I can feel the grass beneath my knees. It's cold. I am kneeling down with my head dropped. My vision blurry from the water beads barely hanging from my eyes as I try to stop another droplet from moisturizing the slowly drying suface of my pants. I stare at my trembling hands which clearly show myself at the verge of another breakdown. My throat is a mess from all the crying and the tear lines sliding down my cheeks have all dried up.
I breathe in a few times loudly in order to calm my already stirred heart when a hand lands on my back, I raise my head to find a little guy squatting beside me while patting my back slowly in a constant motion.
"Are you good now?" He asks in a worried tone. I nod once.
I stare at his worried eyes. There is a glint of something I can't get my hands on. He smiles at me slightly with a sparkle in his eyes as if he is happy to see me in a mess. I cried, sobbed, screamed yet he is smiling now as if relieved.
"What's wrong?" I ask. "Oh, nothing. You just look better now" he says.I want to ask why but he continues as if he figured my question through my twisted expressions.
"You know, it's not a bad thing to cry. It feels a lot lighter after you cry. Remember the day you gave me the blanket? I slept in it all curled up, but when I woke up, I found a puppy rolled up on it. I only got half of the blanket to cover myself with. I cried a lot, but after calming down, I realized that the puppy must be cold too so I slipped the blanket above him after pulling it from beneath it and we both snuggled up in it. It was much warmer that night. And after crying so hard, I had the best sleep of my life!"
He chuckles after sharing the experience. Watching him laugh, I too forget my pain for a fleeting moment and join him in the laughter.
He drops on his butt and falls back down on the grass. Little grass tips peek from the mess of his brown hair which shine golden with the sun rays falling on them directly.
"Scarlett! Where are you?" I jump up on my feet when I hear the maid calling me from across the lawn. "Julie, did you see Scarlett? I left her here in the garden. The atmosphere inside was not good for the child" she asks another maid who works in my house.
Panic spreads though my mind as I quickly whip my head back to say to the little guy "Hey, I need to go! You leave! Go! Don't let her see you or she'll tell my father."
My father tries his best to keep me away from anything that doesn't belong to our standard. He believes the saying strongly 'you should choose your friends wisely. One should not hang around with those who look 'un-fitting' in their circle.
I meet this boy without grabbing his attention. We've become good friends.
He is an abandoned child who lives on his own in a little concrete shelter from across the street. It's a so called house which is barely standing with four walls. It's roof is cracked and the exterior is a messed up place. A silent corner of the street where no one wants to step foot in. Walking down the road, people tend to throw their empty bottles, snacks packets, etc waste in the dark unseen corner where this friend of mine seeks shelter.
He's got nowhere else to go. At first, out of pity, I offered him a peice of pancake many days ago. And ever since then, I've been bringing him food.
That's all he wants.
Snapping my head back to the voice again as the other maid answers "I think she went towards the back."
I run.
Without thinking another second, I run across the road which divides the territory of my back lawn and the little grassy field followed by the street.
In that moment, as I set foot in the middle of the road, I seem to find a dot of something from the corner of my eyes.A boy's shout fainting in my head like the background sounds.
It's speeding. Towards me. It's near. Almost--
Thud. A push.
Someone pushed me from the back with great strength.
I lay on the grassy ground, down on my front. I save my face by holding it up with the help of my elbows which hit the ground with the sound of a big boulder crashing into another one.
My palms are numb. Now it is from the impact of the fall or my blood rising to my head in the moment trying to process what happened, I don't know.
"Oh My God!! Scarlett! Scarlett! Get up! Can you get up? Wait-! Let me help!"
The maid get down on her knees and makes me stand on my feet.
My senses are not working. I am drowned in the beep that's ringing in my head.
A sudden crash. I turn back realising the boy had pushed me and sacrifised himself. He was hit by ... A car..it was a black car which is now crashed against a nearby tree down the road.
I turn my head in a frenzy to find him. But I cannot. He's not in sight. Instead, a big figure. A lady...a....lady-
I cannot see clearly. It's blurry. I can't keep my eyes open. My body lost coordination and the darkness completely consumed me.
I fainted.