CHAPTER
2
The voice sure sounded familiar,
but I couldn’t recall anything. “Ms. Lunette?” he asked before I could tell him
my name. How did he know, I was on the line? “I heard you needed my help
princess, and I sure will.” The old man was extremely friendly and sounded very
sweet. I was used to be called angel, baby, sweetie, but this was the first
time someone had called me princess. I kind of liked the sound of it, but
shuddered at the thought of an old man calling me that. I needed some serious
answers from him.
“How do you know me sir?” I asked
him. I was eager to know. “Please don’t call me sir, princess. I would prefer
Fiddle.” Happy old man he was. “As for the answers, I assume you must have tons
of questions, about yourself, and for multiverse. I needed to confirm it’s
really you, now I know. You and your friends can come and meet me this Saturday
in the evening. I will be waiting.” And the phone died. He didn’t even allow me
to speak. But what did he mean? Why did he feel I have questions about myself?
And why would I ask them to him?
For once, I felt that the night
left me more questions instead of providing me with answers. And where had I
heard his voice? I had a long walk down the memory lane, but it was all a blur.
I had never been so restless in years. I couldn’t wait for Saturday. I wanted
days to fly by, but each minute seemed like an hour in screeching heat. Finally
the day arrived. That morning seemed like the brightest day. I ran down to get
my breakfast.
“Mom, Luney-toons is here before
time! Did your mirror break or something?” Bobby teased. Bob was my elder
brother, but I doubted whether he was ever going to grow up. I made the worst
face I could. Coincidently, whenever he entered my room, I was always dressing
my hair. So he was under an impression that I am glued forever to my mirror.
Silly boy. “Mom, pack my breakfast quickly, I have a big day ahead” I told her.
She was still worried. But with a quick hug and goodbye, I stepped out of the
house. I had no idea what to expect, but my gut feeling told me this was a huge
day.
Yen had bought his jeep. I jumped
in along with Marsella and Abhi. And we drove off. Without Yen’s annoying
ongoing commentary, it would have been an amazing journey. We visited some
museums and then reached Mr. Fiddle’s residence. Fiddle owned a very beautiful
yard. It was covered with flowers that I had never seen before. Each of the
flowers seemed turned away from the sun. But they were so beautiful, with so
many random colors. Even the grass was lush green and had dew drops which made
it look amazing. The four of us were dumbfounded by the beauty of this place.
Before we could knock, an old man was at the door. He wore a welcome grin and introduced himself as
Mr. Fiddlesworth.
He was a tiny man with very few
wrinkles, a huge friendly smile and blue eyes with curly grey hair. He must
have been extremely handsome, when he was young. His features were still sharp.
He greeted us with a flower, which I assumed to be from his extremely
well-maintained garden. He offered us orange juice and some snacks. Once we sat
in his drawing room, Yen asked Fiddle, “Hey, how do you know angel? Uhm.. I
mean Lunette?” I wanted this answer too, but not with everyone staring at me
like that. Yen always made the wrong comments at the wrong time. Fiddle said
that we are somewhat related, “distant relatives” he said, but I knew he meant
something more.
He invited us to see his meteor
collection. As we hurried in the room to see it, he stopped me and said “Wait
after your friends leave. We need to talk.” There was something about Fiddle
that made me trust him. I nodded and moved forward. He looked towards Marsella,
and she nodded too. What was going on? We moved forward. Mr. Fiddle’s meteor
room had more asteroid pieces, comet remains and other stones-line structures
than the museum we had visited. Some of them reflected lights in various
directions, covering the room with different colored rays of light. It was a
scene that would be captured in my heart forever. Fiddle continued to be our
tour guide. He was telling us about a meteor from Jupiter when suddenly I
located a box with the corner of my eye. It was somewhat hidden. As I turned to
walk towards it, Mr. Fiddle stopped me. “You’ll know about that soon princess.”
I had no idea why he said that, but I quietly let the topic go. That’s when I
caught Marsella giving a strange look to Fiddle. It was she who found out about
him being here, and it was her idea to have this interview. Did she know him?
This was getting bizarre.
He then took us to see some
slideshows, other videos and gave us some books which were very useful. We took
notes, photographs and recorded all the necessary commentary. All of this
information was so interesting. Our project was definitely going to be the
best. This was it, now was the moment everyone would leave, and I would talk to
Fiddle. I didn’t know whether my heart could handle that pace of my heartbeats.
I told the others that I wanted to know about my family relations with Fiddle
and that I would meet them in an hour. But I couldn’t see Marsella anywhere.
“Where is she?” I asked to no one in particular. Yen replied, “She answered her
phone and ran away somewhere.” Good riddance. Fiddle looked a little concerned.
But there were other things I had to find out. Yen and Abhi could go bowling in
a nearby alley while I could get this mystery solved. I think Abhi knew I was
hiding something. But he didn’t ask. I’d tell him everything later.
They both left, and I faced Fiddle
with a ‘now is the time’ expression. “Please be seated princess”, he said
politely. I didn’t know where to start. I had so many questions. “How are we
related? What is the truth? Why did you stop me from seeing that box in there?
Why do you think I’m gonna ask you questions about myself? Why do you seem
familiar? Who are you really?” I asked in one breath. To my surprise, he
started laughing so badly, I think his stomach hurt. He offered me some water
once he was done laughing. “Calm down princess”, he said, “I’ll tell you
everything. It’s just going to take time. But first tell me something. Rather,
promise me. Promise me that you will not tell any of this to anybody, not your
parents, or your brother, or your friends. You will not do anything stupid.”
Well that was an easy promise. I agreed. His next sentence was the one which
sent currents throughout my body. He looked at me and said “I’ve been finding
for you since a long time princess.”
What? Fiddle was finding me? Why
me? What was the purpose? Mr. Fiddle then sat down on an armchair and turned
serious. “Princess is there anything about you, which makes you feel that
you’re different from the others around you? Haven’t you ever felt special?“ How
in the world did he know this? Was he a psychologist too? I replied “I’m not
sure about the special part, but I’ve always been different”. My night secret had always differentiated me
from my family and friends, but I’d never thought of it as ‘special’. Was
Fiddle referring to the ‘special’ in reference to mentally harassed? “I’m not
mad” I quickly added, as a response to my own thoughts.
“Of course you’re not mad princess.
Now tell me what is special about you?” I hesitated for a while, but answered
his question. “A lot of things Fiddle. For starters, I can see in the dark,
even when the others cannot. I don’t sleep at night. Rather the night makes me
feel stronger. The night always gives relief to me, it gives me answers. It
talks to my heart. There is something that attracts me towards the moon, the
stars and the night sky. As opposed to others, I feel tired in the day time.” I
was wondering if he wanted to change the ‘of course you’re not mad’ statement.
Fiddle only smiled. Well, that’s
not a response I wanted. He stared up for a moment and replied, “Princess, you
need to know a lot of things. But let’s start with who you are, who we are.” He
raised an eyebrow, “We are night risers…”
