NAOMI
Naomi returned to the Caitlyn castle and found that the perpetual vacancy persisted. She opened the door to halls of silent haunt, but the sun-kissed girl waded through the darkness with a glowing excitement. She whisked through her bedtime rituals and flung herself beneath her blankets. She snuggled just right, and closed her eyes until she fell into a slumber.
Naomi slept, but she found no rest. The jitters would not allow it. Her dreams were projections of colorful adventures and the pleasures therein were sweetened by years of craving. She slept with a smile and awoke with one as well.
When Naomi awoke, she turned to her window only to find that night oozed through the glass. It was still dark, but Naomi refused to give up her enthusiasm. She snatched her phone, tapped the surface, rubbed her eyes before the blue glow of the screen, and blinked upon the hour.
"5:47am," she said.
It was an ungodly time fit only for sleep, but the fluttering things in her tummy offered little to facilitate such pause. Instead, Naomi pulled the levy on her lamp and readied herself for a grand excursion once relegated to a world beyond her reality.
The warm yellows exuding from her lamp left her room with a perfect balance of light and shadow. With her frizzy hair flying behind her like ribbon fire, the winds blew at Naomi's back as she prepared for their reunion. She showered just for the occasion, but the speed of her cleaning was almost criminal. Her freckled bottom wasn't even dried when she leaped out of the bathroom. In fact, the sun-kissed girl forgot to turn off the water.
Naomi brushed her teeth, but she took the toothpaste and brush out of the restroom as she did so. Why waste the time in front of a mirror when she could multitask? Of course, it was only after Naomi believed herself done with the brushing when she realized she had neglected to glaze the bristles with toothpaste. With blush appearing on her face, Naomi took up the task again. Her clothes had already been chosen anyways, so what else was there to do?
Once the dental work was done, Naomi grabbed the hairbrush on her dresser and set it upon her mane. Her fiery hair was weakened by the showery soak, but her curls were expanding by the second. In the end, no meaningful stroke met the girl's hair, but Naomi felt that she was ready regardless.
She snatched her chosen attire off of her bed, and looked to her window while spinning into her outfit. When Naomi finally popped her frizzy hair through the head hole, she saw that the lightless night had given way to a dull glow of blue. She smiled before dressing herself further.
"Not much longer now," she stated. But how much longer was it exactly? After throwing on her backpack, Naomi turned to the clock on her dresser for the answer. "6:03?!"
She had just pulled up her knee-high socks, effectively ending her morning preparation. With nothing left to do, Naomi slumped on to the messy floor and rolled around the filth of her room.
"I can't go now," she cried. "That's too early! He's probably asleep and I'll have to wake him, and then..." And then. And then.
The sun-kissed girl tallied off all the reasons why her meeting Achim this early posed all sorts of issues. Some bordered on the reasonable, some crossed the line, but every thought, extravagant and not, caused her heart to race. She spent more time blushing along the ground than she did in the shower, but, in time, Naomi found her center. She slapped both of her freckled cheeks, effectively snapping herself out of her stupor, and jumped to her feet with a fist in the air.
"No more Naomi," said the girl to herself. "You may be nervous, but that's okay because you're also brave!"
Courage was conjured with that little speech and Naomi was finally able to march to her door, but not before taking one last look at her clock. She saw the early time, took a second to breathe, opened the door, and stepped out before going right back into her room.
"What is with me today?" Naomi could only wonder.
She stepped over the mess of her room as images of the dark boy sprinkled into subconscious places. She sat down on the bed for a moment before looking into the mirror across her room. A hint of displeasure soon hit her. A closer inspection was required. Naomi stepped up and came face-to-face with her reflection. She pinched what little fat was found on her cheeks before bending a brow at her fiery hair. As she pulled on a single strand, Naomi wondered if her mane had always looked so unkempt. She blushed and turned away from herself. Hopping over the junk once again, Naomi left with less enthusiasm than before.
As she waded through the stale air of her home, Naomi passed the rooms of her absent family members. Once again, her mother's room was sealed, all but proving her extended stay at work. Farther down the hall, just in sight of the stairs, lay the doorway to where her brother once dwelled. He was not always nice, her older brother, but he had a kindness about him that only she knew. Even now, as she walked the quiet corridors, Naomi thought about what he might have said about her early departure.
A silence loomed over the Caitlyn castle like a curse. Past deeds and grand achievements allowed her clan to accrue an over-accommodating abode and, once upon a time, the faces captured in the images inside the portrait frames were real, but recent years had changed all of that. The hearth had grown cold and the house members had scattered across this world, and beyond. Now Naomi resided in the Caitlyn castle by her lonesome. As her feet stepped down each stair, her little insecurities festered into a larger, much more familiar sully. She would arrive on the first floor of the house with hallowed enthusiasm. Her head was low too, so she did not immediately take notice of the lamp light coming from the west wing of her home.
When she saw it, Naomi hurried to investigate. The unusual glow pulled the girl from her dirge and her eyes went bright when she saw the person who occupied the table.
"Mom," Naomi whispered. "Y-you're finally home."
The woman hunched over at the table was indeed Naomi's mother. Naomi was the only one spotted by the sun, but their shared faces told the tale. Despite the early dawn, the Caitlyn queen was fully dressed in a gray uniform worn by a full day's wear. The watch on her wrist beeped long after the passing of the hour, and Naomi watched as the woman fiddled with the pendant around her neck between thoughts - a circlet with a six-pointed star at the center.
There was nothing but monotony to her mother's motion. Naomi witnessed only slight deviations when a single strand of hair snapped out of place. Suffering no obstructions to her perfectly pressed hair bun, the Caitlyn queen dealt with the hair by plucking it completely before returning to her work.
Holding a number of documents in one hand and a keyboard in reach of the other, Naomi's mother transcribed and cross-referenced what was, to Naomi, unknown but surely important material. As the clacking keys stung her eardrums, Naomi tried to maintain her cheer. She eased into her mother's line of sight and found a spot where she could see the woman's night-colored eyes. Her mother was visibly exhausted, but the dark circles under her eyes did not impede her work pace. It was then that Naomi knew that her mother had been home for hours.
The sun-kissed girl was not as surprised as she hoped to be when it became apparent that her mother had not made herself known. It's okay, Naomi thought. Her mother was working hard. Naomi would not disturb her, but, if she stood long enough, her mother would eventually take note. Right?
Naomi lingered in her mother's view. All the woman had to do was look up. As she waited, the keyboard on which her mother worked clacked on and on. Clack clack clacking with the occasional click to offshoot the tempo. The noise cut through Naomi's ears, crossing her brain in an endless cacophony that cursed her existence more than the silence ever had. As the sun-kissed girl stared at her occupied parent, the seconds had long begun to drag. The beeping of her mother's watch went uninterrupted too, and Naomi began to count the rings in order to distract herself from the constant clacking of the keys.
Ten rings would turn to twenty. Twenty went to forty until even that number had tripled - No. Quadrupled in size. Between the endless clicks, the ceaseless beeps, and the infinite count, Naomi soon lost her senses. The time between each ring grew further apart as she waited for something. Anything. Alas, the girl could wait no longer.
"...Hi Mom. Good morning," Naomi shyly said.
Her mother stirred, but only to pick up a pen and scrawl a note. Then the clicking and the beeping continued. Naomi could take no more.
"Mom!" She was just short of shouting outright.
Naomi's mother jolted as her attention was ripped away from her work. In a motion of fear, the pen she held flew off the table. The mother almost choked too, coughing up spittle as she gagged on her own exhaustion. The Caitlyn Queen took a moment to recover, and, after that, finally bore witness to her offspring. When Naomi saw her mother finally seeing her, a brightness of spirit returned to the girl. The same could not be said for her mother.
"Naomi. It's you." Her mother sighed and stopped. She looked back to her work and soon spoke again. "It has been some time. I can't be bothered for too long." Naomi's mother was right back at it. "Why are you up so early? I know you have school, but you do not need to get up now do you? This should go without saying, but I do not want, or need, a call about you falling asleep in class."
Naomi felt a shiver crawling up her back.
"B-But I don't have school today," said Naomi. "I-It's still the weekend so"--
"Sunday morning. 6:24am." Naomi's mother finally stopped the beeping of her watch. "I know what day it is, Naomi. I meant generally."
"Oh." Naomi could not tell if the woman was telling truth or saving face.
Naomi's eyes laid low as she idled in front of the working woman. She spoke no words and made no effort to disrupt the Caitlyn Queen but, after a few minutes of lingering, her mom gave her a look.
"What?" Her mother's voice was void of all affection.
"N-nothing! Nothing at all," Naomi stuttered.
The Caitlyn Queen, visibly agitated by the answer, pinched her brow and narrowed her night-colored eyes. "Well I'm going to find it very difficult to focus if you're going to stand there like that. So if you do not mind..."
"S-sorry mom." Naomi knew that was her que to leave, but she couldn't. Not after so long. "I-I was just thinking. Thinking about..." Naomi stumbled for an excuse. "Breakfast!"
"Excuse me?" said her mother.
"I was thinking about what to make you! I-I mean, you're hardly ever home so I thought this could be a special occasion?"
"No, thank you. I'm not hungry," said her mother. Her stomach then growled, stating otherwise.
Naomi just smiled and hurried into the kitchen. "I'll go make us something!"
"Naomi, hold on! I jus—" Again, the Caitlyn Queen was silenced by the roars of her empty stomach. "Just keep it simple, Naomi. Nothing extravagant. No exceptions."
"Cereal it is then," Naomi shouted from the kitchen.
Naomi swiped a bowl and poured the cereal before sprinkling the contents with sugar and cinnamon. The sun-kissed girl hurried back to the long table and placed two bowls as her mother watched. She ran to get the spoons and returned just in time to spot her mother dipping a finger into the bowl. The woman wanted a hint of the flavor and, much to Naomi's joy, her mother went for a second sample.
"Sooo?" Naomi could barely contain herself. "What do you think?"
"It is very very sweet," her mother answered. She then took a third sample.
"I know. Really good right!?"
The princess climbed into a chair beside her mother and scooted closer. Once settled, Naomi delighted in giving a long, exerted explanation about how this special blend of cereal was an original concoction. It was a lengthy discussion, mostly about nothing, but she was just so eager to share something with her. Naomi unleashed it all and was prepared to give more. She had to, for when would she get the chance to do so again?
"I-I know I'm talking a whole lot, but it just feels like it's been ages since I've seen you. Even longer since we've had breakfast together. It's just like old times when we were all here. You remember how fun it was, mom? Those mornings with you, me, Lowell and"--
"Naomi," Her mother sharply interrupted.
"I'm sorry," said Naomi. She was suddenly shaken.
"If you truly were remorseful, you would have left me to my work to begin with." Naomi's mother then closed her computer and gathered her papers before abandoning her daughter, and the breakfast she made, at the dinner table. She then walked out of the dining hall.
"Mom, wait!" Naomi reached out, stopping her mother's departure. "D-don't be upset," she begged. "I know you have to work really hard and I know the City of York needs you, but..."
But what? A moment of silence cut into the flow. Naomi choked on something not yet known to her, and her mother stopped to hear it, but her tongue was cut. The only thing that dotted the silence was the churning gears of a distant clock. Mother and daughter stood with nothing passing between them, for they both were secretly resigned to the state of what they now had. Again, after waiting a moment, her mother simply sighed.
"...You remind me so much of your father." Naomi felt a crooked smile etch along her lips ." You do your best to ease my load and," the Caitlyn Queen gave the deepest of bows, " I thank you for that, Naomi."
Naomi's smile was small, but crooked. "You're welcome, mom."
"...I am curious though. Do you typically wake up so early on the weekends?"
The question slashed Naomi like a razor's edge. She began to giggle without control as Achim's request of secrecy burst into Naomi's mind. "Well, not really," Naomi responded. "But I made a friend the other day and" – "She's...Umm..." Naomi bopped her noggin and knocked the gears into place.
"Right! You know the workers at my school? She was one of their kids. Her mom does odd jobs in the neighborhood too sometimes, so I was going to see if I could find her and surprise her with a hangout day. Since her mom works so hard too, I figured we have a lot in common." Naomi giggled before stuffing a spoon full of cereal into her mouth. Her mother was staring, but Naomi could not discern her level of suspicion. She choked down her cereal before speaking again.
"So what's in the reports, mom?"
"That is confidential information. You should know better not to ask me about such things," said the Caitlyn Queen. "I also want you to be on guard when you're out from now on. If you see anyone strange, you will inform Warden. Is that understood?"
"D-did something happen," Naomi inquired.
"I said, is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am. Sorry, ma'am. I-I-I mean mom."
Naomi's mother shook her head. "I also want you to be careful with that friend of yours. If her mother works the jobs you say she does, she is most likely from beyond the wall and is here on a work visa. Do not be influenced by outsiders, otherwise you might adopt behaviors that reflect poorly on is. Remember that."
Naomi felt her heart sink. All she could only say was, "Okay."
"Okay?" Her mother was stern in her statement.
"Yes, mom. I mean, ma'am. I understand."
Her mother's eyes lingered. "Good." Without another word, Naomi's mother left. Only when she was halfway out of sight did the woman speak again.
"Do not disturb me unless it is absolutely important. Is that clear?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I will put a few hundred dollars on the counter before I leave. Someone will deliver groceries around 7 o'clock this evening, so, if you're going out, make sure you are home before then."
After Naomi's mother relayed her final instructions, she disappeared into the depths of her castle as a specter in the eyes of her child.
. . .
Mave Caitlyn is the mother of Naomi S. Caitlyn. She is Naomi's role model and she (Naomi) often does her best to behave in the way that her mother would approve. Of course, even the most well-behaved child may do something crazy once or twice.