The Couple Who Walks on The Other Side of the Street

I Saw A Couple Walk On The Other Side of The Street

I saw them in March.

I was at our entrance, waiting for my uncle to arrive.  I remember it being colder than usual during this season. I had to wrap myself in multiple layers that seemed useless in such a cold time. 

Shouts and cheers of excitement bled through the closed front door. The wind chimes my grandma loved accompanied me by the entrance. I remember sitting on a wooden stool fit for my age, its legs creaking with my weight. 

I was told Uncle Ferdinand was supposed to arrive thirty minutes ago. Yet, I waited, because Uncle Ferdinand promised me he was going to the party and he was the only adult that never broke his promises. 

The only company I had was my broken Transformers action figure and the short visits from my cousins. It was half-past seven when my cousins came and played with me for a short while before bouncing towards the adults, asking for dessert.  

'It should be any minute now' I thought to myself. Uncle Ferdinand will come. He really will. He promised.

But another fifteen minutes passed and my uncle still wasn't here and I wanted to pee really bad. Instead of troubling myself by going inside, I simply hid by bushes to do my business. I washed my hands by the faucet at the side of the creaky house.  It was this time when I heard a car coming to a stop at the front.

But it wasn't Uncle Ferdinand. 

It was a couple who parked their car near our house. One was a woman while the other a man. Both were dressed elegantly in white. The man had a three-piece suit that looked like what my grandpa wore the last time I saw him. The woman, on the other hand, wore a white dress that my Aunt usually wore whenever she had to do business. However, instead of a too-tight dress that my Aunt wears, the woman wore it elegantly. Both had feathered accessories with them. 

My aunt said earrings were for girls, so seeing a feathered earring on a man churned my stomach as if it's saying it's wrong. But they were pretty on the man. The feathered earring was white, yet its ends looked like they were dipped on ink.

The woman on the other hand had feathered accessories around her. From white-feathered earrings to a black-feathered necklace and bag, I simply thought how many birds died for their accessories.

Both had black hair and dark eyes like any other person in the town. They seemed ordinary except for them looking like foreigners or at least halfies (as what our town would like to call those that have foreign blood). 

Everyone in the town knew each other. So if there were other halfies, foreigners, or outsiders besides those that we already knew of, everyone would gossip about them. Even I should have heard about them.

But they were new. They were unknown.

And the town doesn't like the unknown.

The couple got out of the car. They walked hand in hand as I stared at them. They didn't seem to mind me. 

They stopped by the entrance, the girl giggling when the man whispered to her. They both stared at me questioningly before the man let out a gasp of "ah!"

The woman gave the man her own confused expression before looking at the house in front of our house. 

The house looked the same, so I understood the confusion the two had. Both houses were wooden and had the same design of a window in the middle. The walls were painted with grey and dirt. As I looked closely, even the door was designed the same way.

I found it confusing during that time but the only difference we had was the chimes my grandma put and the plants by grandpa planted.

The couple smiled at me before going inside the car and parking in front of the other house. They went out the same way. They walked hand in hand the same way and stopped at the entrance. The man whispered again and the woman giggled. 

But as I looked behind them, I felt a shiver pass through my body.

The couple stood there, occasionally walking from one end of the house to the other. They looked like they were pacing. All throughout the time, they held hands like grandma and grandpa, walking on the other side.

I stopped staring at them as I saw the man look at me with a brief glance.

I didn't want to be involved. That's all.

Maybe they were there to visit the owner. I first thought they were the owners but they were there waiting, just like me. A few more minutes passed before a familiar car came honking.

Uncle Ferdinand was here.

I ran towards him, happy that a reliable adult was here. He smelled of the same thing grandpa smelled-fresh flowers and a hint of smoke and sweat. 

He hugged me tightly, promising that he would never break a promise. I didn't understand what he meant but I hugged him anyway. He doesn't break promises. 

He hugged me tighter making me wince, still whispering reassuring words. I saw his hair disheveled from sweat. 

Within a few seconds, I heard the sirens of police cars coming. My relatives inside the house didn't seem to mind. 

But shouts quickly followed when the police came inside. I heard my cousins cry, my uncles and aunts I never knew the name of looking at me and Uncle Ferdinand. They stared at me the same way whenever I made a mistake.  

My uncle held me tighter.

"Uncle...what's happening?" I asked, my voice seemed to be cracking. "..you promised I'd be safe but the police're here." 

My other aunties, uncles, and older cousins were being escorted out, loose towels around their bodies. Some wore pants and loose clothes, while others still had their clothes perfectly intact. However, they looked like how my cousins were after going to the theme park near our town. "Why are they wearing towels?" I asked again.

My uncle looked at me with his dark eyes. His face looked almost exactly like grandma when she was young. They had the same round face and the same dimple on their right side. "I promised you that I never hurt family."

I started to be afraid. "Will you...hurt me?"

His eyes panicked. "No! Never!" He hugged me again, making me wince. My bruises hurt now with all of these huggings. "I promised you I would never ever hurt you but that doesn't mean I would stand and watch as our so-called family does. "

"Then...then what's happening? Aunty said I'd get hurt when the police arrive! And you said when you finally break a promise, I won't be able to see you again!" I cried. This time I cried because my Uncle broke a promise.

"You promised you wouldn't tell!" 

A policeman arrived when I shouted at my uncle. He was the nice policeman who gave me a bottle of water whenever I walked past the convenience store!

He knelt beside my uncle. "Don't worry kid, this guy didn't tell anyone. I was the one who did. Saw your bruises and called social services. Didn't know they were also part of a cul-"

My uncle put his hand on the police officer. He shouldn't do that.

The officer chuckled before pulling my uncle's hand away from his mouth.

"Don't worry kid, you'll be safe from now on."

He didn't let go of my uncle's had like how I didn't let go of my uncle's shirt. I knew what the word safe meant. I read it in a dictionary my cousin had from school.

When everything sank in, I cried till my eyes were red. My uncle hugged me again and the police officer patted my head. 

I cried.

Through my hazy vision, I saw the couple on the other side of the street. Much like before they were pacing. But this time they stopped as they felt my gaze. They both smiled like how parents do when their children did something right.

I was never the other end of this smile.

The couple walked hand in hand again. But this time, they continued walking.