I couldn't go to bed as I wanted to help Bella who was helping out the woman from yesterday; the one with the vase. I did not make my presence known and they didn't hear me come in. I didn't want to go close to the

cooking area because I have no knowledge of cooking so instead of cooking I went to do the dishes. I moved the fragile glass plates quickly but quietly but one of the slipped from my hands and it fell to the ground, shattering on impact.

I heard collective gasps from the two women and saw how Bella's eyes looked slightly alight with anger as she looked down at the pieces of glass. She looked up at me and I saw how her anger subsided and she looked at me like I was a little boy.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" the other woman asked walking towards me to take the plates that were still in my hands.

"I'm fine. I'll dry them. You don't have to....."

"We can finish this Dee. You don't have to help." Bella said.

Everytime Bella looks at me I can see sadness in her eyes. Maybe she was just pretending to want me in the house because of Ray and her husband but I could see that she wasn't happy about having another child. I nodded my head slowly and left the kitchen. Immediately after I stepped out, I heard some whispers. I didn't want to concentrate on them because I knew what it was about so I just left immediately and headed upstairs to my room. The room was a little cold because I had been out for most of the morning and I had left the windows wide open. Apparently, it is almost winter here and I'm thinking about how I can still be admitted in school when it's this late in the year. Right now I miss Penelope and Riley. I miss them a lot. I did not realize when I fell asleep but when I woke up, the sky had already changed from clear blue to reds and oranges which told me that evening was approaching.

I got down from the bed and walked to the door but before I could open it someone else opened it from the other side. There was a short man standing with an aghast expression and I'm very sure he isn't from this neighborhood. I can tell from how the man was dressed that he was a doctor. His expression of shock disappeared and he suddenly looked delighted to see me so I smiled at him.

"He is awake!" the man called out and I heard some loud footsteps coming up the stairs.

After about a minute, Sam and Bella came into view followed by their seven children. Bella run straight towards me and hugged me; a long and sad pleading one and she burst into tears. I was a little shocked when she did that but I returned the hug anyway. When she pulled away from me I asked her,

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean 'what's wrong'? You've been asleep for a week now!" she exclaimed crying profusely.

A week? What are they talking about? I looked at the doctor questioningly and he just nodded as if affirming that I really had been asleep for a week. I staggered behind a few steps and it seemed to make everyone panic.

"I'm fine...I'm just shocked." I assured them.

"Now think about how we felt seeing you lying in there like a corpse!" Felicia shouted also bursting into tears,"We were so scared and worried!"

At that very moment Penelope and Riley came into view; panting heavily as they had come here running.They also had the same expression as everyone else and all I could do is smile at everyone reassuringly.

"I'm really fine. Don't worry." I said rubbing Bella's back to calm her down but instead she cried even more.

"Then why did you sleep this long? Everyone came to wake you up but we got no response. The doctors had no idea what was wrong with you!" Sam said coming closer to me.

He hugged me tightly and I pulled Bella closer so we could both hug Sam.

"I don't know.".I answered.

"It must be the shock from losing your family a week ago." the doctor suggested thoughtfully,"We will need to give him a full examination."

"If you found nothing wrong with me before then that will be pointless." I said glancing at Rose and Rilili.

"Just take the tests kiddo....for formality's sake." Sam said.

We broke the hug and he looked me straight in the eye and I felt compelled to agree with him. I looked at everyone else and walked back into my room and the doctor followed me in. The tests were useless. Still nothing wrong with me.

"It doesn't make sense." the doctor grumbled to himself,"There is no way that nothing is wrong with you. No normal person sleeps for a week. You didn't even move to use the bathroom or eat let alone turn over in your sleep!"

"You can leave. I'm absolutely fine." I told him.

The last thing I want is to end up being a lab-rat. This once happened after I had lost my fiancee. I had slept for three days but not a whole week. It could be my body reacting to the polluted environment or me missing home. I don't remember dreaming or anything. The doctor shook his head and he started packing his things in a briefcase. I was about to walk towards the door when I felt my back tingle as my wings wanted to emerge. I slammed my back against the wall and the man looked at me with alarm.

"I think I'm pressed now." I said laughing at I moved towards the bathroom with my back still tightly pressed to the wall.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah. You should go now."

Before he could say anything else I bolted to the bathroom and locked the door. My wings ripped open my shirt as they finally emerged. No doubt he heard the loud windy sound and the sound of my wings slapping against the wall.