CH.7 Parents
751 Words
Braelynn smiled awkwardly, just that morning she had contemplated about her parents.
"Well, my biological father died when I was two as well, an illness. But I don't remember him much aside from his beard, it always tickled me."
There was no sadness in her voice compared to Wyn, she was saying it like a well-known fact. Only feeling anything when thinking about her mother,
"My mum told me that she had known my father before she had even received her mark, they had been friends in school and went to the ceremony together. It was years before I was born and my dad had always been around, especially when my father passed."
Wyn took mental notes of everything she said, finally smiling and whispering cautiously.
"Is it bad to say at least we have our fathers in common?"
They met each other's eyes and after a moment both chuckled, the air beginning to ease as they relaxed into the beanbag they were sitting on.
Downstairs they could hear the chatter and sizzling of something being cooked, the smell finding its way into Braelynn's room.
A sudden rumble from Wyn's stomach caught her attention,
"Are you hungry?"
"Very, what do you think they're making?"
Brae took a deep breath.
"Tacos."
"Tacos? How do you know?"
She gave a grin to him and held up her thumb approvingly.
"I've had it enough to know what it smells like, do you like tacos?"
He shrugged,
"Never had them."
It took her a second but remembered quickly that Claw was not like Butterfly, their greenery was tiny compared to her home so their produce was probably not the best.
She grinned and rested her arms on her knees,
"Well, today's your lucky day! My mum's tacos are the best!"
As they chuckled Braelynn's laptop pinged from her desk and awoke, illuminating their faces. She imagined it was probably people from the school congratulating her but at a closer look there was an email sent a few hours ago, drawing all her attention as she sat to open it almost forgetting entirely about Wyn who peered over.
The email caught her heart in a trance as an invisible song replayed in the background of her mind, reading it softly to herself;
"Dearest Braelynn, We are happy to inform you that you have been accepted into our early programme at Butterfly Writing Court-"
The words got cut off in her throat as tears brimmed in her eyes, the rest of the email seeming to blur.
"Brae? You okay?"
Wyn's voice made her spin to him with the largest smile she could muster, jumping out of her seat and grabbing him in an embrace. Which lasted for a moment before she pulled away awkwardly, rubbing her eyes.
"S-sorry! It's just- I got to- I'll be right back!"
Without another word to Wyn she ran out of the room and down the stairs causing a creak in the wood, her excited chatter growing louder as he followed slowly, stopping at the foot of the stairs.
He watched as Braelynn embraced her parents tightly, their looks of surprise changing to pride when she blurted out that she was accepted. Wyn's mother stood nearby with a confused but happy smile and all the while he wondered if this was what normal life was like, pure joy and pride without the nagging worry in the back of their minds about something, anything common in Claw.
Never worrying if the joy was more than a moment, he was curious what that was like. Wondered himself if he would share that with her, there was a feeling when she smiled that made him feel like he couldn't feel the ground and even his chest was still tingling from that short embrace.
Oh how desperately he wanted to feel that joy without worry for longer than a minute, to feel the safety of their home as his own.
"So sorry to ask but what are we celebrating?"
Wyn's mother asked and Braelynn jumped over to her smiling widely.
"Only the most prestigious writing court in Butterfly wants me- me! To join their early programme!"
A short silence followed before Braelynn's dad, Jase, explained.
"Brae has always been a writer, a hard worker. Butterfly Writing Court is a selection of only the best; journalists, librarians, historians, and authors. It's one of the most respected and desired things in Butterfly."
Wyn watched as Braelynn started to twirl around, her happiness making him smile.
"It's my dream!"
- Writer
