Letter to Mom

Chapter 2- Eight

“In order to solve the future, you must pick up the pieces from the past and play them in the present.”

“Seriously Farah, you don’t get to do anything!” Declan rolled his eyes at her, as he climbed the rusty, poorly painted green ladder to enter the slide. His wavy, brunette hair swayed smoothly in the breeze as he faced Farah, who was so effortlessly ignoring him.  

It seemed as if she was in a different world altogether. Normally, the park was a safe haven for her; though it was not large, it all all the necessary tools to make an eight year old feel at home. It was only two minutes away from home, and her father inherently insisted that he walked with her everywhere she went. The scenery was much different than the one she had grown up with in Canopy Hills, Colorado, but Windsdrive was insanely beautiful in its own way.

The city was enormous, its buildings were gigantic; everything about her new home was the same as the shows that she would watch happily on television. People crawled the streets every hour of every day and Farah desired to know what they doing all of the time. There were so many food places, most of which she had never seen before (not that she was complaining). At night, the lights were bright, but it was not the same as the ones in Colorado. After all, her favourite friends were the sun and the moon, but it was difficult to catch a glimpse of them here. 

The truth was, saying goodbye to her life in Colorado had proved to immensely difficult. When her father had initially related the news to her, Farah immediately knew that there was one person she would miss the most, her best friend, Shawn. For a week, Farah cried uncontrollably; relaying this message to him would be the most difficult task that she would ever have to achieve. She had so many adventures to encounter with him, so many things to view, and the front porch was the ideal place, especially to view the sky. Still, there was nothing that she could do. Her father was stern about this move, so it was inevitable. They had to go, and she had to say goodbye.

Yet, Farah was adamant to staying in touch with Shawn. They had discovered a way to keep in touch with each other, an idea that they saw on the internet; writing letters to each other. Every month they would each write one to each other, including all of the activities that they had done durng that time. Still, she missed him, his laugh, his friendship, but at least she was still able to know that he was doing well. 

There was one thing that she was grateful for, she was not alone. Though her new school proved to be challenging and her peers seemed rather anti-social (most students preferred their tablets and phones over talking), there was one particular individual who had peeked her interest- Declan Hughes. 

Declan was a short, olive skinned little fellow, with brunette hair and hazlenut eyes. He wore a large, blue framed glasses that seemed to be way to big to be on his head. He never mingled with the students in the class and he always sat in the specific middle seat of their classroom. Farah, intrigued by his behaviour, observed him cautiously during her first week of being in her new school, St. Patrick’s Elementary. Most kids were quiet, but Declan’s habits were rather different from everyone else. She decided soon after that it was high time to talk to this peculiar little fellow. 

Their first conversation went a little like this:

Farah: “You’re weird.”

Declan: “Who are you?”

Farah: “The new girl in your class. You’re weird though.”

Declan: “You told me that already, you know.”

Farah: “I know. Let’s be friends.”

Declan: “Wait, what? I thought you just said that I was weird?”