A Rose in the Sun.

Pt.4: The Day We Played With Fireworks

花火

It was another snowy day in January. where the snow sheltered the pavement from dirty footsteps, and the sun was asleep during the morning. Rose called me from her home phone, and I picked up.

"Come over," she demanded bluntly before hanging up. She was always straightforward. Sometimes I liked that about her. Sometimes.

I instantly hopped on my bike and rode to her place, placing my hand on the cold metal of my bike's handles. I used to bring my earphones and listen to music whenever I rode my bike, but since Rose prohibited me from bringing my phone whenever we went out, my music was the clanking of my bike's gears and the sound of the wind whirling around my ears.

I rode my bike until arriving at Rose's place where I was greeted by Grandma Sue, Rose's guardian. She smiled a welcoming smile at me as she got out of her chair from the porch and walked me inside the house to the backyard where Rose was. As Grandma Sue opened the screen door, Rose turned and gave me a big hug. I didn't want to let go, but I thought that if I held her for too long, she would think I'm a strange friend. But now, if I could hold her again, and I would never let go.

"Come here, Blue, I have something I want to show you!" she exclaimed as she spun around the backyard doing ballet poses and stopping every once in a while for me to admire her grace. Eventually, she lead me to a musty brown shack next to the wilted rose garden where she pulled out a large box from inside it. It contained a plethora of sparklers and firecrackers. Rose took handfuls upon handfuls out until leaving the rest of them in the box and putting the box back.

"We're gonna light fireworks, Blue! Are you excited?" she asked.

I always was excited whenever I was with her. It was actually more than excitement. It was love, anxiety, fear, ecstasy, and hope, all in one. It was a feeling of completeness.

"Of course, I am!" I replied as she handed me sparklers. She reached for her lighter and begun to light her sparklers, before using her own to light mine. It's strange how much pleasure and fulfillment something so small as sparklers would give me.

And that was that day. That was that day where we laughed, smiled, and enjoyed the crackling sounds of sparklers on a silent and frosty winter morning. It was the day where my only worries were when we would run out of sparklers and if I could protect this girl forever or not. Now, as I sit down pondering what went wrong, I envy that 16 year old me who was living and laughing with this girl I met at the front steps of the closed city library.