For my few short years of living, I seem to have come to the conclusion that the park is my 'safe haven.'
It's a fairly large park, so everyone can have a piece for themselves. There's a playground at the center where the innocent, growing strangers play together like long lost friends. The ground in between the green fence is a sponge-like carpet, in case a child was to fall. To the farther right, about a dozen battered picnic tables sit in peace with only the low chatter of strangers to fill the autumn air. To the left of the playground, there's a fresh, open field surrounded by long slender trees. Majority of the time, rowdy teenage boys spend their time catching a football or just tackling each other with big, goofy grins plastered on their faces. Just after the playground, there's a narrow path the cuts through the trees, leading you to a small, bare hill that's high enough to give you the view of the city. I titled that spot my safe haven.
People hardly come up here for one reason: it's a bit of a long walk to the hill. It's incredible how some people can't let their legs to endure some walking to look over the city, which is a striking view, but don't hesitant to run when their favorite TV show is playing. However, I'm glad they don't bother walking, because if they did, I wouldn't feel the security of the trees or the glowing sun.
The sun is resting on the horizon, leaving a blanket of warm gold across the streets and anything on them. The sides of buildings facing me are as dark as black; a silhouette with a bright back. I gawk at the scenery before me with my arms wrapped around my knees and my chin on top of my kneecaps. The dim sunlight washes over me, and reaches past me to the tips of the evergreens. I eye the sinking sun until it disappears from my eyes. A soft glow still colors the sky but with deep shades of blue and pink, and hints of orange at the edges of the clouds. With the remaining wisp of natural light, it reflects off my dark eyes and hangs on my eyelashes. For a split second, I could've swore to see the city stop and watch in awe. I sit there until the vivid colors fade into a shade of azure, stretching an ombre of blue across the sky.
My safe haven is the pure beauty of nature. Real beauty. Not the allure on the face or the soul of a person or on the concrete streets. My haven is the kind that you can only find by tipping your head back. No matter the time of the day. In the morning, the sky still has a small variety of colors tangled with a soft blue. In the afternoon, a plain blue sky with swirling white clouds that can form into odd shapes and figures. At night, a navy blue blanket with shining glitter spilled across it. The sky can't be destroy, but you can be. You can fade out of the you you were, creating a monster. Innocent to devious in a flat of eight seconds. I need an allusion that can last me a lifetime, where I can hide behind swirls of colors and beams of light. Everything just feels right. There is bliss in solitude, and I'm glad I feel it here.
"Isn't is entrancing?" A whisper breaks the silence of nature.
I know that voice unfortunately. It keeps bouncing off the walls of my mind, sometimes leaving me restless at night. I'm just grateful he didn't speak my name with those three little words.
Everything comes crashing down onto my shoulders once again with the weight of reality and the sourness in the lives of people. The sourness in me. Suddenly, I just want to leave and never sit back down, and the sky doesn't seem that much intriguing anymore even though the stars are beginning to flicker. I want to leave, but I want don't him to have the satisfaction of him vexing me out of me favorite place. Either way, I ignore Blue's question, and tighten my grip of the patches of grass.
From behind me, on the path, I hear blather and booming laughter growing louder and louder with each passing second. Out of the cluster of words, I hear one female voice cut through the air in a high-pitch yelp, "There you are!" Blue whips his head to the path.
These are his friends.
Rowdy, reckless, and idiot friends.
And Blue brought them to my safe haven.
I don't care anymore, I just want to leave.
I stand up and leave the beauty behind me, and shove my shoulder into one of Blue's friend, causing him to curse. I keep clenching my hands, digging my fingernails into my palms. Once again, I hear his voice shouting, "Tippy!" and heavy footsteps stomping behind me. I ignore him; I block his calls of my name, making me hate the word each time I hear it leave from his lips.
Suddenly, he grabs my elbow and turns me around to face him. How much I wish looks can kill right now.
"What did I tell you about ever touching me again?"
