Morrigan - ACOTAR Fanfic

Chapter Five - The Girl's Birthday

 I blinked once. 

I blinked again. 

Somehow, through some form of dark magic, I knew I was dreaming. I knew this wasn't real, and yet-

I found myself watching from a birds-eye view as that stunning human girl sat cross-legged on a wooden chair. I hovered over a lovely, sloped backyard garden, floating in mid-air, as if my physical self was unseen by the people sitting around the firepit down below. As if I was invisible to the naked, human eye. 

A leanly-muscled human boy, who looked to be about 18-years-old, sat in a wooden chair nearby the girl. He shoved a cheese and tomato-covered slice of--I didn't know what--into his mouth and shifted in his seat to face the two other humans there. 

For some inexplicable reason, I recognised the pair of remaining humans instantly; the girl's mother and father. The former had striking red, shoulder-length hair, with strands of grey framing her slightly-wrinkled face. The latter had barely any hair at all, save for buds of dark-black hair mixed with fading white. 

The boy leaned forward to snatch another slice of the triangular food out of the cardboard box it sat in. He winked at the girl at such an angle that the others couldn't see, and she rolled her eyes. Although, a ghost of a smile played at her lips, disrupting her attempt at dismissing the flirting gesture and making me wonder who they were to one another. 

An unfamiliar feeling tugged at my stomach, wrenching and twisting like an anchor and chain would to a boat. 

A deep, thoughtful voice caught my ear, pulling me out of my head. It wasn't the girl, I realised, as I peered at the boy's moving mouth. He said to the girl's parents, "This pizza is divine." 

The girl nodded vigorously in agreement and leaned forward herself to grab another slice of pizza. As she did so, her mother barked out, "Get away from the firepit, Alexandra. You're standing far too close."

Something dimmed in the girl's eyes as she edged around the firepit and reached into the pizza box. Her mother's commands cut her off, and the girl's arm paused mid-air. 

Her mother's forehead crinkled. "Grab a napkin while you're at it. I won't have you eating messily."

The girl nodded once and didn't even have the chance to take a breath before her mother was speaking again. "Look at me when I'm speaking to you. It's incredibly rude to ignore someone's presence." 

I blinked thrice. 

The three of them had sung a song to the girl earlier, hovering over a large, chocolate cake. And the lyrics--forget the lack of tune in their singing--indicated that it was the girl's birthday. Her birthday. A time for giving and receiving love, joy and presents. 

Yet her mother treated her daughter like the girl had launched into her life, unaware and uninvited, disrupting her entire life planned ahead. But be that as it may, surely the girl's mother could act more kindly towards her own flesh and blood. 

It was at this moment that I realised a sharp pain was stabbing at my chest. But as I looked at the girl and heard her lovely, lilting voice drift into my mind, I knew the pain hadn't originated from my own chest. A certain sadness filled the human's eyes, an emotion of such intense, enigmatic depth that it could only be seen if one was looking for it. 

She whispered, unaware that I listened from above,  I hate having my birthday. It's a consistent reminder that no one treats me like I'm worth anything until a special occasion takes place, forcing them to pretend they care. I can't tell if my mother and father and sister are being fake or not.