The Boy with a Bird in His Chest by Emme Lund

Author:Emme Lund
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

42

Owen could not get used to sleeping alone. It had been four days since Tennessee had moved out. He turned the radio on low, so it was a soft hum near the window, but it didn’t help. He was used to the rhythm of his cousin’s breathing while she slept. He was used to her presence. The room felt big and empty without her and her things. He and Gail couldn’t fill all the space of the bedroom. He lay in bed, tossing and turning and willing himself to sleep.

Earlier in the day, Tennessee had come over to grab the last of her toiletries. She’d hugged him and apologized for not calling, insisting it was because she was in “love jail.” It was her first time at the house since she’d moved out. She asked if Owen had met Bob’s girlfriend yet, and when he told her no, he hadn’t, she said, “Looks like the ring of salt is working,” and then she left, leaving him alone. He and Bob had barely talked since she’d left, and all the hope he’d felt at the Fort had fallen away so the world felt flat and dried-up.

Now Gail was fast asleep in his chest, taking no time at all to adjust to being the only ones in the room. She snored loudly under the covers, with tiny bird whistles after every snore.

He closed his eyes and focused his breath and reached deep down into himself so that he could feel what Gail was feeling. Sometimes he could get whiffs of her dreams when he focused everything on the task. She was always flying, never anything else.

Recently he’d started to think differently about how he and Gail shared the air. He thought maybe everyone shared the air with everyone else, but it was more intense for him because of Gail. When he stood next to someone who was sad, he felt sad, too. An hour after Tennessee had left that day, he and Bob had gone to the grocery store to pick up some food, but less food than usual since it was just the two of them now. They were silent the entire trip. They communicated in the grocery store by holding up cans of green beans or a round watermelon and the other nodding in agreement. The grocery cart’s wheels rattled on the asphalt while they walked to the car, the cart only containing two paper bags of food. A man paced back and forth near the Rabbit, blabbing to himself about which radio station he preferred. His voice rose and fell depending on nothing at all. They walked past him, and Owen felt anxious and happy and mad. Emotions so intertwined he couldn’t tell which were his and which were the world’s.

Now time had gotten so far away from him that morning light trickled in through the window and it felt like he had time-traveled. He wasn’t sure if he’d fallen asleep. He closed his eyes tight and he thought of him and Comet walking through the woods together.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.