It took so long for the prickling night to end and shift to the next day, where it promised Nancy to be good and brisk. She was now with her mother in the living room, discussing about the piano recital whilst they wait for the father to bring the cat. Natalia was also returning from the journalism academy to meet the new feline family member. Nathan too was on his way back home from his aviator trial. It sure will be a day of distraction for Nancy from all the bad events that have happened. She was at the end of her rope, and it was high time she mustered up the strength and uplifting spirit to climb it.

"I still don't get why you're wrestling with the idea of having Natalia beside you to flip through the note sheets while you play." The mom said sweetly to Nancy, who was in a reverie as she stared at the calendar blankly. The mom frowned and snapped her fingers in front of the dozed girl. Nancy blinked and her gaze flickered between her mom and the calendar.

"Your brain got another short circuit or is there something about the calendar?"

"Huh?"

"Your brain got- nevermind, Nancy. Just tell me. Why don't you want Natalia to be by your side?"

Nancy shifted in her seat and hesitated before saying, "I love Natalia and all, but sometimes she can be...overbearing."

The mom laughed heartily while patting her knees instead of slapping them. She raised a brow at Nancy, "Did your stunner of a fiancé tell you that?"

"Mom, that's not how you use the word. And no, Harlem did not tell me." Nancy scoffed while flicking the loose pink paper boat hat flimsily.

The mom glanced at her paper boat hat before crossing her arms, "It is just that Natalia is the one who is on top of things. Even though she is a journalist and studies in a journalist academy instead of a normal college, she still cares about you."

"Natalia is a workaholic alright, and I appreciate that she still finds the time to help me," Nancy struggled to formulate words as her tongue became twisted. She continued while looking away, "Even so, I feel like she is pulling at my strings like I'm some ditz."

The mom pressed her lips together as if she was holding something back. Now it was her turn to be flimsy as she awkwardly rans a hand on her scarf and lets out a titter, "All Natalia is doing is reminding you to get your meds. I don't know where you got that notion from, but it certainly is made up- by your brain, of course."

Nancy twisted her lips to the side while scratching her scalp under her hat. Her mothers' words were irrefutable. Nancy's debilitating brain sometimes conjured up fake memories. It was annoying to say the least, but it still gave her the burning need to write on paper boat hats and seek validation from her loved ones.

Silence was deafening between the two. Nancy could see the mom eyeing the paper boat hat on her head too speculatively. The mom brashly flipped her scarf behind her and said smilingly, "What's with the pink paper boat hat? You were supposed to wear an orange one so you can record the arrival of our pet."

Nancy sighed in relief; she waited for the mom to go discursive and ask her this exact question. With her eyes locked on her mom, she took off her hat and unfurled it. She held the piece of paper up and pointed at an obscure text-- very obscure that the mom had to lean forward while wearing her spectacles.

"As you can see here, mom," Nancy's breathing quivered, "it says here that I wanted to become a blood donor."

The mom's head inclined and she looked at Nancy through the crevice while between the frame of her spectacles and cheeks. For a nanosecond, the mom scowled before smiling dismissively while tilting her head at the wide-eyed girl. "Nonsense, Nancy. You wrote this when you were sympathizing with the soldiers of our island who fought for our island in blood-shed wars."

"I did?" Nancy asked incredulously.

"Mhm."

Nancy laughed suddenly. It was not a humorous and wry laugh, rather it was hysterical and stress-releasing. The mom took off her spectacles , her wide eyes glued to the girl in stitches. Nancy soon regained her bearings and apologized while shifting her frame, smiling instead as she pressed her lips against the paper boat hat while holding it up.

"Promise, mom."

"What promise now?"

"That you won't tell anyone about how I wanted to be a blood donor."

"Nancy-" The mom clicked her tongue as a concerned glint danced on her eyes. She pursed her lips and said, "Lips sealed then."

Nancy sneered and pulled out a yellow cellophane. She licked the edges of the cellophane and stuck it onto the paper boat hat. Nancy deliberately rubbed the edges until the cellophane was completely glued to the paper. She did so while staring down at her mom. The mom's eyes shifted around the room while stiffening; she felt like she was on the cusp of something risky.

"Uh...isn't that Natalia's-"

"I say we leave it at this, okey?" Nancy whispered as she folded the orange piece of paper like she was playing piano.

Luckily, that died down as soon as the door clicked open. Natalia, with a lollipop in her mouth, stepped in while carrying a sketchbook. She hummed while raising her brows at Nancy.

"I'm bouncing off the wall just thinking about the cat!" A wide smile draped over Nancy's face as she rustled the orange paper boat hat. Natalia hummed again in understanding while stepping to the side. Nathan showed up in a pilot cap, grinning broader than all the lands he flew over. The man was facetious in the right moment this time. Nathan said while tying the knot of his flannel tied around his shoulders like a cape, "I took the quickest dump in the airport bathroom just to get here on time. Get your cameras ready, paparazzi, the cat's coming!" He pretended to hold a camera while making flashing noises as he knelt down on his knee. Nancy smiled and thought, "This is how he will propose to Omniya when she comes back..."

Just then, an alarming thud reverberated through the place. Nancy's smile withered away. Her nerves staggered. She shook her head while covering her hears instantly. No, now's not the time! Why could she not ward off the daytime delusions? To her surprise, everyone else's ears perked up and turned their heads to the source of the din. Nancy sighed almost in relief; she was not hallucinating. But that did not stop her from feeling tensed up. Something, or someone, tumbled down the staircase.

"I'll go check it out." Natalia's lollipop straw sticking out of her mouth quivered as her lips moved while she walked towards the staircase. Nathan grabbed her by the arm and said cheerily, "Actually, let's go check it out." His eyes darted towards Nancy and he wiggled his brows at her. "Including you."

Nancy's fingers danced around her blouse ribbon as she stood up with weak knees. She had to seize whatever lied on the other side head-on yet again. She exchanged a wrought look with each of her family members, their faces like blurred mirrors. Slowly, they headed to the staircase while huddling up, Natalia taking the lead while she rolled the lollipop in her mouth casually. Nancy could feel her paper boat hat digging into her scalp as it was drenched with sweat. She could not grow cold feet. Not now after she was on her early innings of her gradual recovery.

They stopped and looked down. Nancy's face twisted tenfold as she came to a standstill; in front of the foot of the staircase lied her father like a ragdoll while carrying an uncharted cage. His face showed no signs of unconsciousness, just pain. He was scuffing his teeth while twitching a bit. Even after falling down a large flight of stairs, the fedora hat stayed attached to his head for dear life.

Nancy was first to step in and stoop down to treat her dad. She gently pressed her fingers against his nape while fiddling with the hem of her skirt. The rest just watched silently as the oldest daughter was checking the pulse of the father. Natalia smiled while sucking on the lollipop. "Now, it's her turn to succor him...maybe even remember."

Nancy tried shaking her dad awake, desperate for him to stir back to reality. It was not like her condition rubbed off on him, yes? No? Is it even contagious? Nancy dispelled these thoughts by twirling the shirt ribbon around her pinky finger while jabbing her father lightly with her other. A few beads of sweat dripped from the tip of her nose, and Nancy looked over her shoulder at her family members as they just watched with confused expressions. She swallowed thickly and said, "Dad has blackened out...and I think that cage contains a bomb of some sort."

Nancy's words, stark and shuddery, left a disquieting silence in the family's wake. The father groaned a bit as he lied with his cheek pressed against the cold floor. The scene was inexplicable as the winter light from a lone window flooding the room served a contrast to the terrorizing sight of the middle aged man sprawled on the floor with a cage in his arms. Someone had to break the silence, and wisely. Nathan decided to volunteer as he just puffed his cheeks out and tilted his head downwards while holding the brim of the cap as if mourning, "Womp womp."

Natalia feigned spitting the lollipop out then snapped her head to Nathan. "That's your say in this?"

"Come on, you have to keep the word up in uptight, switch it and flip the word tight-" Nathan made a flipping gesture with his index fingers while smirking at Natalia, "and you will get loose up."

Natalia clicked her tongue and averted her glare to the sprawled man and the cage. Nancy was just too petrified as she stood as still as a statue, not being fidgety for what seemed like the first time in months. Premonition got a hold of her mind. She stared at the cage with wide eyes. It will explode at any given second. Who was culpable for doing this, she did not know. 

Nancy looked around with pinched lips, expecting someone to take the initiative and perhaps call the ambulance or check up on the father with her. "Why is no one doing anything?" She could not compile her thoughts as stinging confusion was plaguing her mind.

All of a sudden, the dad hiccuped as he lifted himself up instantly like a Jack-in-the-box. Nancy flinchingly stepped back while eyeing her dad who has just arisen. He turned to her, and they stared at each other for a few seconds before he grinned at everyone. Everyone else just blinked rapidly while staggering in their spots, Nathan doing it more melodramatically. The dad sniggered, "Surprise surprise! You thought I'd come back empty-handed from the dead? Well, I've got something in here."

The dad's hand moved to the lock for the cage, and in the blink of an eye he rotated the lock and opened the cage. What Nancy saw was something she should've expected but it still took her by surprise; gracefully, a malleable creature with remarkable red fur and yellow eyes alighted from the cage. It had a white mane and a white streak on its tail that were the sepals of the rose cat that contrasted its petals. It was already wearing a pinwheel designed collar- which made Nancy's breath hitch- and the tag hanging from it had the word "Redrum" engraved in it.

Nancy's brows trampolined as soon as the cat showed itself with making an entrance. The cat snuffled a bit as its yellow cat eyes scanned the new place, lowering its head as it sashayed forward. Everyone started looking at the cat closely and some even stroking it while giving it space to register its surroundings. Nancy's heart was stroked too and her eyes glistened.

Nathan was clutching the cat while making engine noises with his mouth and he looked up at Nancy. He was confused when he saw her facial expression and decided to be the breaker of it as he said, "Never saw a red cat before?"

Nancy shook her head, "Never." Nancy looked down at Redrum. Its fur was indeed as red as her auburn hair if not more. Nancy grinned and remarked while kneeling down and tapping her fingers on the floor to busy the cat as she says, "He looks like he came from a science fiction dystopia with devil cat robots or something of that sort."

"Oh yea, come to think of it-" Nathan heaved the cat up and let it shine in the limelight as he drew an imaginary sphere around it while grinning, "Behold! Redrum, the good riddance to stress."

Natalia was twirling the cat's tail around her fingers and she rolled her eyes and said, "Nathan, this is not an auction. Pretend that the cat is an adoptee."

"Adoptee, got it. Sorta like a very certain someone here-"

"Oh." The father cleared his throat and smiled, "That would be me."

Nancy gaped at her father like he was a completely different person, "Dad, since when?"

The dad chortled while chafing his hands as he got up to his feet, looking down at them while saying, "It's a long story."

"I should tell Harlem!"

The dad's eyes widened and he shook his head while holding onto his fedora hat. "No need, Nancy. I was-"

"She's talking about the cat, dad." Natalia clarified as she flicked the empty lollipop stick away. The cat turned playful as it chased the lollipop stick like it was meant to do that dutifully. 

"Harlem can wait. We have other things to take care of." Natalia started counting on her fingers as she began listing off chores. "We have the cage to put somewhere so no one trips over it or it doesn't collect dust. We have the basic needs for the cat to set up. We have..."

Nancy's mind drew a blank the entire time and she did not bother to look concentrated. She was just staring at the cat, both blankly and fondly. She felt like she forgot something, but her mind lulled her to just focus on the moment, and particularly the sweet moment of the arrival of Redrum. Very, very sweet. Nancy smiled as she ruffled her hair without difficulty. That was weird...she used to have difficulties with doing so. Oh well.

♮♮♮♮♮♮♮♮♮▬ι═ﺤ ♮♮♮♮♮♮♮♮♮

Natalia was strolling to the bathroom of the second floor when she stopped in her tracks in front of the door. She looked up at the upper part of the doorframe and frowned. Nathan, in his goofiness, ascended the stairs while dragging his hand above the railing and making aerial sounds as if he was a plan. He came to a halt while grinning and pointed at Natalia with his chin, "How's our Nancy doing after the-" He wiggled his brows in jest, "surprise?"

Natalia took a long sip of the air and her head inclined, "You know, you don't have to be like that when she's not around."

Nathan rolled his eyes upon noticing Natalia's evasion of his question. He gurgled out while propping his arm on the upper wedge of the bathroom's door frame in the same way Natalia did, "You know, I have to in case her invalided mind decides to bring her here coincidentally when I'm not being the bubbly pilot boy! You know that, right?"

Natalia lowered her chin and narrowed her eyes at the wedge Nathan's hand was resting on. Nathan followed her squinty gaze and let out an oh. The corners of his lips upturned and he waved his freehand dismissively, "I drew a red scar with a javelin and added more color and texture so it looks impaled. The cannula is where it's at. Just so we can jog her memory, if you know what I mean? It's not actually impaled." He shook his wrist with the cannula. "Crafty of me, huh?"

Natalia tsked and drew a line of the length of upper wedge in the air, "Not that. That part of the doorframe is higher than before."

Nathan made a dumbfounded face while looking at the wedge. He slapped it and said, "Never occurred to me. Doesn't look like it did."

"I could've sworn it was lower."

"You're imagining things, just like our beloved sister Nancy."

"Yih yih yih, Nathan!" Natalia crossed her arms. "You seriously need to stop being facetious for no reason."

"I assure you there is a reason, and it applies to everything, yea?" Nathan's arm fell on his sides and he snorted briefly before saying, "Must seriously stop being unserious? And when sweet candy-corn Nancy act all serious and stern, you tell me to tell her to loosen up. What a paradox."

Natalia grabbed a fistful of her own hair and her jaw tightened, "The point is that someone lifted the wedge up, and I'm afraid Nancy was responsible for it because-!"

"Or you're just shorter without realizing." Nathan spoke in one breath while flapping his hands like a fairy, his face now bored and short of anything but his usual energetic one. "Ever crossed your mind?"

"No one shrinks in the swing of days." 

Natalia's eyes narrowed at the man and she made a checkmark with her hand and pointed it at her own face while raising her brows. He took this as a cue to smile giddily and just clasped his hands while saying, "It's not that shambolic, huh? Why don't we forget about it. You said earlier that we have other things we have to take care of. I know what you were implying."

Natalia chuckled as if Nathan was being silly and said, "You know, and I rest my case that we have to distract her."

"Oh, but dad did a splendid job at doing just that. Then we had her right where we wanted her so we could take that paper boat hat, thanks to that geezer." Nathan made a chef's kiss gesture, earning a click of Natalia's tongue that was still adorned by the sugary flavor of the lollipop she had previously. 

"Speak of the devil." Nathan blurted out as the dad ascended from the staircase and approached the two in front of the bathroom room. He was gripping onto his fedora hat like it was using it for shade purposes from the sharp light, except he was the one who looked shady himself.

"You were talking about me behind my back?" The dad rolled his shoulders and grunted. "Speaking of which, it hurts like hell."

Natalia waved her hand dismissively. "Forget about that." She leaned forward while pointing up at the upper wedge of the door and spoke interrogatively, "Were you the one who lifted the doorframe? It must've been you so that your fedora hat stops colliding with it, huh?"

The dad chortled through gritted teeth as he was cracking his back. "Your deduction is so accurate it's scary, kiddo..."