Fire Meets Gasoline : Wildfire

Chapter Two : No Roots

JOHN MCHALE. It was five months after escaping the Red Flower building, Mike, Lin and I were able to come in contact with Julia, and after that we drove to the trailer park she was staying at. It was in the middle of nowhere, and although we all knew what that looked like, nothing was more "weird" than five trailers stationed in the middle of a forest, it was nothing like we have ever seen.

The five trailers were parked around in a large circle, a handmade fountain in the middle and a mud path going across in a circle connecting all the doors of the trailers together. Behind each vehicle, there were random colored fences marking their little backyard with all kinds of wooden and broken down objects, one even had a small garden that contained all its plants in used metal buckets full of dirt. In front of the trailer park there was a sign as well as a normal house, a small wooden one. Not far from all the stopped vehicles, a river would run across the horizon, like a bigger version of what Mike and I had in the Elpida. We only realized there was a body of water close when we found out the park was actually on a hill, and from there you could see the shiny and untouched river.

Julia's trailer was smaller than the others, hers was painted soft yellow and its roof as almost as blue as the clear sky. She took some things out to make space for all of us to sleep, and the whole thing became a resting place instead of a micro home. Mike felt almost like at home once we explained everything to Julia, he would wake up every morning and go in a walk, he would also greet the neighbors as if he wasn't wanted for a crime, he would do chores that Julia begged him to not do, it was almost like he blacked out of everything that happened prior to us getting to his sister's home. One thing was clear though, Mike made sure to change his appearance just so he would not be caught in small market cameras or whatever paranoiac thing he would mumble about. He dyed his hair bright red and unfortunately his curls disappeared a little bit. I was a bit sad about that change, but a part of me was glad he still had the honey eyes and soft lips he always had. I doubt he would even be able to change that if he wanted to.

Lin also became familiar with the lifestyle we were experiencing, although his face was not on the news, he was always careful after leaving to the small town close to us to get things for breakfast, or running errands for Julia. One thing we all noticed was how much he enjoyed fishing with the neighbors, he would stay hours down the river without even complaining. He was a new person in some way, he cut his beard, leaving it trimmed, his hair that was once short was as long as close to the shoulders, although he would tie it almost all the time.

Me, on the other hand, struggled longer than the others to feel at home in that place, it wasn't the fact that we were in the middle of a forest, or that my actual house in LA was probably entirely full of spider webs and bills to pay, but maybe because I was the only one that was still preoccupied with everything in the outside world. The others were so deep into their own reality that it felt like I was the only one seeing things true and raw. Eventually I let myself dive into the new life we were experiencing, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

There was a period where I could still hear Mike cry over Yujun, many of those times I wanted to be closer to him enough to give him a hug, but something in me was telling me he wanted to cry alone. Eventually it came the point that Mike decided to come forward with his feelings to me, he loved Yujun, and the thought that he died trying to save others didn't bring him any sort of closure, but instead made him jealous and angry, because if Yujun only cared for Mike, he would've taken Mike out of the casino and leave to somewhere far away. That anger was not serving any purpose though, and like magic, Mike accepted the universe the way it was, and just prayed no one would suffer the same destiny as Yujun.

I was once worried about my own self, and how others would view me, but while I was picking flowers from a metal pot behind Julia's house, I realized how no one seemed to have the same view of me like I was, and it was only a play made by my mind, of course I would still battle with my corrupted thoughts for many years to come, it was nothing like a character development wouldn't help out a bit. I wanted to become someone confident enough to fight the world and its problems, I wanted to be brave enough to encourage others to have the same change as me, but mostly of all, I wanted to love myself, that would come with some much needed acceptance. My first idea of acceptance was buzz cut my hair, I know it doesn't make any sense, but trust me when I tell you I really started loving myself when I could see my face and not inches of hair.