Maria is feeling a little better today than how she felt before. She can sit up on her own again and her appetite has returned. But her grandfather has kept her under the restriction of remaining in her room as she is still classified as being ill. However, Maria is getting bored from being in her room all the time.

Sitting in her bed, eating her meal, Maria tries to think of something that she and Shadow could do that would be fun. Sitting on the edge of her bed, Shadow is eating his own meal. Their lunch goes in silence as neither one says a word. But it`s not an awkward silence since it is due to that both are more wrapped up with eating.

Then as the meal is finished, Maria comes up with an idea on what they could do. Colouring! Anyone with a sense of creativity loves to colour. She digs up some of the colouring books she has and finds her colour pencils. Maria hands one of the books to Shadow as she explains the process to him. The container she keeps the colour pencils is a large container as she has so many of them. She flips open the top and sets the box between her and Shadow so that they both can access the pencils.

The two of them looks through the pages of their respective colouring books until they each find a picture they want to colour. Then they each grab a colour pencil and begin to colour the image that they have selected.

An hour or so is spent with them colouring and by this point, they have completed colouring a few of the images. But now Maria is ready for changing things up a little bit. She presents the idea to Shadow that they could try colouring the same picture together, collaborating on one art piece. Of course, Shadow follows the idea with no hesitation. Quickly followed is the both of them going through the pages to find an image that they both would work on together.

The one they select is of two hedgehogs that are both checking out an apple. One hedgehog seems to be pointing it`s nose up as if trying to sniff the upper portion of the apple while the other hedgehog seems to be sniffing the bottom. Maria chooses the hedgehog that is sniffing the bottom of the apple, leaving Shadow to colouring the other hedgehog that is sniffing the top.

This is just colouring for fun, so who cares if the colours aren`t realistic? Maria chooses blue to colour her hedgehog whereas Shadow chooses black for his hedgehog. Once that`s complete, the apple is coloured in. But now it looks unfinished. The picture will need a background. Though the artist for the book did not draw in one, Maria and Shadow decide to put one in anyway. Maria colours in the grass while Shadow works on the sky. He decides to make the sky night time based, complete with a full moon and stars. When the image is finished, Maria can`t help but admire the work. She is sure to compliment Shadow on his work with the sky and declares this picture as her favourite. This makes Shadow feel happy as her favourite picture is one he worked on with her. Did his colouring skills have a hand in making her feel that way about the picture?

Without an announcement or prior notification, Abraham happens into Maria`s room, entering through her sliding door. With an unannounced entry, Shadow quickly turns his head to the door as does Maria.

The most outstanding feature of Abraham is his eyes; their colours do not match as he has complete heterochromia. But this does not seem to hinder him in any way. In fact, many people find this quite interesting and it is often a popular topic among new people he meets. He has become proud of it as a result.

Abraham carries a package under his arm as he enters the room. His expression is that of total confidence in himself and his environment with that smile he bears. He gives a casual wave to Maria,"Hi, Maria."

Maria smiles back to Abraham,"Hi, Abraham. I didn`t know you were back."

"I just got back a couple days ago. I would`ve come sooner but everyone had different plans for me. But now I have some free time and decided I would spend it with you."

"How nice to see you again. Oh, Abraham? This is Shadow."

It might seem obvious to others but Abraham doesn`t pick up on that Shadow and Gerald`s Project Shadow are one in the same. So he feels a little put off by seeing some other boy with Maria. But he tries to seem friendly nonetheless, at least somewhat,"Shadow, huh?"

He holds his hand out to Shadow to shake hands with him,"Nice to meet you."

Awkward silence and lack of action follows. Shadow looks down to Abraham`s offered hand but doesn`t accept it. In fact, all he does in response is lift his eyes back up from the hand, back to Abraham`s different colours and holds his emotionless expression on his own face. Abraham slowly withdraws his hand,"Okayyyy..."

Then Abraham takes notice of Shadow looking directly to his eyes. His mistakes this as Shadow being curious about his eyes but perhaps doesn`t want to seem rude by asking about them. He can`t resist being boastful so he unsolicitedly speaks about his eyes,"So you`ve noticed the eye colour is different on me. Welllllll, that is due to heterochromia. Nothing serious, though, don`t worry yourself. It just means that there is too much or not enough pigment to produce colour correctly. In my case, I have complete heterochromia because one eye is a totally different colour than the other. I kind of like it since it makes me stand out from everyone else. Uniqueness, so to speak."

Throughout this speech, Shadow doesn`t speak a word, show any emotion or deter his eyes from Abraham`s. He just daringly stares to Abraham in absolute silence. Any normal person would feel threatened by such a stare and would turn away. But Abraham finds Shadow`s stare and silence more rude and boring than anything else. Maria tries to get Shadow`s attention and hopes to stir conversation from him,"Shadow-?"

Abraham turns away from Shadow and faces Maria, putting his back to Shadow,"Never mind it. I picked up something for you, Maria."

Abraham abruptly sits himself between Shadow and Maria. But the space between Shadow and Maria is small, thus Shadow is forced back to make room for Abraham. Shadow seems surprised that Abraham so suddenly crams himself in and pushes Shadow out. He had never been treated so, how is he to react? Should he say something about it? Unfortunately, Maria hadn`t really seen what had happened since Abraham is blocking her view. In her perspective, Shadow moved back willfully to let Abraham a place to sit.

Abraham pulls the package out from under his arm and shows it to Maria,"It`s something from Earth I thought would suit you."

Abraham opens up the package for Maria and takes the item out for her. It is a globe, modeled after Earth. It is geographically correct, naming the countries and waters of the planet. The globe is also bumpy to show where the mountains are.

Maria smiles widely at the gift. She reaches a hand over to touch the surface of the globe to feel the bumps of the mountains,"It is if I could have Earth in my hands..."

Abraham smiles,"That`s the idea. I hope you enjoy it, Maria."

Abraham stands up from the bed and looks around her room,"Where would you like it to be placed? Hmm, how about your bookcase here?"

Maria nods her head,"That is a good place. But, I`m not ready to put it away yet."

Abraham smiles to Maria,"Sure, take your time."

Maria looks to Shadow while she holds the globe,"Look, Shadow. We can get a closer look at what Earth looks like than what we see in the observatory."

Shadow brings his attention back to Maria and follows her direction to looking at the globe. Maria begins to point out the continents and telling Shadow their names, one by one. As Abraham watches this, he begins to wonder about who this Shadow is.

Comments

To leave a comment, you must be logged in.