Sunday July 30th, 2056

The following day, Andrew is sitting outside in the backyard. The sun is shining brightly, and he is taking cover under a large tree with tightly packed leaves. He picks up one of the stones he found on the beach the day before, and smashes it open with a small hammer. The stone is grey inside. He places the two halves on a pile of split stones. All of them are bland inside.

[Nothing again. Did I pick out the wrong ones? These don't seem to be geodes.]

The back door, connected to the kitchen, opens behind him.

"Lunch is ready." Melissa says, while peeking her head around the doorframe.

"I'll be there in a sec, one more stone."

[This is the first time she told me lunch is ready, or anything close to it.]

Andrew picks up another stone, and smashes it open.

[Nothing, again. Just that bland, grey, rock colour.]

He throws the halves on the pile, and stands up. While walking to the back door, he wipes off the dust from his clothes.

"Thanks for calling me." He says, as he enters the kitchen.

"No problem." Melissa responds.

[She's a lot nicer than before. Maybe it was something in the notebook?]

They head to the living room and have lunch together. No conversations arise.

[That's still the same, but she seems a lot less… agitated than usual. Agitated is the right word I think. It's not really angry, or aggressive, hostile… ah shut up, why am I even thinking about the right word?]

After lunch, Andrew heads outside again, back to the shadowed spot beneath the tree.

[Only a couple stones left. Four, but I don't think I can break that large one.]

He picks it up. It fills his hand completely.

[Yeah, there's no way that's happening with this small hammer.]

He puts it down again and goes on to smash another small rock.

[Here we go again…]

It splits open, and a minuscule cavity in the middle with white crystals is exposed to a ray of sunlight, coming through the tree.

[There's one. Finally. Though, I wouldn't call this a geode by any means.]

"It's a geode." Melissa is appears out of nowhere, behind him.

"Woah!" Andrew is startled and immediately turns around. "How long have you been there?"

"I just saw you open this one."

"And why are you here, so suddenly?"

She sits down next to him, and picks up one of the two smaller geodes left.

"Mom used to collect these." She says. "When you asked for the hammer, I realised you didn't forget."

Andrew calms down and looks at the geode in Melissa's hand.

"What do you mean by that?" Andrew asks. Melissa places the geode next to the other one, and picks up the larger rock. She places it in front of her, on the ground.

"I thought you forgot most trivial things, like how mom liked collecting rocks. I don't know what else there is to it." She responds. She takes the hammer from Andrew's hand and smacks it on the large rock. It splits open in one hit.

[Guess I was wrong about that hammer. Or, maybe she has smashed them open before. She did do that with mom sometimes, now that I think about it.]

Andrew looks at Melissa, and notices the marks on the left of her neck again.

[Now that she's so calm, it might be a good time to ask.]

"Hey." Andrew says.

"Wait." Melissa interrupts him. "Look."

Andrew turns his eyes to the geode. A beautiful, large cavity with dark purple crystals is exposed to the outside. Half of the stone is reflecting sunlight in all directions, while the other half is sparkling faintly in the shadow of the leaves.

"It's beautiful." Andrew says. Melissa picks up the half which is in the sunlight. Andrew picks up the other half.

[I'm keeping this one, it looks spectacular. Melissa can have the other half. This feels like one of those scenes that only happens in movies. Wait, I need to ask her.]

"Melissa." Andrew starts. "You don't have to answer, but…"

"Why do I have these remnants of stitches in my neck?" She interrupts him.

Andrew has his mouth open but he isn't letting out a sound.

"Exactly." He responds after a while.

[I guess it would be something she expected me to ask some day.]

Melissa turns her head to the purple crystals of the geode.

"I had an accident." She starts. "In about a week, that will have been thirty-five years ago."

[Well, what did I expect? That's one of the two reasons to get stitches. I don't know if there's any more. Accidents and surgery.]

"Do you… want to explain what happened?" Andrew follows up, hesitantly.

Melissa stands up, still holding half the geode. She turns to the back door.

"I'll explain it next week, on the day of, August Sixth." She replies. "And I hope you don't mind me keeping this half."

"No, that's fine." Andrew replies.

"I have to get working again." Melissa says. She opens the back door and goes inside. Andrew is unable to ask anything else.

[I wonder why she's so calm today. Maybe something happened on July 30th happened in her life, and the day alone makes her remember it. That's a possibility. The same would be true for next week. And, making me wait a week is going to drive my curiosity nuts, Melissa.]

Andrew places the split geode on his desk, and kneels down beside it.

[There might not be a reason for her to be calm today, I'm just overthinking it. And if there is, she could've just told me.]

He pokes one of the large purple spikes with is finger.

[Though, would she even tell me? Maybe it has something to do with her accident too, but that would be way too coincidental in my opinion. She could've just finished some stack of work from her school, like checking or reviewing work from her students.]

He continues poking different parts of the crystal while he's stuck within himself.

[Students… school… she was going to send me back to school, wasn't she? And something about a dorm room too. I see no reason why she would send me there when I can live here. Now that I think about it, why would she have to work? Isn't it summer? Yeah, she even told me that I would go to school 'after summer vacation, near the end of August', or something like that. This doesn't really add up. Maybe she gives summer classes? That's possible. She could also be working at a university, where they have summer classes. But that wouldn't make sense, she told me she only gives math. Maybe on a math-related study, but then she could've been more specific with the subject. That doesn't add up either. I'm going with the summer classes for now, that makes the most sense. It isn't something important I really need to know anyway.]

Andrew stops touching the geode and places it in the windowsill. The sunlight makes the purple sparkles fly through the room, making purple spots on the walls.

"Spectacular." He whispers to himself.

[To think nature is able to make these kinds of things.]

Andrew looks out the window.

[Tomorrow is… Monday. Going to Clifftell might be a good idea, as I feel like tomorrow will be a great day.]

He sits down behind his desk and starts writing in the notebook. With all of the events registered, he continues the day peacefully. The purple spots move up the wall as the sun sets behind the ocean. They disappear, and his room turns dark. He's already sleeping, with a faint feeling that everything will turn out fine, somehow.