Pink Clouds and Gravestones - short story

Pink Clouds and Gravestones

...8, 9, 10, 11

I counted the lampposts as we drove by. The light of the past day had already faded and had left the world in shades of black and white. The drive had been a long one, through busy cities, small side roads and deserted flower fields, but at last, we were here, our new "home". At least that's what my mom called it. This place was supposed to bring us all a new beginning, although I didn't understand the reason why we would need one, the only thing I had understood, was that I had to leave my friends behind and even that I had only understood when my mother had told me to go say goodbye.

But as a child you have no opinion, so no matter what I said, how hard I screamed, I was still pushed into our black car and we still drove away.

~ ~ ~

The room, my room I reminded myself, was empty, my stuff not yet unpacked from the boxes downstairs. It made me feel lonely, deserted by everyone with only the wooden floorboards and the unfamiliar wallpaper keeping me company. I tried to imagine what the room would look like with my things, but every time I did, I could only see my old room, with the pink walls and floral curtains, with my window from which I had a view as far as my street would go. Now that seemed like a hundred miles away and even a longer time ago.

~ ~ ~

I was walking down the street, pushed out of the house by my mom. 'Go make some friends', she had said, but it was autumn and the breeze was too cold and the streets too wet to play outside. I was alone once more. In front of me lay a deserted playground, the swing softly moving in the wind, the paint, once red, almost completely gone. I twirled around to see if there were really no other children to play with and when that was the cause, I made my way towards it.

Then I stopped. The playground wasn't completely deserted, on the swing was a small girl, about my age. Her skin was pale, as were her lips, her hair looked white, as did her dress, she was pretty, I thought. I didn't move, just stood there, watching the pale girl on the swing.

The swing went forth and back and forth again and when it had reached it's highest point, the girl jumped off. The few seconds she was in the air, she seemed to float, before she hit the ground with a soft thud. I didn't know if she had noticed me already, which made it hard to decide if I should run back home, or if I should say something to her.

The decision was made for me.

'Hey', the pale girl said to me. She enthusiastically waved at me with a huge grin on her face.

'Hey', I mumbled back, also giving a small wave. Silence. 'I like your dress', I blurted out, not knowing what else to say.

'Thank you, you sound very kind. Do you want to play with me? I know a fun game, I think of a number between zero and ten and you have to guess which one it is.'

'Okay', I replied. The game didn't take long because on my first guess I had the right one.

'Wow, it seems like you can see right through me.' She laughed and I did too, because it was true. As the sun broke through the clouds, she seemed to fade a little, so that I could see the blue slide otherwise hidden behind her. The wind seemed to rise as she flashed me a another smile. I smiled back, realizing that I had made my first new friend.

We played together for a few more hours before my mom came to find me. Happily I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her over to the pale girl. 'Look mom, I've made a friend, she's very nice and knows a lot of games!'

'Sweetheart', she laughed, 'nobody's there.' I turned around to where the girl was still smiling at me. 'Yes there is.'

'Come on, let's go home okay? Say goodbye to your friend and you can meet again tomorrow, does that sound like a plan?' I nodded and quickly made my way over to the girl. I waved and said my goodbyes before I ran back to my mom to tell her about all the games we played. I hadn't noticed the way she had said friend.