Parrallel World

Esther Festival

Colour, friendship, love and community; you could get all of this at the Esther festival during the October season. The Esther festival is a time where residents of Buftyn Rise and Weltyn rise come together to celebrate the birth and construction of the twin mountains. People from the opposite mountain would bring food and clothing for people on our mountain and vice versa. For the first time in the whole year you could see the residents of Buftyn rise wearing colours. It is gorgeous seeing the two cultures bonding and rejoicing together. The smiles smothered on them is really a sensation to see. At midnight with the moon and stars high in the sky we all gather around the bottom of the mountain on the coast of the sea and we get ready to send the lit lanterns in the sky.

Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives a meaning to it. It was the october season and the Esther festival was about to begin in a few hours. Every year my mother makes lamps and sweets which she is famous for but this year it took her longer than it normally does. As everyone was making their way to the bottom of the mountain, my mum and I had stayed longer to finish off the sweets. It was almost time to light the lanterns and send them off, so my mum finished the sweets and took them down to the meeting spot. "Alya! Alya, I am gonna take the car now and drive down, do you wanna come with me or did you wanna finish getting ready then come down on your bike?" she called hands holding a large tray of sweets and lamps.             "I'll finish curling my hair then get down there soon mamma!" I called back.                                            "Ok, remember to bring the house keys on your way down, alright Alya? bye!" she replied getting into the car. I waved in the window and saw the car leave. 

Life is not perfect but it has perfect moments is what my dad had told me, he said to record the best moments in a diary so when going through hard times you could read over them. It was after my mum had left I saw a small light in the window lighting up the front yard. But what I didn't know was that it was this small light that was going to brighten up my life. Two seconds later I heard a bike's bell ringing, "hello?" I heard a voice calling. Rushing outside, I didn't realise the curling iron in my hand had a limited lead, it burnt my arm leaving a harsh red burn. Standing the pain I rushed outside to see a figure in the dark. Fluffy brown hair; his olive skin; the twinkle in his eyes asking for my love. I gaped at the boy of my dreams struck. "Hello?" he called bringing me back to life. "Hi, my name is Leo, do you have some grease? I need it for my bike's tyres, sorry this was the only house with lights on," he said to me.                                                    "oh umm yeah sure, come in," I said leading him in. He walked in looking around my house struck just as I was looking at him. "Nice house, quite suttle and nicely decorated, it's just black over there, never seen something so beautiful," he commented. I smiled back at him.                        "Thanks, what do you mean by 'over there'?" I asked                                                                                            "I'm from Buftyn rise, my name's Leo Jefferson, what is your name?" I asked him.                                "My name is Alya Sherif, are you here for the Esther festival?" I said.                                                              "Yeah my bike stopped and I found it needed grease, what happened to your arm there is such a big bruise?" He replied.                                                                                                                                         "I was curling my hair and I heard you calling outside so I had ran to open the door and accidently burnt my arm,",I opened the cupboard door finding the grease. I gave it to him.              "Thanks and sorry," he said.                                                                                                                                                I giggled and said,"what? who says thanks and sorry together?"                                                                    "Leo Jefferson from Buftyn Rise who likes Alya's cute giggle!" he replied falling into a laughter. We both walked out laughing and I slipped the house keys into my bag for my mum. He bent down and  put some grease on his tyre, I secretly admired him and studied his activity. He pushed the bike but it still made a squeaky rusty noise. "Doesn't look like she's gonna work today," he said shaking his head disapprovingly to his bike, "can we both go on your bike? its getting late we should make a move," I lead him to my bike and attached dad's spare bike seat onto my bike so we could both ride together. He rode the bike and I sat behind him.

Breezy wind slowly blowing in our faces, we happily rode down hill. "Idiot," I said.                               " who you?" he giggled.                                                                                                                                                        "No, the idiot that says thanks and sorry together," I laughed. We reached the bottom of the hill to see heaps of people crowded together getting ready to send their lanterns. I got off the bike to see a woman frantically waving at me. I looked closer to see it was my mum. "Alya! Hurry up, its about time," she called. I ran to my mum holding Leo's hand, dragging him with me.                    "What took you so long? Who's this?" she asked.                                                                                                    Leo gave my mum a nervous smile. "Oh long story, just a friend, I'll explain tomorrow," I said. She handed us both lanterns. We lit them. The priests said a prayer then they told us to make a wish upon the lantern. "What are you gonna wish for Alya?" he asked me.                                                 "You never tell anyone what you wish for, else it won't come true," I smiled at him and knocked him on the head. We both wished on our lanterns. All the elders counted to three and we let go of the lanterns. Slowly all the lanterns drifted away high into the sky. They lit up the sky. I kept track of my lantern and it flew off to the moon slowly going up. I hugged Leo's arm and rested my head on his shoulder. He looked at me and smiled. He hugged me and we both gazed up at gazed up at the sky. "Beautiful isn't it?" I said looking up at him.                                                          "Yup, just like you" he ruffled my hair. "Alya!" it was my mum. I let go of Leo and told him I had to go. He got a small tub out of his pocket and put it in my hands. "Its for your burn," he said smiling. "Thanks, hope to seeya soon" I said.                                                                                                            "Yeah I'll be here for three days we will meet up soon," he said putting a piece of crumpled paper in my pocket.

"Bye!" I waved at him. He called back and waved at me. I held my mum's hand and she led me into her car. We both drove back home and I caught the last glimpses of Leo. What a day! I thought to myself. This sure was one good memory to record in my diary....