Color's Light

Chapter 4

The song is "Stay With Me" by Sam Smith.

The picture above is of the Book Cafe! (from one of its balconies)

Hi! It's been a while. Hehe. Who had fun on Halloween? I know I did! I dressed up as Echo from my book that's coauthored on our group account (onemoreguardianwish; go check it out) and got WAY too much candy. Sugar is my life.

What were y'all for Halloween? What's your favorite candy? Let me know. 

Thanks for commenting, peeps! It really got my creative juices flowing! (I'm looking at you, KOTLCfannumber1)! Go read her book, Starlight, Starbright; her main character is also named Lana, lol.

Anyway, go on, go read!

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I drum my fingers on my knee as I wait on a park bench for the man and his wife. He's almost 15 minutes late, but I don't blame him. His food order was pretty large.

I wonder again about who he is, and whether I can trust him. I hope so.

"Hellooo!" The man's jovial voice calls. I look up to see him hurrying toward me with his wife right behind him and a huge smile on face. I note a smear of syrup at the corner of his mouth. Knew it!

I stand and greet him when he comes close enough for us to talk. "H-hi," I say nervously.

The woman steps up behind her husband and gives me a big smile. "Hiya, honey. It appears my husband knows your parents."

The man nods enthusiastically. "Yes, yes! I met your dad in elementary school, and we spent the rest of our school years slacking off! And when we met Tanika in college, Soko took one look at her and was a goner! You look just like her!"

I blink. Does this guy ever complete a sentence calmly?

"It's nice to meet you!" He takes my hand and pumps it up and down excitedly.

"Err... yeah." I don't know what else to say! This guy is weird! Oh great! Now I'm finishing all my sentences with exclamation points!

"Art," the woman says gently, laying a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Perhaps you could introduce yourself."

"What?" He glances at her. "Oh, yeah!" The guy turns to me again. "Hello! My name is Art Reid, and this is my wife Mal!"

"Hi, my name is Lana Charnam," I say politely. "So, um... Mr. Reid, do you think you could―"

"Call me Art!"

I try again. "Um, Art, do you think you could tell me―"

"Yes, yes! Of course!" He beckons to me to follow him and takes Mal's hand. I follow behind him as he leads us to a circular plaza circled by benches every one to three meters. He plops down at a picnic table off to the side and yanks his wife down beside him; I seat myself opposite the couple and cross my legs.

"So, um... yeah. I'm Soko and Tanika's daughter." I tell them. I decide not to mention my siblings yet, just in case.

Art throws his hands in the air. "I knew it! Your father and I lost touch about a year after college! I never knew where he went!"

"Um, straight to my mom, I guess," I mutter.

"Whaddya mean, hon?" Mal smiles at me kindly.

"I―I'm sixteen. My parents had me when they were just out of college."