Kaleidoscope

Chapter 1

It is the night before the 20th of July, the date of Mikaela's birthday and the first day of school. As usual, sleeping is such a difficult task to do. The bed never feels right and my night - working neighborhood keeps me awake. My running thoughts don't help either, I couldn't stop thinking how Mikaela is doing right now, how she'll celebrate her birthday tomorrow and if she thinks of me.

After lots of tossing and turning, I decided to go downstairs for a glass of water. "Parker, we are in big trouble. The cops must've seen us walking past that border to -" I was surprised to hear my mom talk so suddenly, her tone shushed yet fearful. I hid behind my wall and overhear the conversation. "I know. For now, try to stay calm. We need to evacuate all the guns and stay here as our hiding place tonight. We'll move somewhere safer tomorrow. For now we should start packing." His tone was filled with urgency and fear, which made me realize something unusually dangerous has happened.

My parents aren't usually home. Whenever they come home, their voices always sound nostalgic. To hear them talk this way so suddenly filled my head with even more thoughts, making it harder for me to fall asleep. As it turns out, my parents only talked a little more after. After that it was just the sounds of things being moved around, along with the very infrequent "do we need this?" or "how come everything must come to this..." I had a sleepless night, and when it's time to wake up is when I actually feel like sleeping.

After getting ready I went downstairs and saw that my parents are still home, to my surprise. They were still talking about the same things as last night. I tried to dismiss it, but I couldn't help and worry so I asked them if something is wrong. My father told me "things are just getting a little more out of hand. Its none of your business, Faye. You should have fun on your first day of school." I raised my eyebrows at his response. My mom added "It's really going to be okay, we've been here before. You shouldn't worry about us" she said with a faint smile. Well, that's not the first time this happened.

When I try to reach out, they don't take my hand. I just feel like they're getting further and further away from me. Why does it seem like i'm the only one who's reaching out anyway? Nevertheless, I nodded and said goodbye, then walked to school. My parents always told me as a child whenever I asked, that they work in an organization that "sheds light on issues that got looked over." I didn't understand, but thought it sounded like a nice job. Now I understand that it's probably terrorism.

They were almost never home, so I didn't spend a lot of time with them. I wasn't good at making friends, but I'm lucky enough to have a neighbor that visited me ever so frequently. Now that I think of it, she really could've been doing everything else with her time. Her name was Mikaela. She is a few years older than me and she likes to give me advice, and if you remembered, today is her birthday. I asked her why she always makes time for me, because my parents don't even spend time with me and the other kids at school are not very friendly to me either. Smiling purely, she said in reply to my question "I don't want you to be lonely, Little Dove."

Little Dove, the nickname she gave me but I never knew the meaning to. Anyway, I like it. It feels so gentle, caring and genuine. As I walked through the neighborhood I thought of what Mikaela said about it. Honestly, to me my neighborhood is rusty, with the colors surrounding me being grey and brick red, sometimes with occasional hints of blue from the shore that's on the north side of town. The trees are a dull, green color. Mikaela always said that there's beauty in everything. "A dark night is not the darkest night. No matter what stands before you, there's always something more, or less than it. So learning how to be happy with what you have is wise, Little Dove."

When I arrived at school I sat down on a bench, far from the other kids who've already arrived. I opened my sketchbook and briefly flipped through the pages. They are filled with the drawings of Kaela each year, starting from the year she moved out of the neighborhood. I draw her when it's her birthday, then I would pretend to talk to the picture I drew of her. Even though Mikaela ages, I draw her the same way I remembered her the last time i saw her. From her golden hair that always covered her eyes and her soft hands that used to caress me so gently. I find myself smiling by the time I'm almost finished with my drawing.