𝙲𝙰𝙺𝙴 (𝙰 𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚡𝙱 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕) 🍰

㊷ 𝚂𝙺𝚈𝙻𝙴𝚁'𝚂 𝙱𝙸𝚁𝚃𝙷𝙳𝙰𝚈

► 𝚅𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎'𝚜 𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛! ◄

~~~

Charlie

FEBRUARY

The missing space where my pink and blue feline would usually sleep began to bring me to wakefulness. I moved my hand around the bed, searching for him, but to no avail. I sat up in bed, my head a little dizzy, to find a glimmer of light on the walls of the apartment.

Following it with my eyes, I saw Skyler hunched over his desk, his headphones over his ears, whisking away to another one of his watercolor paintings, illuminated by a dim lamp. I looked at my phone, a little confused, noticing that it was three in the morning.

I slowly sat up from the bed and waddled over to where he was. Sky turned his attention up to me, surprised, like he didn't expect me to wake up. He took off his headphones and gave me a warm grin that seemed to say, "you caught me", sitting back into the chair. He looks so cute, wearing my t-shirt. Recently, he's been obsessed with stealing my clothes, claiming that they're much warmer than his. Sky's always cold, no matter what.

"Why are you up, Sky?" I whispered gently as not to wake the others in the apartment.

"Couldn't sleep." He admitted, looking down at his painting, causing me to look at it too.

It was a painting of an ethnic neighborhood, the sun barely breaching the sky, the clouds shimmering in the peach sunset. The trees were painted so elegantly that it seemed as though they were moving on their own, swaying in an artificial breeze. Red paper lamps hung on streamers, zigzagging down the humble alleyway. Marks from black and white pigment pens were used to show shadows and dimensions. The grainy texture of the Strathmore paper showed in the colors, giving the image solidarity and consistency. It looked like a real photograph, taken on film.

"You made a whole painting because... you couldn't sleep?" I tried to process the thought.

Sky shrugged and looked at me with a hint of melancholy in his eyes, a faded smile just below them.

"Are you feeling emotional?" I asked him, walking around the desk and to his side, brushing my paw gently through the fur on his head.

"I try so hard not to, but, every year, I always get like this."

"You're always sad the night before your birthday?"

"I'm emotional, not sad. Two very different things." Sky chuckled, placing his tender paw on mine, moving it from his head to his shoulder. "But, yes. Always."

"How come?" I say, massaging my thumb into his shoulder.

"Everything changes, Charlie." Sky sniffed, tears coming to his eyes. "It's good, but it's bad, but it's good again, but then it turns back to bad. It's so overwhelming, but it's so pleasing. It's like... happiness makes me sad. Smiling makes me want to cry."

I kneeled down to his height, kissing his paw ever so slightly. "You've come so far, Sky."

"I know," Sky bursts with both laughter and tears, squeezing my hand in return. "But, how much will change by next year? And the next?"

"It doesn't matter at this moment. Sky, you're about to turn nineteen."

"I feel so old and so young at the same time." Sky sucks in air and releases it shakily, turning his head so I don't see his face, wet with tears. "God, I hate my emotions," He laughs audibly, wiping his tears and turning his body to face mine.