Transcendence (Book 2)

Chapter 1

The dawn is sick for the daylight, the morning yearns for the noon,

And the twilight sighs for the evening star and the rising of the moon.

But the dawn and the daylight never were seen in the self-same skies,

And the gloaming dies of its own desire when the moon and the stars arise.

Alfred Austin- Longing

"Are you crying?" Edward directed his attention away from the film playing on the small TV screen to the snivelling girl, who had cocooned herself in a blanket and had her head rested on his shoulder.

He heard her laboured breaths get quicker as she watched the scene unfold, and the cartooned Lion cub nudged his recently deceased father to ''wake up''.

"It's really emotional, okay! He just lost his dad.''

"To a stampede of wildebeests... It's the Circle of life.'' He said with a toothy grin, trying to make light of the situation.

Amiyah lifted her head from his shoulder and glared at his insensitive words. "You're not funny. The Lion King is a cinematic masterpiece, and I demand that you show it the same amount of respect that I showed the movie you chose last week."

He smiled affectionately at her protectiveness over the cartoon. ''You fell asleep in the middle of the first act.'' He reminded her as he gently pulled out a stray popcorn which was lodged in her hair and flicked it into the empty bowl on the floor.

"It was in black and white, that's practically an invitation for me to take a nap.'' She said dismissively. Allowing herself to become fully engrossed in the film as soon as the meerkat and warthog appeared on the screen.

Instead of focusing back on the film, like he knew Amiyah wanted him to, he let all of his attention fall onto the girl he loved. He observed her tenderly as she laughed heartily at whatever was on the screen. He had been savouring the way her eyes lit up in pure enjoyment and wondered if there would ever be another moment where he would feel so content and at peace.

Being with her, with the weight of her head on his shoulder, had made him temporary oblivious to all of his troubles.

He almost forgot in the midst of their time together that their tomorrow was not promised. He wished he could stay in the moment with her forever.

Edward is ripped away from the memory (just one of the many he'd been reliving that day) by a brisk knock at his bedroom door.

He didn't call out for her to come in, he knew her knocks were just for appearances sake, she'd barge in, with or without a response... she always did.

Edward? He didn't turn to see his sister's small frame as she entered his room cautiously. Her eyes bounced around the room taking in all she saw with animated expressions of irritation and disgust when she took sight of the clutter of clothes strewn randomly across his room until finally settling on pity as her gaze landed on Edward who was laying on his couch, his face which was turned to stare at the ceiling looked pale (more so than normal) and despondent.

Are you coming to school with us? She asked him, hopeful for a positive answer.

He didn't bother to answer Alice, deep down she already knew that he wouldn't. He hadn't been at school for the past 3 weeks and he wasn't looking to go back anytime soon

Frustrated by his lack of acknowledgement, yet not demotivated she moved closer to Edward and continued to engage him in a one sided conversation.

"Would you'd like to join me and Jasper later? We're going to go hunting and after that we're heading to Port Angeles to watch the new Bond movie. They're saying that it might be the best one yet" Her tone stays upbeat, hoping that it might encourage her brother.