Theft and Death

At noon I decided to walk to priest's house even though it was quite a distance, humming alongside. I walked passed the old factory, whose dilapidated roof housed birds of the south 'Gash' my town's people called it. The color of their feathers changed by their emotions, if it looked black then their emotions could be detected as stable; grey depicts excitement and dark red, danger.

The little Gash that sat on a log beside the foot walk showed off its glowing grey feathers, what caused its excitement I couldn't tell. I smiled as I passed by it suddenly I heard a snap and a sharp shriek. Quickly I turned and saw the little bird lying weak on the grass, I ran to it and carried it rubbing its feathers that changed to dark red. I looked around to find the object of danger but I couldn't find any. Without hesitation I wrapped its frail body with my hair which swayed to and fro as the gentle breeze breathed. Now reader, prior to this act, my intention wasn't to experiment how my hair works in the day time. I only wanted to make sure the bird was healed. But halfway through the act, I realized part of me wanted to investigate.

Gradually the Gash's broken limbs stopped bleeding and began to heal but surprisingly its feathers still looked dark red and my hair did not glow, then I felt a presence like I was been followed. Gently I laid the cured bird on the log and jogged away, with the hope that whoever it was would lose track of me. Eventually he or she did, but I still could hear faint rapid footsteps until I got to my destination.

"Yvonne's child" priest said and made the reverence sign as he opened the door. I walked in and jumped on the furry couch, he only nodded and sighed.

Without wasting much time, I began to narrate what I saw at the site, the boys' conversation, Becca's visit and my dream about her.

"you, I and your mother will pay a visit to the site at night" priest said quietly. His mood was far from cheerful.

"you can stay here till your mother finishes from work, then I drive you home, get your mom and we move. Or you can go stay home with your new best friend" he said with a smirk which made me frown.

I spent the remaining hours glued to the couch opposite the television, munching on the apples he offered. "Casandra used to be obsessed with apples" he said. It was funny the way he spoke about her like he was there.

When it was time to leave, he handed me a little book with a green cover and without a title. He then said it was a guide on Casandra's life. Surprised I asked why a guide on her whole life '30 years' they said, was all enclosed in a little green book."it's magical. You and maybe a few others like myself with interest in it can read it, although not as good as you will. I still can't call the ink to some blank pages, so I still have a lot of unanswered questions" he said.

Confused, I kept flipping the blank pages. Then I stopped, out of the blue writings began to appear on the blank page. Surprised I gave a low scream which caused priest to chuckle.

"congrats, you just called the ink" he said.

"that what is, I open a blank page and voila writings appear?" I asked shocked.

"yes Luna" he replied.

My mother didn't object when we told her our plans, grandmother and Becca had gone to bed when we left the house. Clothed in a thick jacket, my feet threaded the fresh earth at the site with fear at first. When we got to the rock, priest suggested I use my impulse to find a page. Quietly I opened the little book till my eyes settled on a page as my mother held a flashlight for visibility.

"no one heard the mother's groan" I read to their hearing what appeared on the page.

"she crawled to the mound, wiping the mixture of sweat and tears trickling down, she put in all her strength until the little one came to earth. The child's whimper echoed through the empty lands. Trounced by weakness, it was hard to feed it until the bird of emotions flew with grapes, which she squeezed in the little one's mouth. Utilizing the tiny birthing knife, she held with her; she separated her child from the piece of flesh that was tucked below the ground after she dug the earth. Then she uttered:

Oh ye the walls of the rock

Open up when I call the one who fed the infant" I took a long breath when I concluded.

"hmm, Cassandra's birth. Legend has it that the stick her mother used to dig up the ground the placenta was buried in, holds the untranslated manuscript. The crooked stick you saw in the rock turned bubble Luna." Priest said.

"But priest you claimed to have full knowledge on the whereabouts of the manuscript, what's with the legend?" my mother asked.

"I do know because of the legend and my research, but I never paid a visit to this place, your daughter confirmed it with what she saw the other day. Now let's find how to turn it into a bubble" he answered.

Without hesitation I walked closer to the rock and placed my hand on its rough surface, the ringing sound in my ears started and slowly the rock began to change.

"it's changed" I told them

"but I cannot see a thing, except the the glow from your hair. Yvonne can you?" priest said, my mother nodded in negation.

Subconsciously I walked to them and waved my hand in front of their eyes and they exclaimed that they could now see it.

We proceeded to find a way to get in

"bird of emotions that's Gash right?" I asked

"yes" they both replied.

"look" I said pointing to the page. "it says she uttered, it means she said something. Okay let's see….... Gash fed the infant, so I think we need to say gash" I suggested.

In unison we articulated 'Gash' but nothing happened.

We tried again twice but nothing happened.

"GASHTRANDI" I said in the local tongue as I realized 'the bird who fed the infant' was the sentence. Immediately the ringing in my ears stopped and a human sized opening gradually revealed itself on the bubble.

Dear reader Soon, I will tell you what happened when we stepped into the bubble, but we obtained the old book and returned home late. I shared my bed with my mother, she claimed she wanted to avoid her mother's questioning looks when she goes to her room. I carefully hid the old book in my little closet since priest had handed it to me for safe keeping until he fortified his library.

I woke the next morning to my mother's rapid tap on my shoulder

"how did we sleep so heavy?" she said with worry. I sat up and my sleepy eyes suddenly popped open at the sight of my disorganized room, someone clearly came in looking for something when we were heavily asleep. My brain told me only one thing, hastily I jumped out of bed to my closet only to find it void of the book I placed in it at night. we searched every corner of my room to no avail. Then we proceeded to my mother's room only to find my grandmother on the floor in her own pool of blood.