Feather After

Chapter 18

Feather After // Chapter 18 // Letters And Broken Hearts

Aria's POV 

What the hell was happening? I looked at Misty and she looked at me. She opened her mouth and then closed it, she opened her mouth again and closed it again.

She was trying to say something but she was miserably failing. Even if she wanted to say it she didn't know the way to say it. She had thought but no words to describe it. I understood her feelings and I let it be. Her condition was just like me. She was shocked and so was I.

"This has happened for the first time. I have been here for three years now and this has never happened before. Even if someone went to the principle's room, they got detention, their parents were called and things never turned out to be this ugly. But what's most surprising is that his expression on his face. He doesn't look guilty at all!" She exclaimed and I nodded.

I kind of agreed with what she was saying. I think, everyone was feeling the same thing as we were. Everyone was shocked. Life is going to be okay, I consoled myself. I was just more concerned about his family and mostly for Veronica. She looked at Ignatius as if he was her hero, her super guy. Maybe their parents wouldn't let her know about this.

"What has he done?" I asked Misty.

"I don't know what he has done. Why are you asking me? Not that I was there with him when it happened. The point is, I don't know. Please don't ask the same question again and again. It is not helping me," Misty almost grumbled and I had never heard her be that rude before, was something going on that only I wasn't aware of? I let it be.

"It's okay," I reassured her and walked away. She was kind of rude. And I did not want her to pour all her anger out at me. It wasn't right of her to do so and it wouldn't even be nice of me to provoke her.

I walked in the opposite direction, towards the exit. Maybe my absence would make things better. I looked at the walls of my school for answers and they looked back at me as if they were trying to read me too. I wanted to go home and I knew my car would have been there because after the accident it was always there no matter what happened. Even if it wasn't there, I could walk it would give me some time to think about everything.

The problem was I didn't know why I was affected so much. Ignatius was nothing to me, neither my relative nor my friend, but still, I felt so affected. I don't know why but I just did. Maybe I just needed the company of good people who would make me forget him.

I left school and started looking for my car in the parking lot. I didn't know how to drive because I was never allowed to drive. Our school's parking lot was huge and spacious. Although it was created after our school was made because Mr. Maple never thought the students would have their own cars. If Mr. Maple was alive he would have been in the hospital by now seeing the condition of this place.

Then I remembered what I had said to my driver. To the students of the school, I was a pedestrian. They thought that I lived nearby and used my foot to reach home only if they knew the truth. After climbing down the stairs and realizing what I was doing, I came back to my sense.

I started walking towards the exit, the main gate and turned around to look if someone was looking at me. When I turned around I saw misty standing near the pedestal of Mr. Maple. I pretended I didn't see her and kept walking.

Lost in my thoughts I had not realized that I walked all the three blocks and I was sitting in my car zooming through the city, towards my house. When I reached home Nanna greeted me yet she was shocked that I had come home so early.

"Is anything wrong? Everything is okay?" She enquired.

"I'm feeling a bit down nothing major," I said and sat down on our very expensive sofa. I remember when mother and father where here, father used to put his feet on the sofa and mother used to brush it off saying how expensive they were and how his mother never taught him any manners. My father's simple reply was, 'I can buy you hundreds of sofas like this if you smile like that every day,' and that got my mother blush.

I sat there on the sofa and rubbed my hands over the seat. I missed them.

"This arrived for you today. Why don't you have a look?" Nanna said and smiled at me. She sat on the matching stool in front of the sofa. She was wearing her infamous white skirt blue cardigan and her neon pink color apron. I had made the painting on the apron when I was in second grade and I had given it to Nanna, she still used it.

Nanna and Aria were written on it with white paint. Although later on, I had discovered that she didn't like the color but then she had said that it was her most cherished gift.

I opened the letter and I was shocked to see that my granddad had not forgotten to write a letter to me this month as well. It was our unspoken promise. We used to write letters to each other every month no matter what happened.

I opened the white paper and started reading it.

Dear, Aria.

How are you? I hope my letter finds you in your best health and happiness. Your grandmother and I are fine here. She wouldn't leave my side because she thinks I will write her complains here. But I won't. We have planted tomatoes, onion, and peas this time. But the rabbits come and eat them. You know, we are not young Aria, as much as you don't like talking about it, I can't run after the rabbits because your grandmother wouldn't let me. She thinks I will trip and fall.

My sweet Aria, concentrate on your studies and I know you will rock this year. I learned this word rock from the boy's family we gave our house on rent to. He says that this word is in fashion. Don't use mobile phones much eat healthy vegetables. I plan to visit you very soon. I would love to hear from you, sweet Aria.

All the love,

Grandma and pa.

I smiled when I read the letter. My grandpa knew how to use words maybe that's why he was able to woo my grandmother. I smiled and looked at Nanna. Surprisingly she wasn't wearing the apron anymore. I looked at her and raised my eyebrow at her.

"We are going shopping. It always helps," She told me and stood up. She looked at me and said, "get up. I'm waiting for you."

"What will we shop?" I asked her when we had settled in the car.

"We are going to Walmart. We get everything there. Now shush!" It was natural of Nanna to dismiss me like that. I looked out of the window and then something caught my eyes. It was the Seattle police station. I then saw the driver park the car right opposite to the police station. I was shocked. I turned to my right and saw Walmart. Now everything was explained.

We walked inside Walmart and I started thinking of ways to escape Nanna's presence. I didn't want her to be suspicious. She knew me too well. As she started walking toward the food and vegetable section while I had the cart, I called her up.

"I need to go to the loo, why don't you pull a cart and we will meet inside," I suggested and she gave me an I-told-you-to-use-the-toilet-before-we-left-home look. I shrugged and passed her the cart. She asked me to came back, in five minutes.

I walked out of Walmart when she wasn't looking. When my driver had disappeared I walked inside the police station. It was gloomy. The whole place was like a maze. It was divided into small cubicles and I could see people running from one place to another. It was a hell lot busy. While I was walking in, I noticed that everyone had different sizes of cubicles. There was room for police officers with a different post.

I was about to ask someone for Ignatius but then I heard Mitsy fighting to someone, she said, "How can you not let him meet me! He is my boyfriend!" I couldn't hear anything more. I wanted to cry and scream out loud. I turned around and ran out as fast as I could.