That morning, I awake to find my uncle downstairs, sitting in his old Lazyboy, reading his newspapers and drinking his Decaf. I glance once at his shades that he never removes from his face. I've never actually seen his eyes because of those glasses. That doesn't matter as of right now though- I have more important matters to attend to.
"Morning," he casually says. "Good morning," I reply waving. There's waffles and bacon already sitting on my side of the kitchen table. He cooks everyday, but I'm not complaining. I walk over to the table and sit down. Mouthful after mouthful, I eat my breakfast, thinking of all the things I could say to my mother when I fixed that camera.
I finally swallowed the last bite and bolted up the stairs to my room. I throw on my clothes, brush my teeth, and hand-comb my long, brown hair.
I look in the mirror. I see me. A 15 year old girl, dark-skinned and mature. Part Native American, part African-American. People always asked if I was mixed because I had long hair, and medium-brown skin, but I find it horrible people think that way.
I make sure I look presentable, then gather all the pieces of my camera, storing them safely in a brown paper bag. I go back downstairs, throw on my tennis shoes, and open the door. Before I leave, I shout through the hallway for permission."Uncle T! Can I go get my camera fixed!?"
I knew he wouldn't care. He would let me go to the moon if I wanted. As long as he knows where I am, he was cool with it.
"Sure!" he yells back. I prepare to walk out the door until I hear him call me back to the living room.
I walk in and ask him what he wants. He looks up from his paper for the first time all morning. "Don't do anything you might regret." I couldn't see, but I could feel him stare at me through those thick-rim shades. "Ok," I say, a little bothered by what he meant by that.
Once again, I travel to the door, and finally, I leave.
I walk around the barren block. My path was covered in leaves, but I've lived here long enough to know where the sidewalk is. The beautiful autumn sun shone through the clouds, and the breeze plays through my hair. I don't want to take long, so I start to jog. Along the way, I look around at the small town I call home. It doesn't even seem big enough to fit all the big hearts that live in it.
I finally reach Gear Fest, the store that was hidden along the downtown street. Inside, headphones, phone cases, and tablets sat atop two or three short shelves on the right side of the room. Phones, a few laptops, and chargers sat on the other. In the very back, the digital cameras were all aligned neatly on one shelf.
I walk to the front desk, ring the bell on the counter, and wait patiently. Soon enough, a short plump man with a goatee walks out of the storage room. Bottle-cap glasses hang on the tip of his nose.
"Welcome to Gear Fest, can I help you with something?" I can tell he's unprofessional, especially because his hair seemed as though he just patted it down to keep it from spiking, but I can't really talk, can I? "Yes, you repair cameras, correct?" I ask politely. "Yes we do," he replies quickly. "Well, I'm not sure what camera model this is, but I was wondering if you could fix it." I dump the contents out of the bag. He looks and observes intently, but doesn't seem like he knows what he's doing.
He messes with it for a few minutes, and finally says, "I don't know what this is." He tinkers for a couple seconds before giving up. "Yeah, I really don't know what this is." He scoots the pieces over the counter in my direction. "I suggest taking it to a higher rated store, like One Stop Tech Shop, or somethin', but I've never seen this before." My heart sinks, and I look at the hopeless piece of technology. "Ok, thanks." I leave the store and head down the street to the Tech Shop (Like I said, this is a small town).
I still ended up with the same result. The employees said they'd never seen it before. I traveled around for another store for what seems like hours. No luck.
After I was about to give up, I hear a giggle behind me. I spin around quickly. The wind blows my hair in my face, but I still listen closely. A twig breaks where I was headed. I jump at the sudden noise. I wasn't in the mood to be murdered violently, so I start to walk faster. A voice suddenly whispered in my ear. "Hey." I scream and swing violently at the person behind me, but I missed. I turn around. No one. Someone taps my shoulder, and that's when I decide it's time to run.
I fling myself in the opposite direction, not taking my eyes off the place where the "invisible person" tapped me. I didn't get far before bumping into someone. Someone tall, slim. I reel backwards and fall flat on my rear. "Ow!" The pain immediately goes to my brain, I rub my head to ease the pain. "I'm sorry," the person giggled. "I didn't mean to hurt you." I look up, and what I see isn't what I was expecting to.
A man dressed in a purple and gold velvet vest, sewn with silver thread, and black suit pants with silver chevron lines running up and down, stood in front of me. His hair was short, but was long enough to cover one eye. He giggled, and put his hands on his mouth. His eyes were closed with content, but when he opened them, what I saw scared me more. His eyes were light pink, despite his hair being jet black.
I gasped at his appearance. "What's wrong?" He asks, tilting his head.
Bright pink eyes seemed to stare into my soul. I look him up and down, still lying on the concrete. When he sees my reaction, he laughs out loud. "You're fun" he says, smiling at me.
Seeing that he obviously wasn't going to help me up, I pick myself off the ground, dust myself off, and introduce myself. "I'm Laylana." I extend my hand. He stares at me like I'm crazy for trying to give a handshake and stands there awkwardly. I put my hand back to my side. Annoyed now, I snap, "Who are you anyway?" He frowns deeply, "Aww," he says, pretending to be hurt. Once again, he laughs in my face. I feel anger start to boil inside me. Why won't he take me seriously?
I start on my way, ignoring his ignorant laughing. Suddenly, the laughter stops. I turn my head. "He's gone," I state aloud. I shrug. At this point, I don't care anymore. I was about to go home, but when I turned around, he was there. I yelp, startled again by this idiot. That's it! "Leave me Alone!" I scream, losing my composure. I swing around and go the other direction.
"I can fix your camera..." I hear behind me. I gasp and turn around. Gone again. "Wait! Where'd you go?" I start to panic. "Can you really fix it?!" I shout into the nothingness that surrounds me. I search left and right, but he's not there anymore. "I'm sorry I was rude! I didn't mean it!" It's useless to try to gain his presence again, I ruined it.
I was about start the journey home once again, beating myself up for missing such an opportunity. Once again, I turn around. He's there again, except now he's leaning in my face, and his smile has disappeared. He just stares directly into my eyes. His pink eyes were like a rose. Beautiful, but the thorns won't allow it to be messed with. My heart jumps, but I stand my ground. "You really want me to fix it?" He asks me. "Yes," I say, body standing fierce on the outside, but on the inside, butterflies flapped away. His smile reappears,"Then sell me your soul."
