Malá Strana

Chapter One - Of Tutus and Turkey Legs

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When the world goes round, people go along with it. They live in the time and space provided for. They were born to either make lives a bliss or a grave mistake. They feed on each other's company. Call out rather unacceptable norms ( but still accept them anyway). See the world as a beast or as the kindest thing ever. Thrive for the future. Remember the past. Live through the present itself. And well, of course, die...in the end. This is as normal as it could get. The most normal thing possible—move on and live along. But of course, there is always an exception to the rule. What happens when you find out that your life and the people around you were made up of dots? And these dots remained a mystery until one decides to connect with the other. It isn't simply the normal thing, right? Or is it? Are these things supposed to happen in real life? Or not? How else were people to find out than work out these dots, right?

So let's begin with the first dot. Here's Ara Jean Ontario sitting comfortably on the swivel chair behind her desk, having the best day of her life as she skims through her laptop with a cup of coffee. The smile on her face is an unwavering curve. The sunlight peeking through the blinds shines through the neat pink and white themed room of hers. She's totally enjoying life. She's—

"My life is a complete mess! I wanna die! I can't do this anymore! Whhhyyyy?" she whines as she continuously hits her head against the wooden desk.

"Damn it, Ara!" Tara, her cousin, enters the room with disgust. A plethora of inessential clutter filled the dirty white and fading pink room. "How does a human being live in here?" She raps as she beelines her way to the old wooden desk where a miserable haven't-taken-a-bath-yet Ara laments on her life.

So yes, maybe, we were exaggerating a little bit back there but don't worry, Ara has brushed her teeth this morning.

"This is seriously getting out of hand," Tara mutters as she opens the blinds and the windows, letting the sun in the room in full force. Ara winces and covers her tired face with her hand.

"Shut the damn lights of the heavens! I don't wanna die now...maybe tomorrow,"Ara cries.

"Oh boo-hoo, I can't do this anymore...I wanna die...blah blah...," Tara mimics Ara's voice, only in a much higher pitch than usual and rests her hands on her hips with a raised brow. "And you tell me, you wanna die tomorrow? For Pete's sake, I'm helping you out. Go. Go into the light my dear, idiot cousin!" She motions with her hands towards the window.

Ara squints at her, feeling mocked and betrayed. "You could maybe try a little sympathy, Tara."

Tara turns to her, eyes gaping with feign pity and a hand on her chest. "Oh my dear, Ara. Is sympathy what you need from me?"

Ara knows how satiric her cousin is so it was better not to fall for the disgusting battling of her eyes, instead she rolls her eyes and avoids her gaze which has turned into icy cold ones.

"I have given enough sympathy for you last year, Ara! Now, if it isn't much to ask, but you have to grow up! Move on! Go out! Live! Not count the strands of your hair in this dark stuffy room."

Ara pulls a face and mimics her cousin as she talks and turns her chair away from her.

"Hey! Ara Jean! Don't you turn your back on me when I'm talking to you. I'm still older than you, remember that!"

"By roughly 5 months," Ara scornfully mutters.

This. Well, this was a normal routine for the two. Ara swears on her life on a daily basis and Tara nags her out well—on a daily basis, too. Ever since Ara has moved out of from her house back in Sunnyville, Tara, the only cousin who tolerates her and the untoward events of her life, let her in her two-bedroom apartment down Harpers—an hour ride from Sunnyville. Tara tries her best to get Ara moving even through her busy life as a marketing executive of a women's clothing line. She surely gets annoyed from time to time, what with all the whining and I'm-depressed-don't-touch-me antics her cousin has been making for the past year, but she loves her and will always be there for her even if it takes all of her eyebrows plucked out.