by Namita Singh
have none. I resist from saying that out loud, letting ourselves peacefully fall into oblivion.
11.The Taradiddles
I wake up from my blissful sleep only to feel another kind of bliss. The air is heavy with a pleasant vivacity, the sensations of which are incessantly overwhelming me on the positive end. I can essentially feel each of my muscles humming in compliance with the mollification my mind is under. It’s placating, not to mention downright relaxing. Who wouldn’t want to have such mornings every day? In such a relaxed and appeasing stance that even a simple thought of ‘I am awake’ can cause me such deluging peacefulness. As if I couldn’t have been luckier than I am at right this moment to be capable of feeling the irrepressible vigor of the palpable waves that are drowning my senses.
My whole room seems to be saturated by the pleasant aura of my partner.
I take a deep breath, enjoying this. Gay or not, I am not ashamed to admit that I really, really fancy the aura of my partner. I open my eyes to find Neal sitting crossed legged right next to me. His hair is all over the place, his t-shirt, no, my t-shirtthat he is wearing is askew and his eyes are droopy, indicating he hasn’t been up for a long time. Again, I do not care how gay that sounds but I could really get used to with waking up like this, even if I have to see a man’s face beside me every morning. Neal is not that bad looking anyways. I resist the sudden urge to stretch my arm and touch him. A simple touch can make me feel ten times better than I am already feeling but I still don’t want to explain this early in the morning regarding why I am touching him. Not to mention that that’ll be just downright gay.I shift a little, getting more comfortable in my spot, and enjoying his aura cowering me in such concentration. My slight movement brings me to the notice of my partner. Neal turns his head towards me andsees me awake. He opens his mouth to say something and I prepare myself to feel his aura reverberate with his words-
“You snore.”
…And just like that I am snapped out of my peaceful oblivion.
Trust Neal to ruin a moment.
I roll my eyes and robotically get up from the bed. “Good morning to you too.” I grumble to Neal, making him chuckle slightly. I almost make it to my bathroom when my steps halt. I frown, turning around. Neal is still sitting on the bed, now looking towards my half open window, tiredly rubbing his eyes. He seems unaware of the commotion that has me frozen on spot. He soon senses my gaze and turns to look at me, raising his eyebrows at my frowning and frozen face, silently asking what’s wrong.
“When did you say your aunt is coming?” I ask him.
Neal’s eyebrows crawl up further at the question, “Ah, um, I didn’t. But she said she’ll be here as soon as she can.” He pauses, frowning, “Is she…?” he trails.
I nod, quickly opening the door and darting inside the bathroom. I reach my sink hastily and turn on the tap, washing my face instantly as the water flows down. I grab the hand towel and rub my face dry, moving outside to my room in an equally hasty speed. Neal is sitting in the same posture, cross legged, his back straight, slightly leaning forward, a stupefied expression on his face accentuated by his raised eyebrows.
“I can sense more therians in the house.” I say to him hastily, moving towards my bedroom door.
Neal immediately defreezes. He throws the duvet away from him, hastily getting up from the bed. “What time is it?” he asks.
My eyes briefly dart towards my clock, my eyes widening immediately, “It’s freaking past noon?!” my voice comes out as an annoyed yell. In my defense, I have never slept in this late.
Neal rolls his eyes, “We basically slept in the morning, Lichinsky.” He quickly starts wearing his loafers. “She’s really here?”
I move out of the room, Neal right behind me. “I can sense extra therians.” I tell him, “So, it must be her. Apparently,” I turn around, still walking, “She seems to have brought company with her. Therian company.”
My voice has a slight edge. Considering the kind of situation we are in, having unknown therians in the house is not at all welcomed. And I can sense almost three extra therians than yesterday in the house currently.
“Maybe it’s David.” He mumbles from behind me.
“Who?”
“David…he is…sort of my aunt’s boyfriend. I don’t know if he’s a therian or not.”
Of course. He didn’t even know about his aunt, knowing about her boyfriend is next to impossible. I refrain from saying that I sense two therian auras apart from his aunt. I feel a therian aura ascending the staircase as we are hastily descending it. Almost halfway, I am greeted by the sight of a breathless Faith.
Faith?
“What the hell are you doing here?” I ask her, as soon as we stop midway.
Faith glares, “It’s good to see you too, brother.” She smiles sarcastically. She looks past me at Neal, “Hey, Neal.” She smiles widely, stepping past me and hugging the guy. Neal returns the hug gladly.
He laughs slightly, “Uh, Hey.”
“It’s so nice to see you again.” Faith smiles wider.
“In considerably different circumstances.” Neal says, smiling a tight lipped smile.
Faith chortles, “Your aunt is here.” She tells Neal. “I was just coming to get you guys.”
We nod and start following Faith as she descends ahead of us.
“Does he know?” I hear Faith whisper lowly as she descends in front of me. Too low for Neal to hear. I know she is asking if Neal knows he is my partner or not.
I sigh, “No.” I say, equally quiet.
At the same time, “Is she a therian too?” I hear Neal mumble almost inaudibly right next to my ear.
“Yes, I am.” Faith replies, turning around, “And I can hear you.” She smirks.
I feel, than see, Neal’s face getting warm as he turns away.
We reach the living room. Gwen aunt is sitting on one of the couches in the living room. I swallow my surprise at Gwen aunt’s sight and focus on other people.Terry uncle is standing next to my father. My father is standing right in the middle saying something to the lady in front of him. But the lady is not looking at my father. Her eyes are trained at the entrance to the living room from where Neal and I are now entering. The lady is younger than my mother and Rufina aunt, yet she still must be in her late twenties or early thirties. Her attire is the most surprising as she casually looks on, a reprieved short smile on her face, adorned in a leather jacket and knee length, high heeled leather boots. Her jet black hair, falling in waves around her face just adds to her robust personality.
“David.” Neal says enthusiastically, broadly smiling and traversing the length to a guy I didn’t notice before.
“Hey, buddy.” The guy, who seems to be middle aged, slightly tall and extremely pale with a balding head, and also a therian, immediately engulfs Neal in a bear hug. As opposed to the woman, this guy is wearing a plain t-shirt and faded jeans, making him look like an absolute geek in comparison. No wonder Neal is so enthusiastic at seeing him.
Letting go of the guy named David, Neal turns towards his aunt. The aunt simply smiles and caresses his cheek in gesture. Neal awkwardly smiles back.
Well. Isn’t this a lovely family reunion?
“You’re alright?” the woman asks Neal, more for confirmation I assume, considering the tense free smile on her face.
Neal simply nods, “Yeah…they helped me.” He looks at my father who raises his eyebrows in an amused response. Neal has been sounding hesitative about us helping him since yesterday.
“I am very obliged that you took care of Neal.” The aunt, whose name is Jennifer, as I learned yesterday, says to my father.
I feel therian auras behind me. I turn to see my mother and Rufina aunt, followed by Aakir and Rahul. I ephemerally greet Rahul as both the women of my house walk closer to our guests.
“Why are you guys here?” I whisper to Rahul. I know my whispering is futile as everyone can hear me but still, I can’t wait to inquire about Faith and Rahul’s sudden presence. I
t isn’t the weekend for them to be here.
Rahul shrugs, “We were asked to come as soon as possible. Terry called yesterday and explained the situation as best as he could.”
“…okay?”
“He explained the situation as best as he could so to make it look like a big deal, so to make sure that we come.” Rahul improvises, making me smirk despite being dubious about how ‘serious’ exactly the elders are taking this situation.
“He has sort of become my responsibility as well, I believe.” Father replies to Jennifer. My attention is grasped back by the people in front.
Before Jennifer can reply, Rufina aunt proposes to the guests to sit and make themselves comfortable on the couch.
“Actually,” Jennifer says in response to my aunt’s hospitality, “We’d rather not bother you much. I am infinitely thankful for your help and gestures, but,” she looks at Neal, “I think it’ll be okay if we take Neal with us now.”
“What?” My father says, unprepared for the sudden change of events.
“We would like to leave.” Jennifer states.
“Knowing the consequences…”
“That’s my burden, Mr. Lichinsky.” Jennifer interrupts, “I am thankful for what you did. But I would like to leave with my family now.”
“Where do you intend to go?” Father asks instantly, as soon as she finishes.
“I am sorry, Mr. Lichinsky, but I don’t think that’d be your concern.” Jennifer replies. Her tone is polite but the message is clear. Despite our