Where had I heard that voice before? A burr. A mellifluous echo. As soft as the blossom petals dancing to the ground in front of me. As rhythmic as the wind rustling through the cherry trees. As I looked around for a glimpse of the source of the voice, it hit me. The answerphone!
***
It was a regular early spring morning- nothing new or suspicious except for my sister not pretending to be sick for the first time. We were getting ready for school when my mom yelled up the stairs, ‘The bus is close!’
‘Get out of my way, dork!’ my sister taunted as she shoved me aside and darted down the stairs.
‘Don’t you have school to miss and another illness to fake?’ I called back, chuckling at my own remark.
Though my sister was for some reason rushing to get to school, I sauntered down the stairs, grabbed an apple and bit into its rigid, juicy core, heaved my backpack onto my shoulders and sat by the answerphone machine. I don’t know why I was taking my own sweet time- perhaps because I didn’t want to walk up to the bus stop with my sister and her boyfriend Zack. Ugh. His hair is always a mess and he has completely taken away my ‘sister time’ (like we used to call it when we were younger). I’m glad though. My sister has been acting odd recently- sneaking out of the house, faking sick and constantly humming in bed. 'She’s in her rebellious phase,' mom says.
Just as I was about to get up and leave, I noticed a flashing red light on the answerphone machine. ‘A new message!’ I thought excitedly. My sister never lets me use the answerphone machine- she apparently receives some very ‘private’ messages on it. I didn’t care. The adrenaline of excitement rushing through my veins, I reached towards the answerphone. As I was about to pick it up, I heard the whir, rumble and racket of the bus approaching. ‘Quick. It’s now or never’ I thought to myself. I grabbed the phone and held it to my ear. I listened for a few quick seconds. ‘Emma, your bus is here!’ my mom startled me. I slammed the phone down and hurried out of the house, stumbling onto the bus. All the good seats had been occupied by the other kids, so I sat right up front. Normally, I’d care a lot about the seat. ‘The front of the bus is for babies who always fuss’ is what the kids would say. But all I could think of was the voice I heard on the phone.
I thought about that voice all day. In class. At lunch. On the way home. As I was passing through the cherry woods a little distance from my house, that’s when I heard it again.
***
Here I was. An hour after school ended, searching for the source of this mysterious voice. I wandered through the trees, listening carefully. It swirled with harmonious high notes, a spine-tingling falsetto and a gut-punching head voice that burst with the colours of a melodic tune. A soothing lilt, melodious enough to fill my limbs with a pleasant languor made every blossom petal want to dance gracefully to the ground.
Did I want to find the voice? What could be singing so beautifully in the middle of the forest? The louder the voice got, the more goosebumps sprung up on my skin. My hair stood. My heart thumped with the beat. My legs turned to noodles. My tongue, a sponge.
Step. Goosebumps.
Step. More goosebumps.
Step.
I was right there, I could almost grab the voice with my hand. I turned past a towering cherry-wood bark and there it was—the source. Nothing like I would have ever imagined stood behind that tree. My sister like I’d never seen her. An elegant white dress- its diaphanous silk frolicking like white-flecked waves in the ocean when kissed by the breeze. Her golden brown locks- brushed- majestically flowing behind her. She looked like an angel beside her boyfriend swiftly strumming along to her vocals with an acoustic guitar. She can sing. She can sing like a sweet hummingbird. I would have never dared to dream of such a sound coming out of her mouth.
I listened for a while and scurried home without being caught. I still couldn’t believe it. Astonished, I sat on the couch as my mind overflowed with questions for her.
Hours later, she returned home dressed in her usual grungy attire and slammed the door shut. 'Where we you young lady?' my mom asked, gravely concerned.
'I have a test coming up so Zack and I were studying at the library,' she said knowing very well that my mom wouldn't believe her. Chuckling sarcastically, my mom said 'Go upstairs, I'm coming to talk to you.'
With a grunt of frustration, my sister turned to walk away.
‘There’s a message for you,’ I told her, trying to sound casual. She approached the answerphone muttering loud enough for me to hear, ‘Finally, Zack sent me a copy of our song.’
‘What song?’ I asked mischievously.
She gave me her regular ‘look’, turned around and marched up the stairs as a few cherry blossom petals drifted from her hair slowly to the ground.
Yorumlar