"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄 𝒐𝒇 𝑳𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆"

𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒖𝒆

Have you ever felt like being held by something  from the past? Unable to move on while everything around you seemed to be moving so fast that you cannot keep up anymore? Driven to do things you need not, and been compelled to age and mature, missing the bliss and callowness of youth? Times as such will come destiny knocking shaped like an adventure, let in for it will remind you to be patient, take it easy and let the flow of life direct you to what you are meant to do no matter the hurdles you are facing.

Be who you are and do not do the things you don't need to for what you do today will be undoable tomorrow. Do not be burdened by the weight of the past for it has already passed. Time wasted cannot be brought back. Live today and face tomorrow with an open heart. Only then can you see what you may have been missing.

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰: The golden key

Saturday. A fairly fine day.

"Pa, I'll be going now!" Shouted Gabrielle as she opened the door.

"What? Going where? It's saturday!" inquired her father. "It's Ma's birthday today, I thought we agreed on visiting her together?"

"Uhm... to Shaunie's house Pa... to... to make a... a school project!"

Gabrielle knew that she was not supposed to lie to her father yet she couldn't bring herself to tell him that she's got a job at a cafe in the local food park. She'd get scolded if she did so.

Her mother, Margie, died in an accident almost a year ago and since then she had been getting jobs on weekends unbeknownst to her father, secretly helping to provide necessities to their home.  Her father, Jerod, a freelance photographer whose work has gone a little downhill lately stood steadily strong for her.

Gabrielle stood about five feet tall, her hair black as a raven that fell perfectly straight behind her and had a pair of almond-eyes. She was just 12, yet she was eager and determined. Surging with responsibility in her, she believed that it was her duty to help her father provide for their home with the loss of her mother.

"Okay! But be back home early Gabby! Pa's going to cook something yummy for dinner and your uncle Cliff's gonna come by later" shouted her father

"Okay Pa!"

She then stepped outside, closed the door behind her, grabbed her bicycle and rode away into the streets. She held the handlebars firmly, freewheeling the pedals beneath her feet, feeling the wind on her face, humming her mother's favorite song...

"Blag!" Gabrielle fell down from her bicycle the second time.
"Oh God Gab, not again!" exclaimed her mother running towards her. "Oh honey you scraped your knee!".

"It... It h... hurts Ma!"

"Oh my baby. Come now, its gonna be alright, Ma's here" assured her mother.

That was seven years ago. She was just five back then. She remembered how she cried a lot then. Her father was teaching her how to ride her first bicycle that time. She could still see her mother's face happily watching them as she rode the bicycle with her father alongside her.

The wound on her knee had healed. Only a scar remained but in her heart she was still bleeding. That wound on her knee was nothing compared to the sorrow that had been left by her mother. She still missed her so much everyday. Longed so much for her warm embraces, her reassuring eyes that countered her fears as a kid and her calm voice that soothed her when she's feeling down. She still cries but hid her tears from her father.

"Screeeech!" Squealed the wheels on her bicycle as she squeezed the brakes so hard just a fragment of a second away from being hit by a car. "Goodness kid! I almost crashed! Look where you're going! You'll cause an accident here!" Exclaimed the driver.