The Woman In The Red Dress

1- Hope

I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was still young and hopeful. I was at the park with my mother. The day was bright and blue. The sun was shining brightly with barely any clouds in the sky. Every other kid was doing their own thing. Some were on the swings, going down the slide, playing tag, and all that other kid stuff. Then there was me, alone in the sand pit. No one bothered to play with me, so I had the area all to myself. I didn't mind really. It meant I owned the sand pit and no one else shall enter.

I tried building a castle using the sand. There was water at the water fountain, but I didn't have any old plastic cup to use. Using my hands wouldn't work either. The water would just go through the cracks on my hands and fingers. Who needs water anyway ? I was determined to build that castle without the help of water and without the help of nobody.

The castle wasn't going too bad. All it looked like was a pile of sand. I dug a hole around the area of where young me was going to build the castle. Pretty cliché of me to do that. As I continued on building, a young girl was watching me. I didn't acknowledge her and carried on trying to make my pile look like a building. I wasn't sure for how long she watched me fail, but maybe stood there for a couple of minutes.

Eventually she said something. She said softly, "Hi."

I look at her, finally seeing her face. She was a little pale with short black hair and a small red dress. Her eyes were brown which I found pretty. I think she was Asian. Me being a kid who never spoke to girls around my age that much said an awkward hello. Since I was a boy that happened to be very young, I was panicking inside.

The girl peered over to my messy castle then asked, "What cha building ?"

I glanced at my creation that still looked like a large pile of sand. "Uhh. A castle ? I'm trying to make one at least."

She giggled to herself. "Can I help you build it ?"

This surprised me. Young me was shocked in ever hearing a girl actually wanting to help me with something that wasn't my mom. I let her help because I didn't want to be rude. Even had the thought that she could build one better than me.

She sat down beside me in the sand. She sat close to me which made me panic more. The only time I ever had a girl this close to me was only in school when having assigned seats. Besides me being an awkward kid around girls, we both created a castle. With her help, the pile was actually looking more like a castle. It wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be though. Still wished to this day that we had water to make it easier to form the walls.

We were having fun together building. Spent about ten minutes of playing until what I assume was her mother telling her that it was time to leave. I remember the look on her face when she had to go. She looked disappointed. I saw her get up to leave. As she walked away, she turned her head around to look at me then smiled. Soon I had to leave as well.

As I walked back home, holding my mother's hand, I kept on thinking about her. I never got her name, so I referred to her as the girl in red. I wanted to be friends with her and spend more time with her. So I begged for days to go back to the park in hopes of seeing her again. My mom gave in and let us go only once a week. She didn't know the reason why I wanted to keep going back there. The many times we went back resulted in me waiting and waiting...and waiting more for that girl to come. She never did.

That was years ago. That memory of me waiting at the park for that girl to be there is stuck in my head. Every time I think about that time, I sort of cringe, but also feel bad. I still wonder where she is. Hope she's doing well. Probably doing better than me.

I sighed after recalling that memory. I do wish that will leave me alone. My head turns over to the side to look at the time. It was almost 6 AM. So, I have two options: go back to sleep or get out of bed and get ready for work. Apparently I did neither and instead stayed in bed looking at the ceiling. God I need to be more productive.