Lumina Platuea

Chapter 1 - A Sudden Crash

"Aspen!" I called out. "What do you think of this twig I just found?"

Currently, me and Aspen are outside looking for twigs to start a fire. We planned to roast some fish my mom got and enjoy it together. If someone else would ask me why I went with Aspen, however, I would say that I just liked the feeling of soaking in the warm touch of the sun, the cool, and pleasant breeze of the wind, and the relaxing sounds of the rustling leaves.

The area we were in was just at the edge of a grassy meadow. The sun was shining brilliantly from the sky, In the shade of a tree Aspen can be found with a bunch of twigs by his side. He was sitting down in an indian-sit style while counting how much twigs I already collected and gave to him.

"Oh! Lemme see that there," Aspen stood up and walked over to me while holding a twig in his hand. It was probably to compare what I had and what I have already given him before. And you're probably thinking. My answer is yes, even after collecting it a lot of times, I still don't know which ones are good and which ones are not.

Aspen is a smart person. Whenever I go to his house to play, I would always see him helping out his parents by helping with some of the chores. He's kind of a goofy-person in nature, and tolerates things on a level-head as well. I tease him a lot and he always brushes it off like a broom. He has short brown hair, fair colored skin and he wore a pair of big round glasses. His clothes were usually just shirts that were too big for him, with a pair of shorts that were fairly new, and slippers.

"Well," Aspen said. He bent one side of the twig open and checked the inside. "It's not easily breakable and it doesn't look wet on the inside. I think you found another nice one."

I secretly jumped with my hands in the air, while probably smiling. I don't think he noticed me doing it because he was too focused on the twig I was showing him.

"But!" Aspen's sudden shout surprised me. "You have to learn how to check these things on your own. It's just basically common sense!"

I knew where he was coming from. I haven't always been the brightest kid. In every chore that I did, people expected me to do stuff on a satisfactory level, but I would always get something wrong before I even finished. Because of this my reputation with other people went down drastically. However, even though I was struggling to do my job, Aspen and a few others didn't belittle me, instead they taught me tricks on how to make the job easier and quicker. I still had my occasional stumbles, but that is starting to fade away little by little.

"Kuya!" A voice shouted out in the distance. The owner of the voice sounded like a little kid. Sure enough, when I pointed my eyes at the source, I saw a little boy running towards me and Aspen.

"Oh hey Rue," I said, raising my hand up to Rue and readying myself for a high-five. "Come here and give me a clap."

Seeing me, Rue's face became bitter and sour at the same time. "I'm only here to see kuya. Go away, you big fat elephant."

Hearing this little kid's remark, I was ready to give him a good beat up, but Aspen grabbed my hand and stopped me before I hurt Rue. It looked like Aspen was struggling too much because aside from my weak brain, I had a strong body. It's a miracle that Aspen managed to hold me back.

"ANYWAY!" The annoyed voice of Aspen rung. "What was it you need from me Rue?"

"Mrs. Olivia wanted me to tell you that you guys better come back soon. She said that the weatherman predicted that there would be a storm in 3 days"

"There's gonna be a storm? It's not even rain season yet. And didn't you say you only wanted to talk to Aspen?" I intervened. Aspen had already loosen his grip on me at this point so I can move my arms a little bit. However, he tightened them again after hearing my words.