ISN'T SHE LOVELY | hs

13 | STAY

| HARRY |
Saturday 29th October, 2022

"The Sun was a god of sorts. His light was so powerful it actually brought herbs to life and grew goods from the ground. Everyone, every day, came out to worship him."

"The Moon was seen as a darkness. One that brought a cold presence to the world. Everyone hid in their homes when she rose. She craved to be seen. She wanted to be a breath of fresh air up in the midnight sky. She wanted to be loved."

"Everyone admired the Sun. They sensed the warmth of his glow. They felt alive in his daylight. But the Sun had a secret: he admired the Moon. He recognized her secrecy and fell for the way she was timid with herself. She hid parts of herself from the world that he knew it would embrace."

"They were opposite souls; the Sun and Moon. They were lovers who rarely met and always missed one another. Yet they both waited patiently for the rare days when they might coexist peacefully."

"The Sun wanted to make his true love happy in his absence. He wanted to show the world what she had to offer. He thought for weeks about how to give her the breath of air she wanted, leaving the world in a cloudy haze."

"Finally he knew what he had to do. He would sacrifice his light to let the Moon shine so she could be seen in all her beauty. He gave up something he was admired for to let her be admired instead."

"On the first night he did this, The Sun could feel her peaceful soul and all became clear. He would die each and every night for the rest of time to let his true love breathe, for it would put an end to all her misery."

With Bella snuggled up next to me now fast asleep from the bedtime story, I watch Mickayla now lock her phone that she recited it from. She smiles as she does; my own growing when her eyes meet mine.

"Bit of a bittersweet bedtime story for a five-year-old, riot girl." I tease.

Micki laughs quietly, keeping the volume as low as my spoken words, "Don't blame me, Jagger. Bells said I could choose, so I chose." She shifts to stand with a huff, "I'm gonna go wee. I'm surprised I haven't needed to go before now with how LS has been treating me lately."

"She's just keeping you on your toes." I grin, smoothing my hand over Bella's forehead, "I'll meet you downstairs in a few mins. Wanna make sure she's properly zonked out before leaving."

I'm given a nod and a smile before Mickayla walks towards the door, an air kiss from her being blown my way that I catch and pocket before she disappears from view.

Stretching my legs a little, I smile down at my godchild sleeping peacefully. It's coming up for nine p.m now, which is way past Bella's bedtime, but an exception was made for her today.

She turned five and to celebrate, Sarah and Mitch threw her a birthday party. Halloween is only a few days away, so the holiday was combined with her special day to make the occasion a fancy dress affair.

Belly had the time of her life running riot with all of her friends from primary school. She was spoiled with presents, had a blast playing lots of different games, and ate her weight in cake as well as other sugary goods.

Her final birthday request was for Micki to read her a bedtime story while I played with her hair, two things that both Sarah and Mitch were happy to let us do given how exhausted they are from playing host all day to twenty-five hyperactive children.

While witnessing absolute chaos, the pair of them outwardly admitted at one point that they're happy with having only one child. I said that any more than two would be too many for me. Elin, Ariza, Gemma and Pauli said they weren't having any. Mum told them off for that because they said it with so much distaste. Micki didn't say a thing.