All I See are White Clouds

Chapter 1

   Music is more than just another art form. It goes beyond feelings and emotions, beyond language. It goes deeper and farther than basic human comprehension. Have you ever been so high up in the air, to where you could breathe amongst the clouds, nothing but endless blues all around for miles? Well, of course you haven't, unless you're either jumping off a plane, or you're Jesus. Just imagine it for a second, that weightless feel of being one with the world, beyond the world. Of lying on your back, just gazing at all you could never hope to understand, until it's all your vision encompasses. That's what music is like. Music is in everything, is a part of everything.

   My twin younger brothers both think that I'm some music freak. I prefer the term "musically enlightened," but considering the vocabulary limits of nine-year-olds, "music freak" would definitely be catchier.

   Despite their constant clowning, they love it when I play piano pieces for them before I go to bed. One of their favorites is from this anime show they watch. It was about this boy that's so traumatized by his mother's death that he couldn't play the piano without remembering the pain. And then he meets this girl that he falls in love with and gets him back into playing the piano. Spoiler: she dies, but the guy still plays the piano. And even worse, the whole time she was in love with him. The ending killed me, and I was playing nothing but depressing piano music for days.

   One of the songs that stuck with my brothers and I was (insert name of song). It reminds me that life is short, and eventually, death will descend upon all of us. But it helps me see it as a good thing, not a bad thing. Not that I'm suicidal or anything, but the idea of death just seems peaceful. That's a song I would want to have play at my funeral.

   I would say that in my family, I would be considered the "dreamer." Though my brothers are twins and look exactly alike with their matching curly hair and wide hazel eyes, they have complete opposite personalities.

   Theodore is the serious one. He's always the slowest to get jokes, but the quickest to reprimand someone for doing something wrong. He even does it to me, even though I am seven years older. And he always reports to our parents if we're doing something we shouldn't be doing. Like the time I tried to sneak out of the house wearing a crop top. My jacket was button up tight, even though it was about eighty degrees outside. Dealing with four kids, my parents often miss these kinds of things, but never Theo. All it took was one glance for him to guess that I was up to no good.

   "Mama, Ally has a big coat on and is doing something bad!" All he has to say is the word bad, and my parents' sights hone in on me like a predator detecting prey. Not wanting to put up a fight, I relinquished my halter top. It was all good anyways, since they gave it back a month later, after almost accidentally donating it.

   Cyrus is the goofy one. Coincidently, he's the one always caught stealing candy or doing something stupid.

I remember one time, when it was career day at their elementary school, police officers were showing a demonstration of how their dogs are trained to detect drugs. Basically, a police officer would put on a drug suit, this thickly padded garment filled with drugs in the pockets, and let a leashed dog have it at them.

Seems harmless, even educational, right? The point was to scare the kids into not keeping any drugs on them. Instead, someone got the bright idea of stealing the suit and to put it on. The question was, who would be brave(or stupid) enough to attempt such a feat? That's where Cyrus comes in.

One of his friends had dared him to put on the suit for ten bucks. Honestly, his friend could have dared him for a penny, and Cyrus probably still would have done it. So when one of the kids distracted the officer with meaningless questions, Cyrus took is as an opportunity to creep up behind him and steal the suit. While the officer was still talking, he slipped it on. From the video I saw, the suit nearly overpowered him with how big it was. His eyes and nose were barely visible.