Chapter 45
FORTY-FIVE
Morana cried herself into a dried-out husk of a woman with no hope of ever stopping, so wrought out she fell asleep crying and woke to a gentle tapping on her window.
She wanted to tell the bird to leave her alone.
She didn’t; instead, feeling disorientated and unsteady on her feet, she got off the sofa and pulled the blinds high enough and opened the window so he could come inside.
‘Have you come to gloat? Should you not be with your precious Dora?’
Hades shook his head and hopped off the sill onto the floor.
No longer scared of him she sat down. ‘What have I done? The only person I have left in this world who will speak to me is you and that is debateable. I mean technically you’re a bird and not even a person.’
Hades tipped back his head and cawed softly.
‘Sorry, I am grateful you still want to be here but why after everything would you want to come here and spend time with me? I’m a bad person. I wanted money, and I wanted Mrs Danby out of my life, and I never meant to say that about Addison. I didn’t mean for it to happen.’
He hopped onto the sofa next to her, and she reached out a finger and stroked the top of his head. ‘You were right, I am trouble. You’re clever, aren’t you?’
Hades was quiet, he just sat next to her, and Morana had never felt so grateful in her life that this clever, beautiful bird had decided to stick around.
‘So, this Dora, she’s a good person huh? You sent her to help me.’
His head bobbed up and down.
‘Why? I don’t get it.’
‘Sisters.’
Morana jerked her head to look at him. ‘What did you just say?’
‘Sisters.’
She laughed. ‘Look, bird, I like you and right now you are the only person in the whole world who even wants to talk to me, but do-gooder Dora and I are not sisters. It’s not possible, I am an only child and always have been.
I don’t even remember my dad. He’s never been around and my mom died when I was twelve.
My aunt eventually agreed to take me in and brought me up, then she died without ever having children of her own, so it is what it is.
I’m alone, always have been and judging by my behaviour today I always will be and it’s all I deserve. ’
She blinked back the tears, she would not cry in front of a crow. Her life was a mess and she was lonely, even lonelier now without Addison to hang out with.
He sensed her distress and began to gently rub his head against her hand. Then softly cawed, ‘Sisters.’ Once more.
She didn’t argue with him. Did he want her to be friends with this Dora who was nothing like her with her white hair and tattoos?
Morana was the opposite of her, raven hair, no tattoos, although they both favoured heavy black boots.
She closed her eyes, they were so heavy all she wanted to do was to sleep, but then a thought crossed her mind, and it was ridiculous, but she didn’t remember her dad, he was never around.
Why was that? Where did he go to? Her aunt said he’d died because otherwise he’d have come home to them, but Morana was sure he was just a loser who didn’t care about the kid he’d fathered.
What if he had another family though? What if he’d not come back because he’d fallen in love with another woman and it was too painful to look at her because everyone told her when she was growing up she was the model of her mom.
Nah, that was crazy, this Dora and her aunts were nothing to do with her as much as the bird wanted them to be.
But how amazing would it be if by some miracle they were?
Sephy had been so sweet to her in the fleeting moment that they’d crossed paths.
Dora was annoyingly saintlike, but she seemed okay.
‘Do you know something that I don’t?’
The bird nodded.
‘Damn, you are the most annoying thing I’ve ever met. You can talk so spill the tea.’
‘Sisters,’ was all he cawed.
She curled up into a ball and pulled the blanket over her, emotionally exhausted from all the crying she’d done since she got home and the heavy feelings of guilt that pressed down on her shoulders.
The bird didn’t move, it stayed next to her and for that she was so grateful, as it meant that she wasn’t completely alone.