Hope by day, Red by night.
Hope is in his senior year of high school. He's handsome, an honors student, captain of the basketball team, and president of the school board. A perfect guy in every way. By day, he accumulates Light to survive the Darkne...
Wednesday morning began for Hope at 5:00. He woke up ten minutes before the alarm clock rang and lay with his arms spread out on the bed, looking up at the ceiling...
"And here it came again...this day...the day you were gone...I tried so hard to be good and successful to please you...but you left me anyway. I'm sorry I didn't see how hard it was for you and help you... How are you, Mom? I hope - you are reborn and don't see how I live now..." - Hope was torn from his sad thoughts by the creak of the door opening and he turned his head.
"Are you awake yet? I want to pick up the cash. I've got it almost all packed up. The buns you and I made turned out great! I left you two for breakfast," Grandpa burst into the room like a southwest monsoon, spoke encouragingly fast, and walked to the locker by the small worktable.
Taking the money, which he had habitually kept in this room, which he had formerly used as an office, he turned to Hope and saw his sad eyes full of tears, "Stop being so sad, get up and wash up! We've got to get out early so we can get everywhere!"
"Uh-huh," the boy replied, slowly got up and waddled to the bathroom.
This morning he and Troy would drive to the temple where his mom's ashes were located. It was a long drive, a little over an hour away, so they would have to do their best to get ready quickly so they wouldn't be late for school.
Hope ran down the stairs from the second floor, made his way to the kitchen and looked at the large wooden clock on the wall:
"Fifteen minutes to spare, I'll make it!"
He decided to make tea the Thai way today: he put a pot on low heat, poured milk and water into it, added sugar, some condensed milk and two spoonfuls of loose leaf black tea. Taking mint stalks out of the refrigerator, he slowly broke off the leaves and threw them into the brewing drink.
Ten minutes later the matter was finished. Guy poured the tea into mugs for himself and Grandpa, and put the rest into a thermos.
"What a rich aroma! Mmmm... I've grown to love this fragrant herb now too!" - Troy walked over to the table, tucking in his white shirt and taking a whiff of the scent.
"When I drink it, it makes me feel warm to my soul..." - Hope said and stared unblinkingly at the beige-gray drink in his mug, a picture of his mother sitting at the table, inhaling the aroma of tea from her favorite rose cup and smiling popped into his head..
"Eat Tao So!" - Grandpa held out a bun to the sinking kid.
"Huh?... Yeah... We'll eat in the car," Hope said as if waking up from a dream, "We better hurry up. Let's go!"
Hope stared out the window in silence the whole ride. Grandpa tried several times to break the silence, but seeing no response from the boy, he gave up.
It was not yet seven when they arrived at the place, parked the car and walked along the path to the temple. In front of them stood an impressive, massive, bright pink, 17-story tower-shaped building with a huge green dragon coiled around it.
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