The Violin and the Flute

Dinner continued much more casually as everyone exchanged stories of past times when we either fell or tripped, or did something funny. Neither Henry, nor his outburst was mentioned. The feeling of awkwardness had passed and had yet to come up again. When dinner was finished, everyone was still talking and laughing. When the grandfather clock on the far end of the room chimed 8’oclock, everyone realized how tired we were.
“Well then, you all must be exhausted. My nephews and I will clean. You all should go up to bed. Good night.” Everyone silently agreed and trudged up the stairs. Mommy pulled the girls into her room for a good night prayer together.
See, this is the one thing I really like about Mommy. She is VERY Christian. Sometimes it gets annoying, but that’s just part of her being leader. She makes us pray every night, whether we are actually together or not. You’d be surprised how many random calls I’ve gotten in the middle of the night. But, we’re all going to heaven so I can’t complain.
“As we lay ourselves to sleep,
We pray, oh Lord, our souls you keep,
Let angels guide us through the night,
And keep us safe till morning light.”
We all held hands as Mommy spoke her night time prayer. It’s actually a really famous prayer, but there are lots of versions of it. My mum back home used to say her own version of it too. But that’s beside the point. It was bed time and I was tired, but, of course, Mommy had to say one more thing.
“Well, this has been…a…interesting day.” We all smiled a bit. “The bus ride, the ghost.” Suzie glared a bit while Mimi and I just smiled. “Meeting Super Junior, Rini having a hyper attack.” She scolded jokingly. I pretended to pout, but then smiled again. Mommy clapped her hands together conclusively. “Time for bed. Good night everyone. Try to wake up early for breakfast.”
We all said goodnight, then proceeded to our designated rooms. The thing about this house is that it’s huge. Like I said before when I was looking at it from outside, it is huge. It’s even bigger on the inside. It’s got 15 bedrooms even though we only need 11. This means we don’t have to share rooms. Unfortunately, this means I don’t get to share a room. That could be a problem.
I’m not sure why, but I can always sleep better if I have someone else with me. It might be because ever since my brother was born, I would sleep with him so he wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night. Even when he was old enough to sleep by himself we would always curl up in my bed. I guess we both felt safe. Since I came to Asia, I’ve been “camping out” with Suzie, we are closer than you think. Tonight is going to be different though. Mommy wants me to at least try to sleep in my own room. Yes I know it’s childish, but I fit the part!
As I walked down the long hallway to my room I stared straight ahead, lost in my own little world. The lyrics to Blue Tomorrow were playing over and over in my head. That’s my “song of the day” today. I changed and got ready for bed. I plugged my IPod into the charger/speakers and set Blue Tomorrow on repeat.
I told you I have to have music, constantly. I don’t know why, but if I can’t hear some sort of music or even feel it, then my brain searches it out as some sort of mild distraction. It’s an A.D.D. thing. Yes I have A.D.D. Why do you think I always say this so fast? My brain seems scattered when really it’s just faster than everyone else.
My lullaby for tonight was Blue Tomorrow because it had been my theme song for basically the whole day. I quietly sang along as I pulled the covers up to my neck. My bed in this room must have been made for 2 people because it had four pillows. Two pillows each. This meant that I could make my little nest. I was completely surrounded by pillows while also clinging to one. I was actually quite cozy.
12:35am
Those annoying numbers were staring at me. Mocking me. Yes I know it’s late you stupid clock. It’s been about 3 and a half hours and I have yet to fall asleep. I was getting fed up with just laying there so I did the only thing I could think of. Get up.
My room seemed to boring so I decided I would go down to the kitchen and get something to eat. I didn’t want to wake Suzie up yet because she needed her “beauty sleep” but that’s fine with me. I’ll wait till maybe 3 or 4 before I wake her up. I don’t need that much sleep.
When I walked down the hall to the kitchen I noticed that the light was already on. What’s this? Someone else can’t sleep? Well, at least now I’ll have someone to talk to. But who would be up right now? I don’t think any of my girls have trouble sleeping, so it must be one of the guys.
When I opened the door I was shocked to find a blob of grey with some brown thrown in curled up in the corner surrounded by Lychee. I stared at it wide eyed. I stood there blinking for at least 5 minutes before my brain fully registered. Hey, don’t rush me when I’m sleepy.
“Henry-isshi?” I mumbled. It felt weird using and English name with the Korean suffix. Immediately after I spoke Henry’s head shot up, but unfortunately, the cabinet was right behind him so there was a loud bang, followed by a low groan of pain. I suppressed a giggle as I flitted over to him to see if he was ok.
“Henry-isshi? Are you alright?” I asked in my ever so innocent Korean voice. He rubbed the back of his head, and then stared up at me like I had cat ears and a tail. I smiled at his face. “Would it be easier for your brain to register if I spoke in English?” I questioned while using my pure British accent that I normally reserve for just my dad. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open, then confusion covered his features.
“Wait, you can speak fluent English?” I grinned. Finally some English. I missed those Latin based vowels. I slid down the cabinet to sit beside him.
“Of course silly. My dad’s a Brit.” I said this time dropping my proper English accent and using my more American accent. Henry jerked away from me with slight shock at my change in voice. I grinned a slightly devious grin. Hey, I’m only sweet little Asian girl in Asian languages. In English I’m hard core rocker chick with a dab of innocence. Well, that’s how my friend back home described me.
Henry was staring at me as if trying to find something to say. I could tell he was having trouble thinking. One, it’s the middle of the night. Two, he’s sitting in the kitchen during the middle of the night. Three, he’s covered in a very delicious fruit in the kitchen in the middle of the night. Poor baby probably couldn’t sleep either. But I wonder why?
“So, can’t sleep either?” I asked getting to the point. He looked down guiltily as though not being able to sleep is his fault. “Oi. Don’t have that face.” He glanced up at me. “No reason to feel guilty if you can’t sleep. Now, making a mess in the kitchen, that be something that must be fixed.” I said while trying to make a joke. It must have worked because he glanced around and smiled slightly. I raised my arms above my head and cheered. “WOOT! Mission cheer up emo kid: success! Haha.” I continued to laugh in hopes of making him laugh too. I hate it when people are sad for no reason, then again, he might have a reason.
“So, what’cha doing in the kitchen in the middle of the night?” I asked the oh-so important question. He looked down again. I frowned slightly but devised a brilliant plan. I reached over and stole one of his lychee. I nibbled on it as his head shot up to stare at me like I was eating part of his soul. I blinked and took it out of my mouth and placed it back in the tray. “Okay then. Henry plus lychee equals no touchy, got it.” I said while saluting an invisible person. Henry blinked at me, then gave me another guilty look and offered me my lychee back. It’s got my saliva on it, it’s mine!
“Sorry.” Came his voice as I yoinked my tasty treat back and continued to nibble. I smiled in content. “I guess I-… well, I can’t sleep. I guess I’m just grumpy. No reason why.” I paused mid-nibble and raised an eye brow at him. He stared back at me like a lost puppy.
“Aw. Don’t look at me like that!” I exclaimed quietly. Some people were still asleep. “If you look sad like than then I’ll have to hug you! And you’re covered in Lychee juice.” I said gesturing to his grey pajama shirt soaked in Lychee juice. “What’s up with that anyway?” his face dropped to a frown. I tilted my head to the side, and then shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, I’ve been found covered in chocolate ice cream in the middle of the night so I shouldn’t judge.” Finally, he laughed. I joined his laughter with a hint of success to it. We sat enjoying the now comfortable silence, but you know me and silence. Yeah.
“So Henry.” I said again to get his attention. He turned and looked at me with a curious expression. “Are you going to tell me why you can’t sleep? Or do you wanna play the rhyming game?” He winced when I mentioned that his still being awake, but then let out a soft chuckle when I mentioned my favorite ice breaker. I smiled at him.
“Well, how do we play the rhyming game?” I grinned.
“Every last word has to sound the same.” He raised an eye brow, and then grinned as well.
“But that sounds kind of lame.” I swatted my hand dismissively.
“I disagree with your claim.” He paused.
“…OH! Hey I forgot your name.” I pretended to pout.
“So much for my fame.” My face broke into a smile so he knew I was only joking. He smiled back.
“Ah…hmm….err…I can’t think of anything that rhymes with that.” He said with a defeated pout. I only giggled.
“I can, what about a big, fat, fuzzy, black cat?” He smiled back at me again. He really is cute when he smiles. I mean he is so cute when he looks all sad, but I don’t know he just looks better when he’s smiling. Don’t judge me I know you’re thinking the same thing as me.
“Hat.” Oh, one liner. He’s trying to be smart.
“Bat.”
“Rat.”
“Gnat.”
“Fat.”
“Scat.”
“Mat.”
“Sat.”
“…drat.” I didn’t say anything after that. I was staring at the tiles on the floor. I snickered quietly, but tired to hide it. I tried not to, I really did, but as soon as I glanced up at him I burst out laughing. He couldn’t hold his laughter either.
“Oh…ho-my gosh. Who says drat? Haha.” I managed to cackle out the words. Seriously, it wasn’t really that funny, but, well, it was one of those things were you just had to be sitting in the room. You had to be there, physically. Henry and I kept laughing at absolutely nothing. We ended up rolling on the floor, in the kitchen, in the middle of the night, covered in Lychee juice…
Best first night EVER!