Ficlets of the Mind :0)))

Outside the Window

sketchgrip6: 

 It was sunny, the type of glaring, blinding sunny. The kind where your eyes were sore just from looking outside. In other words, a normal afternoon. Some days, the weather was capricious, a vengeful god throwing a tantrum. Deeming itself righteous and taking out its anger on bystanders that had nothing to do with its troubles and then changing its mood on a flip of a switch. It could be sunny and bright, and in mere minutes it would turn into a downpour of rain that lasted the rest of the day, thunder and all. For now, the weather stayed sunny, where the sun seeped into your pores and everything seemed all too saturated for its own good. Thick and warm, the air shrouding the surroundings in near unbearable heat. You got used to it, it was just typical summer weather. No sunlight trickling in like a wispy dream, no painted skies with clouds that looked like they were part of a painting. Just the sun and a bright blue sky.    

huskie:

  Outside the window, it seems as if time is passing ever so slowly. From where I stand, my face almost pressing against the sliding glass door, there is not a single neighbor in sight. All I can see are rows and rows of houses and a single waterway that separates them. The sky is clear today, letting sunlight spill over every roof, car, and lawn. The grassy lawns paint stripes over the scenery, with some lawns greener than others. You can see the prominent boundaries between them like tan lines. I wonder who hired the grasscutters. Our community is at a standstill, with the only movements being the slight sways of the palm leaves and the little rivulets in the waterway as it flows from north to south. The weather can be so deceitful sometimes, making me almost believe that this state of tranquility can last forever. As I take a closer look, I notice that things have already changed.

It is too quiet now. Maybe this is all because I am inside the house, but I used to be able to hear my neighbors blasting their music from one door down, throwing pool parties almost every day. I used to hear the younger kids laughing as they ran down the street, boasted their new bicycles, or played basketball. There is an absence of all that noise. Our intersection used to be bustling with life. On any given day, you could spot kids on the sidewalks, vandalizing your property with colorful chalk versions of hopscotch. Every Halloween, neighbors from all sides would put up the best decorations and hand out the best candy, forcing us into putting up a couple decorations to blend in with the rest. I doubt that will happen this year. Many of the neighbors have left in one way or another.

And even as this small neighborhood sinks into serenity, I am constantly reminded that this is all temporary. Even as the sky looks as blue as it did when we first moved in, we cannot deny that time is changing us all. We get older and older, facing new challenges with each passing year. There will come a time when we will all leave this place and part ways. Someday, I will have to accept that the house I have grown up in for the past eight years is no longer mine. That there will be no more chalk art on the sidewalk for the rain to wash away. So I stand by the window, breathing in the sight and ingraining it in my memory, in hopes of preserving this restful day forever in my mind.