Hopes of Paris

Chapter I: Paradise

Closed eyes that had the longest eyelashes was all that could be seen, and the sound of soft breathing was all that is heard. A couple of moments had passed and an alarm clock went off with the tune of Welcome to our Town Celtic Moon, signaling the start of a new day. Those black eyes opened. Those were the eyes of a really young kid, who also has black hair that was combed to the side. The room looked very similar to Sall's room, however it had more books than video games. He said hello to the new day with a gentle smile, then jolted himself up and off the bed into his cartoon-styled slippers, stretching up a bit while making cute, high pitched noises.

"Sall! Hurry up and come to the kitchen!" Another gentle, loving voice could be heard coming from outside the room.

"I'm coming, mama!" The young boy struggled to let these words come out.

He was trying to force his black school jeans into himself. Eventually he succeeded, but it was a struggle seeing how chubby he was. Afterwards, he put on his white school shirt, which almost popped off as he was trying to button all of it up. Sall grabbed his backpack off a nearby chair and stormed out of the room to answer his mother's call. The little pile of innocence ran through to the inside of the corridor, opening the door to his father's room. The parent was still sleeping on his bed, barely awake just yet. "Good morning, papa!" Sall said enthusiastically, waving his hand upwards. This has been a morning routine the father had to take every morning, so he knew who was speaking to him without having to open his eyes. The father answered with just a groan in his half-sleep, and that was enough to let the son know it's time to leave him be.

Sall kept running and followed his mother into the kitchen. She looked really bright, well dressed and ready to go somewhere of her own. The mother was also preparing breakfast for both of her children, putting ingredients together into a toast then packing them neatly into a blue steel box. The pink one that belonged to the sister was already open, and she was eating behind her parent. With the hand that didn't hold the toast, she flipped a page of the calendar infront of her. It said "2010" and today's date was the first day of March. "New month, yay!" Sally said with hype, taking a bite from her little sandwich.

The mother's veiny hand quickly put the breakfast box inside Sall's bag, which was now on his back and zipped it close. She grabbed him from both shoulders and turned him around, kneeling down on both of her knees to tie his shoes, looking her son in the eyes. "Be a good boy, darling. You're ten years old now, you should act like a grown up." She had a serious look on her face with a slight frown.

"Yes, mama!" He put his small hands gently on his mother's cheeks, who was now leveled with his dark gaze and pulled her for a kiss on the tip of her nose. This action of his made her smile and broke the seriousness on her expressions.

"Now, off you go and take good care of your sister." She stood up and went back behind the kitchen's counter to clean up.

"Come on, Sally! Time to go!" Sall called for his sister and signaled her with his hand to follow him.

"Hmph. Just because you're one year older doesn't mean you can order me around!" She pouted, crossed her arms but smiled and ran towards her brother when she saw him reaching his hand out to hold hers. Their hands joined together as they said their bye byes to their mother.

The atmosphere in Rue Greuze was extremely busy today, with way too many people and parents passing by with their children, on their way to school. "Sall, why do papa or mama never take us to school?" Sally looked up at her taller brother as she kept hold of his hand with her gleaming eyes and puffy face. Her hair was put back in a tidy ponytail and her lips parted as she wondered.

"You know the answer to that. It's because our school is really close to home, and papa already taught me to go there alone," he pointed at a street sign infront of him, hanged on a long iron pole on the corner of the sidewalk. "We're gonna get to school through Rue Benjamin Franklin in about ten minutes!" He added, smiling to Sally.