Sun Kissed kids

It was a beautiful day. The sun was just peeking on the horizon painting a pinkish hue on the sky. The air was whispering softly that the sun has arrived, while the waves greeted the morning as it crashed along the shore. It is in this particular time of day that creates this seemingly magical moment and a realm of fantasy where time and everything else appears to be in suspension. In these moments they wanted to linger. They hoped to remain dreaming that the time to face reality will not come. Yet, against all their earnest wishes, it had come.

That day was a beautiful beginning for a sad yet inevitable conclusion.

A sorrowful sigh, a single sob and a sense of dread. The realization of it had brought them back to reality. But for only a few moments, they wanted to be in each others comforting presence. To feel their warmth channelling through each of them. They needed to escape from it even for just a while. For soon, when they finally needed to, they were going to be alone. No more will there be a shoulder to cry on, an ear to share one’s thoughts and a smile to make you believe that everything will be alright.

***

If there was one thing that growing up had taught them, it was to see the reality. The harsh world out there was not meant for people with weak souls. Only the strong and sharp survive. A mere will to live will soon fade away as one will be forced to struggle to eat and earn to eat. It was the way of the world. No one, they or the others, can do anything about it. Living against it will only tire you and suck the life out of you. It will weaken your soul until the time where you would prefer death than life.

 Many years had passed since they had been forced to go on separate ways. Many beautiful days had gone unnoticed by the people who had cherished it when they were young. Everything seemed to be in fast forward, running from or against something. The distant past, when they had held hands together gazing at the stars which provided hope for their young and lost souls, had been left behind and nearly forgotten.

How was it that they let the tides of life led them here in this whirlwind? How was it that they had been forced to leave their sanctuary of love for a life of chaos and struggle?

Where had they gone? The youngest who was still too young to make a life of her own asked one day when she was reminded by the smell of burnt wood. For the smell had always been considered to be part of their lives, before. She wondered if they experience the same thing when a certain smell or sound reminds themof their past.

She remembered how every night after scavenging for food in the forest, they would sit together in front of a bonfire and talk about each others adventures. They would talk about how they found this and that and how they had met strange creatures in the forest. They would then arrange themselves in front of the fire and gaze at the stars. They would then imagine their loved ones who had past away somehow turned into those stars and was now watching out for them.

A tear fell. She was filled with sadness again. There was no one now. Her brothers and sisters had been taken away from her. They were separated from each other and been given to people who were said to have good hearts. The little one then wondered, if they were supposed to have good hearts then why had they taken them.

She was furious and confused and terribly sad. She had promised to be strong and brave to her sisters and brothers. She will do as she was told. She will face life with a smile and every challenge with courage. Then, if she was grown up enough, she will find her brothers and sisters and they will live happily ever after again. She will bring them back to their small paradise and they will make bonfires and gaze at stars like the old times.

***

Contrary to her thoughts, the eldest has already made a big name in the business world. He was known by every one to be a hard man and that had made him who he is today. At night, when he was alone, he would think of his past and the little kids that he had been with. He would think of the awful experience he had. Of the cold and hungry nights. And he would not let himself remember of the times that he had laughed at the little one’s jokes and antics. He would avoid remembering the nights where they made bonfires and snuggle to provide warmth with each other. He was a hard man, he was not suppose to remember those things. It was weak to succumb to sadness and longing. And weaknesses are not welcome in his world.

Every time he looked in a mirror he would see a different him. There was one reflection that no matter how hard he tried to forget would simply come back to him. In his dreams and in his mirror, from time to time. This man was lonely and hungry for the emotions that had been kept in the attic of his heart. A very tired man that needs nourishing love from the people he tried to forget. Tonight, he let one tear drop from his eye. He let a small sigh of exhaustion escape his lips. He let an emotion makes its way to his usually cold and passive face.

***

The most loved twins of the group. They were separated as well. The other one is in a beautiful place with magnificent gardens. She had learned to love the place dearly. She used to spend tons of times in it writing or exploring. She would let herself be lost in its splendour. It was her coping mechanism when she missed her twin brother. She would cry in the midst of the lovely flowers and singing birds and then she would feel okay. Today she could barely remember that she has a twin brother except for those moments when she feels an unknown tingling in her feet. This would mean that something is happening with her brother. Before, she would get worried so much she would faint and be sick for weeks. Today, she just takes these human creations, pills or medicines they were called, which makes her sleep and forget whatever it was that was bothering her.

There are times though where she would allow a certain thought invade her. That particular memory she would hang on to when she feel the loneliest and drugs don’t work. She would always smile remembering it. It happened a long time ago it seemed just like a dream or a story she read. It was about the first time they first met with the other kids in the sunset beach.

They were running very fast away from the paved road, she and her brother. They were both hungry and tired. They wanted to stop but the awful sound of cars chasing after them made them go on. Faster, they run deep into the forest. The sound of tires screeching and people running and calling out for them could be heard from a distance. They were angry voices. They run as fast as they could. They didn't look back, not even once. They just went on running and running until finally there were no sounds behind them. There was just peace and the warm breeze blowing sweetly on their tired faces. They looked at each other and they smiled and run towards the direction where the breeze was coming from. She sticks her tongue out and tasted the salty smell of the air. It was foreign to them. They had never been on a beach. They grew up in an orphanage where they were forced to work in a factory which smelled so foul most of the times they were sick.

Freedom. She would smile and remember looking at her brother's eyes smiling while holding each others hand. There never was so beautiful a memory as the first time they got hold of freedom.  

 ***

The other twin. While his twin was given to a wealthy family, he was given to a struggling one. The parents were always fighting about money and how the mother always has something to say against her husband. You see, the mother was always working. She has different kinds of jobs. She works as one of those who sells things in the morning and goes to a very large and expensive office in the evening. The father,on the other hand, well, he drinks a lot. He always gets angry. It was better to just stay in the room.

To forget, he runs away in this abandoned building at the edge of the City. It is on a higher ground so when you at the top you basically see everything. The City. The Forest. The Beach. He loves it here. This is where he remembers them. This is where he lets himself think and feel. This is where he hides from the world. This is where he wishes and hopes that the other kids, especially his sister is okay. 

Aside from the youngest one. He is the only one who still remembers it vividly. Just like it was yesterday. he can still smell the salty scent of the Ocean. The warm breeze in a sunny morning or the biting cold of the evening air. These memories always brings him to tears. And one day, he promises to himself to find them. And bring them back to their secret heaven.

***

The End.