The Lores of Lyra - Rising Star [Book I]

Chapter 16 - Doctor Black

 Chapter 16 - Doctor Black

When Annabell opened her eyes, she was instantly blinded by a single ray of sunlight. The beam aimed right at her face over the treetops. She groaned and rolled over, covering her head with her arms to no avail—she was in the middle of the ray.

Solem go away… please…

The whining didn’t help, and finally she turned fully over on her stomach. The ground was cold from the night, and she lost her breath when a root pushed the air out of her lungs.

So that’s why my shoulder hurt.

Annabell was so lost in thought that she hadn’t considered if her escapades on the earth were noisy. A slight giggle sounded, and she jerked up just to come face to face with Miriam. Her sister was trying to stifle a laugh, but it was a poor job.

“Good morning, sis,” Annabell whispered. Joshua was still asleep on the other side of her.

“Hey,” she replied, and softly rubbed her right shoulder.

Annabell had forgotten that Miriam would feel the pain from her, and it pained her to be reminded. She tried hard to think of something else when she asked, “How long have you been up?”

“I just woke; you pushed a stick over to me when you rolled around. Almost poked my eye out,” Miriam said and held up a small twig.

Annabell was fairly certain that there was no way that the twig could have poked out an eye. Nonetheless, she felt guilty for it, and gloom spread as she looked down.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered. It was so different to be humble and apologizing—yet she didn’t truly mind.

“Don’t worry about it, I was partially kidding,” Miriam said. Annabell looked up and saw her sister engrave something into the soil. Her blonde hair framed her face, which made her look so youthful compared to herself. The most unbelievable part for Annabell was that they were twins—she hadn’t known what to expect, but she was convinced that this wasn’t it.

A slight moan from Joshua made both of them explode into giggles. Annabell crawled over beside Miriam and together they started drawing something. It wasn’t until Miriam suddenly got extremely quiet that she looked up again.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Miriam’s eyes widened, and she looked at Annabell.

“It just struck me that I’m not at Villa Hertz, and I don’t mind!” she exclaimed. Her face erupted in smiles, and Annabell couldn’t help but to follow.

“I can’t believe I have a sister, it’s so odd to think that just a few days ago—I was nothing more than an orphan, and now I have a family!” Annabell matched the excitement she recognized in Miriam.

“That’s downright cute, girls. However, could you please be quiet while I sleep? Not everyone could sleep for your thundering snoring last night,” Joshua grumbled.

Annabell and Miriam broke out in giggles at his whining until finally he gave up and sat up.

“Fine, I’m up,” he said and stretched with a yawn, “We probably should get moving anyway.”

Annabell rolled her eyes at Joshua.

‘Don’t worry about Mr. Grumpy-pants. He’s all right,’ she thought to Miriam. They shared a look and rolled their eyes. 'Boys….'

Annabell tried to focus on something else, than yesterday’s events. Before they had busted out Miriam, they had almost acted as if they were in a relationship. Granted, she didn’t know how a couple was supposed to behave, but what they had done yesterday seemed pretty close.