The air was filled with the calming smell of freshly mown green grass. The soft wind flowed and carried the scent, tickling the tiny nose of a little girl who let out a squeak of a sneeze.
Sitting beneath a mighty oak, the child sat with her legs crossed amongst the twigs and roots. She was enjoying the cool shade provided by the looming branches and leaves, far away from the basking sun.
Between her crossed legs sat a tin of blue paint, its lid already popped off and discarded in the garage nearby.
Her father was decorating the girl’s bedroom in her favourite colour, but had to leave rather unexpectedly due to an urgent phone call. And when the little girl walked into the room and saw the freshly opened tin of paint, her mind was rushed with thoughts and ideas on the opportunity in front of her.
So now sitting amongst the fallen leaves and patches of dirt, the girl dipped her tiny hand into the thick liquid, cheerfully giggling at the way the paint squelched as she squeezed it through her fingers. Her beautiful white shirt adorned with a picture of a tiny cartoon bird, was quickly soiled by blotches of blue as the paint dripped and splashed back into the tin.
With another hand full of paint, the girl reached for her long chestnut hair and coursed her fingers through the fine strands, coating the brown with a thick sea blue.
It felt cold and weird as the paint weigh down her hair, but it was fun and it made her giggle.
Grabbing another dollop of blue from the steel tin, the little girl started to hum a merry tune her mother liked to sing.
It was a simple tune, one of the common nursery songs that any mother would know. But to the girl, it was her own song as she would hum different pitches to mix it up and make it new.
Time was slowly passing by and after gently stroking her hair with her tiny fingers and rubbing in the last glob of paint, the girl felt satisfied by her progress and decided to check up on her result.
Using the tree’s trunk as leverage to stand up, the girl got up from her cool spot and started to venture off away from the tree, blissfully unaware that she had knocked over the tin of blue in her excitement.
With a merry skip in her step, it took little time to reach a nearby small pond with a make-shift chain-link fence that wrapped around the perimeter of the water.
The fence was put in place well before the girl was born because her parents feared her going in and drowning.
It didn’t stop her from looking at the water though.
Standing in front of the metal wall that towered over the tiny girl, she grasped hold of the chain-links with her teeny fingers and pressed her adorable cheeks against the frame. Peeking her eyes through one of the many holes, the little girl peered into the world beyond the fence.
The pond seemed still as the water surface barley made a ripple and the foliage planted in and around the surface made tiny small movements under the gently breeze.
But from within the murky water, shimmers of golden orange scales glimmered in the sunlight. It was goldfish, watching and waiting from the depths for tiny little food pellets to rain down upon them like miracles from heaven.
But the girl wasn’t here to feed them or to watch them dance and swim in the pond, no, the little girl was there for the water itself.
Staring with her eyes of baby blue, the girl’s chirpy smile dulled as she looked disappointedly at the water.
It was murky and dark, with the exception of the glinting golden orange breaking towards the surface from the fish, the water was a muddy green from all the algae growing at the bottom of the pond.
Letting go of the fence and taking hold of the longest strands of hair from her brow, the girl pulled it down in front of her so that she could see the colour and compare it to the water.
“Tis not right, tis not blue” she pouted puffing out her cheeks.
As the girl let go of her clumpy blue hair her temper flared as she kicked the fence with her tiny red shoes. But as the chin-link rattled, her ears perked up as she heard her name being called out on the wind.
“Carin! Caaaarrrrriiiin!” called out a masculine voice.
Taking just a few steps away from the pond, the little girl perked up once more as she looked eagerly towards a cobble pathway.
Standing strong with his arms crossed patiently, a young man dressed in a Warriors protective garb waited on a stone pathway leading from the porch of a white cottage.
The man was tall and decently handsome with his sharp eyes and stubble chin, his short jet-black hair was lightly ruffled and a little bit singed.
“Daddy!!” Carin beamed as her eyes swelled with delight.
Even though it had only been a short few hours, it felt like it had been weeks since she had last saw her father, and her tiny legs couldn’t carry her fast enough to meet him.
With her petite feet stomping with every step, Carin ran up to her father with open arms, eager to embrace her loving dad.
Crouching down to greet her, her father’s eyes took in quite the sight as he watched a messy little girl run up to him with bright blue hair and hands covered in paint.
Slamming into his chest for a hug, Carin’s impact took her dad of his crouching feet and planted his bottom on the cold hard stones underneath.
“Daddy you’re back!” she chirped nestling her tiny blue head onto his rough chest plate, staining it blue as she pressed against it.
With a hesitant hand onto her messy head, her father patted Carin’s blue hair and was at a loss of what to say.
It had been a few short hours and she had already gotten into quite a mess.
He didn’t want to be angry with her as he did leave her relativly alone in the garden. He knew she was safe and protected, he just didn't expect to find her like a walking art piece.
And most of all, he wanted to know why she did it in the first place.
“Carin!? Sweetie... what have you been doing?” he asked curiously as he struggled to keep a happy smile.
Carin looked up to her father with disappointed eyes and pouty cheeks.
“Wanted to surprise you, but tis wasn’t right” she sulked.
Her father took another look at his daughter’s hair but still couldn’t understand what she was trying to accomplish.
“Aaannd what wasn’t right” he asked slightly raising an eyebrow.
Carin looked down away from her father’s questioning gaze, she started to feel like she did something wrong when all she wanted to do was to surprise her dad.
“We couldn’t go and see the sea... I saw how sad you looked... wanted to make you happy” she explained as she fought back her tears, she wanted to look like a strong big girl in front of the dad and not cry.
“So I coloured my hair... so that you could look at me and see the sea... and be happy”
As Carin’s words sank in like a stone in water, her father embraced her tightly and kissed her dirty forehead.
Carin's father had planned a week out for just him and his daughter. It would have been their first time together without her mother and he was looking forward to taking his darling little girl to the beach for the first time. He wanted to show her how wide and vast the beautiful sea was, instead of seeing it in books or on a TV screen.
But his responsibilities as a Warrior had to take priority over his own desires.
“Oh my girl, my sweet baby girl. You will always make me happy” he proclaimed with a fatherly smile.
“Even when you look like a messy Blue...”
He paused briefly in his sentence as he could not think of a playful thing to describe her as. Taking a quick glance at his daughter, all he could see was his little girl in dirty clothes.
Blotches of paint had even covered up the cartoonish character of the bird on her shirt, barely making it visible over the Blue....
Blue Bird?
Smiling warmly, he picked up his little darling by the waist so that he could comfortably cross his legs and plant her down on his lap.
Facing her towards the oak tree as it bathed it the warm glow of the sun, her father smiled as he rested his chin lightly on her head.
“My little Blue Bird”
Carin beamed at the silly name and giggled happily as the warm sun started to set.
But unbeknownst to Carin, there was someone else smiling at the amusing nickname.
Hidden amongst the thick branches and bushes of leaves of the mighty oak tree, stood an ever watchful and vigilant robed man.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWH6omFS7lx
His face hidden by a mask of white.131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn10h8ePizY
131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2evk4OhFvG
Authors notes:131Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG81NjLvAmW
I know it has been a while since my last chapter, I had hoped I would produce another full chapter for your enjoyment over a month ago. However, grief had stricken me when I lost my dear cat a week after the last chapter. My little buddy passed away quietly in his sleep and it has been hard on me to accept he is gone.
In order for me to start again with this story, I thought it best to give you my readers, what I had intended to be the first part of the chapter in the original chapter 9, instead of making you wait god knows how long for a full chapter.
I will then start fresh with chapter 10 marking the first part in what may be a 3-part story arc featuring Carin and the oddly happy Dr Adler.
Now on to my thoughts on this chapter.
Carin’s nickname had stuck with me ever since I had first conceived her character in the first version of this story, back when her original name wasn’t Carin.
The origin of the nickname came to me randomly when I had noticed how many fathers would give their daughters fun or random nicknames to express their love. How they choose the nickname usually stems from a single moment that the father experienced with their daughter.
It is due to this connection that I truly wanted a nickname for Carin, I wanted to express the love between father and daughter even when Carin’s father is nowhere to be seen. And the idea that both Andy and Mandy (especially Andy) like to use this nickname, to me shows that they understand that Carin misses her dad and that they want to show her that they (Andy and Mandy) are there for her.
Whether or not I had established a good origin for the nickname in story though is up to you, I do feel that the nickname came randomly on the stop for her father but I do believe that is how it normally happens anyway.
But anyway, I do hope you had enjoyed this short chapter and I am currently working hard on the next. No promises on when it will be released though.
Thank you for reading.
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