I dangle my feet off the wall and into the water, half wanting to jump into the swell for the fun of it, half wanting to run away because of the danger, so I sit.

Of course, he is sat next to me, but I take little notice, no one else notices him, why should I?- but then he talks. ‘I’m Drew. You’re Adriana, correct?’

He’s never talked before, in all the years he’s followed me, always on my left, always silent, but always there, so it’s no wonder he picked up my real name. Actually, he’s quite dangerous… I figured only I could see him so I never bothered to shut him out of places few people are allowed, like the store room, he must know all the tricks we use to hide the real goods…

‘Yep. Adriana.’ I nod.

‘I don’t know if you know, but to-night the Katchi, it only happens once a century.’

‘I know Silent One, that’s why I’m here.’ I used to call him that when I wrote my diary, might as well do it now too, everyone needs a nickname.

Neither of us talks again for a full two hours, we’re watching the Kalaithi, the only time the two moons and the sun cross over each other, and because of the sizes it forms a special shape, a black circle surrounded by an orange ring and then a white ring, and it’s beautiful.

The whole world is bathed in near darkness.

The birds stop singing.

The nearest moon so small a hundred km above our heads, the farthest is twice the size, and twice the distance, and the sun… No-one knows, it’s not for us to meddle with.

As it all lines up the clear sky begins to rain, and it’s perfect, light glowing droplets illuminating a scene of perfection, and I commit it to memory in order to draw it later.

Only when the mirical has ended do I look to Drew, but the Silent One is gone, and for the first time in years I am alone with the now dark and empty sky.