Atticus wanted to now ask the sensitive question. He wanted to know why they called Natasha and Leonard as their parents. The resemblance to one person was believable but with both! That was simply uncanny.Given that they came to earth along with others, Atticus a.s.sumed that probably they had come with their parents and wanted to go in search of them. So when Eva commented to his reply he a.s.sumed that she was talking about the physical separation and thus walking towards them with the bowls in his hand, he said,
"Don"t worry my child. I will help you meet your parents. My EMP device will help you locate them. But we must hurry as this world can be a tad bit different from yours. We don"t know with what kind of people they might land upon."
And saying that he handed them the bowls and said,
"Now eat! You need some energy before we go for a search."
But that girl, who a couple of moments before was eyeing at the apples out of hunger, didn"t even touch the bowl of food. She looked lost because it was now that she realized that since yesterday, she didn"t even mourn for her parents. Didn"t even shed her tears properly. She had not bidden them a proper farewell and neither had she prayed for the peace of their souls.
It was then that she realized what a worthless and ungrateful child she had been.
"Eat! It"s just milk and some flattened grains. It will suit your stomach!" said Atticus and looked at her. He couldn"t understand why she was gazing at the floor continuously, but the moment she lifted her eyes, hearing his words, he could see that her tears were already swirling.
And sensing that Atticus might ask questions further Morpheous intervened,
"Our parents died yesterday night. A couple of hours before we came here."
He spoke with a calm and straight face and hearing that the mouth of Atticus was left wide open. He couldn"t fathom the pain of those two. In a day they lost their family and their home. But what pinched him the most was the resemblance of their parents with his daughter and son in law. Fate was indeed brutal. What high hopes they must have had!
He wanted to offer his condolences. He wanted to pat on the head of the poor orphaned girl. But before he could even make any attempt, the doorbell rang.
He turned in the direction of his door and he could see that both Morpheous and Eva were startled like anything. So before walking towards the door he explained,
"This is the sound of a doorbell. When you go to someone"s house you press it and the sound will tell the house owner that someone is at the door."
Morpheous just nodded and Atticus walked towards the foyer.
He peeped through the keyhole and saw a mailman. It had been ages that he received a physical mail. Everyone communicated through emails these days. Seeing a mailman in the US postal uniform was a rarity these days.
Opening the door he asked,
"Is this mail for number 14?"
"Yes," replied the mailman.
"It"s not a prank by anyone right?" asked Atticus as he had been sent trash a couple of times by his disgruntled students.
"I do not know," replied the mailman curtly and then asked Atticus to sign before handing him a parcel.
From the size of the parcel, Atticus a.s.sumed it to be a book. The parcel was wrapped in brown paper and had brown strings tied around. It was quite a shabby packaging. Bringing it into the kitchen, Atticus cut the strings using a knife and then unwrapped the book.
He was a.s.suming it to be some research paper collection or any book released by his students, but it was not. It was a leather-bound diary.
"That"s weird! Who would send me a diary?" he mumbled.
He flipped the pages of the diary but there was nothing written. He had no idea who had sent it. So getting a bit irritated he flung the diary towards the sofa and when he did, suddenly he noticed something fall down from the diary.
He quickly went to check what it was and saw the electricity bill of his house inside it.
"Ugghhhh... It"s time people should stop with their jokes!" he muttered and placed the electricity bill back into the diary and tossed it on the sofa.
Then turning towards Morpheous and Eva he asked,
"I didn"t get your names by the way."
"I am Morpheous and she is my sister Evangeline. But I call her Eva."
"You have a beautiful name," said Atticus and patted on Eva"s head and then said, "Please have some food. We have a long day ahead of us." and then he looked at Morpheous and as if they communicated through their minds, he picked up the bowl and started eating the cereal.
Seeing them both eating peacefully, he said, "Be here. I will be back in a minute." and saying that he went upstairs.
Morpheous ate his food silently. He didn"t have the courage to discuss or talk about anything with Eva. He had the courage to fight millions but he didn"t have the courage to see a single drop of tear on her face.
"I had to give you something back," said Eva and untied the amulet from her wrist.
"Where did you find it?" exclaimed Morpheous.
"It was with Iris," replied Eva and handed him over. But the moment she placed it on Morpheous"s hand, the EMP device that Atticus had placed on the dining table started swirling at top speed.
"Morpheous! See!"
And when Morpheous looked at the device he saw it rotating at top speed. Out of curiosity, he brought the amulet extremely close to it and it started rotating even faster. It was no more aligned in their direction.
Surprised, Eva took the amulet in her left hand and the EMP device in the right.
The EMP device stopped moving.
It was back being aligned again.
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