I went home shortly after the encounter I had, I avoided any kind of contact with my mother, rushing straight to my room, flopping right onto my bed, forgetting to lock the door. My younger brother, Nez wandered in, he told me that he saw me going to the hill top and not to the library. Nez was sort of a goofball, trying to act like a rebellious child and doing everything all the “cool kids” did. But even then, he still was considered annoying towards others, a follower. He was well known as being a nosey dumbass that butts into everybody’s business. I told him why I came so early than usual, since he knew that I don’t come home until at least eight at night and began flipping out like it was the end of the world.
“SERIOUSLY, YOU MET A GIRL!? HOW OLD WAS SHE, WHAT DID SHE LOOK LIKE, WAS SHE CUTE, DID SHE LOOK MY AGE!?” He cried straight into my face, and I couldn’t understand why he was so excited. Nez's voice was obnoxious, so having him screaming into my eardrum made it a million times more annoying.
“Kid, you are twelve years old, what are you fussing about girls for,” I said back to him.
“Stop calling me kid like I’m some sort of stranger to you Taruka!” Nez always liked calling me by my full name. I didn’t like it because most people had a hard time pronouncing it.
“Kid, we’ve been over this…”
“STOP CALLING ME KID!!” I heard his voice crack as he said that. Nez was barely going through puberty; it almost made me feel bad for him. I could see his face turning a bright red; his eyes were red as well as the rest of his body. His side swiped bangs were now tangled up I his head and it almost seemed like his hair was turning of grey.
“Ah… The beauty of growing up,” I said under my breath. I got myself up, and crossed my legs onto my bed, as I did that, my hair flipped across my face, pieces of my hair passed over my eyes. “Why does my personal life affect you, exactly?”
“It doesn’t… Well, could you at least describe her for me?” Nez’s entire face turned innocent, and happy.
“Well alright,” I said. “She was about this tall, probably way taller than you. She had short, light brunette hair, barely passing over her shoulders. And she had side swiped bangs, kind of like yours, only a bit more girly,”
“Wait, are you saying my hair is girly!?” He began holding the top of his head like you would do in a bomb shelter.
“Calm down kid, it’s not that girly…Well,” He began to look more terrified by the second, a tear almost shed from his eye. “Look you’re fine, chicks dig that kind of haircut, sometimes I feel kind of jealous of you,” I gave a light grin at him.
“Really, Girls dig that!?”
“Sure, all the girls must come running to you,” I gave him this time, a thumbs up and began looking around the room, not trying to act suspicious.
“Wow, thanks Taruka! I should do my hair like this more often,” Nez said, rushing towards the door. Before he walked out of the room, he turned back around at me, his happy smile was gone, and was replaced with what seemed like he was trying to seem threatening. “Oh, by the way… Never call me Kid again,” and slammed the door behind him.
I reached into my bag again and pulled out a book labeled, “The Shadow Home,” one of my favorite novels of all time, and began reading. Chapter 7, the streets roamed in darkness, with no sight of life to be found, I began reading in my head. I wondered what I was like to write books, create a whole new world with something simple as just a paper and pencil, or even just a computer. Having that idea stuck in my head made it hurt. I knew being a writer was too hard for just anyone to accomplish, and I knew that wasn’t the road for me to take.

I went to sleep late that night, despite it being a school day the next day, but I didn’t care. School starts at eight, so I got up at seven. Giving me enough time to eat my breakfast, get dressed and brush my teeth. I never packed a lunch since I had lunch the last period of seven periods, which was sixth period. I leave before Nez has a chance to get up. Passing my mom’s room, I tried not to wake her up, and out the door. I live in a 3 bedroom home, with no upstairs, but a lower floor that lead to the backyard. There wasn’t much space in the backyard, so I never spent a lot of time outside.
Upon walking outside, I saw there was only one car parked in the driveway, remembering that dad doesn’t live with us anymore. I only get to see him on holiday weekends and during the summer. I tried to ignore the thought and walked to school, the local high school was close enough for me to walk to it, being a bit further from the library to my house. The sun was barely rising up as I walked down the sidewalk. Every house I passed by always looked the same to me, I never saw anything unique about our house. My mom always told me ‘home was where your loved ones were’, which I never understood what exactly that was supposed to mean. She was always into speaking in cryptic themes and sentences only a scientist could understand.
Going into the school, everyone was already rushing to their first class. The halls were flooded with posters about Halloween, and school news. There were all kinds of posters that shouted “School spirit” everywhere. Freshman and seniors walked from hall to hall. I saw the same familiar faces that I did every day, though I didn’t know any of their names. Walking to my class, I had to squeeze through a crowd of people blocking the entrance to the room. Entering the room, I noticed no one was in the room, not even the teacher. All the chairs were stacked on their own desks; I walked over to my desk in the middle row. It was a few desks down from the front of the class. I checked the clock, only to find five minutes left until class started, and decided to take a quick nap.
I heard more students walk into the room; they were all talking about the same things, hanging out on the weekends, watching the latest horror movie, or just gossiping about a certain person. I never worried about people picking on me, because I doubted anyone even knew my name, or who I was. They may have heard my name during attendance, but forgotten it later. I was always quiet in the beginning of the day, so I didn’t think anyone paid attention to me. I always played a game with myself, where I would guess how many students were in the room, and how many were missing before the bell rang, I usually ended up guessing right.
The bell finally rang, and the morning announcement played, I doubted anyone listened to them, and just waited for the teacher to take attendance. When everyone took their seats, the teacher started calling out names, I try to remember all of my classmates names around the beginning of the year. It was only the middle of October and I already learned a majority of the students in this period. When the teacher called my name, I slowly raised my hand, but didn’t make a sound, keeping my head down the whole time until teacher called out the last student’s name.
“Miaza Dire,” The teacher called out. Although the name didn’t seem familiar, I didn’t think about it, I was still half asleep around the time.
“Here!” A familiar voice sprung up in my ear. The voice caught my attention. Slowly raising my head, I checked to see who it was.
Sitting right next to me, I saw the same light brown, short hair. The same side swiped bangs, and the same heart shaped necklace I saw from yesterday. She sat right next to me, giving a light grin on her face. This time, she was wearing a stripped turquoise shirt, with black leggings and the same blue converse. She stood straight up, staring directly at the teacher, yet I couldn’t get over the fact that this was the same girl from the hilltop. Yet throughout the whole period, she never looked at me once.
I never bothered to pay attention the entire class; I jotted down a few notes, but nothing more. I couldn’t care less unless there was an upcoming test. My mom was very strict on my grades, but things like homework and assignments weren’t really that important to me. Every time we were assigned homework, I would hide it under my bed, or behind my drawers, she would always go through my folders when I was gone to find any work I never finished. I eventually found this out when she stopped placing all of the paper and folders back in my bag. I didn’t care because I knew I wouldn’t do it either way.
We had a fairly nice teacher who would let us do whatever we wanted went we had five minutes remaining in class. I would spend this time reading my novel, but most the people beside me always made a lot of noise that made it hard for me to read. I noticed a crowd of other girls were making a circle around this new girl. They would ask her questions like: Where did you live before here? What do your parents do? Do you have a job yet? When’s your birthday? Everything you would ask a new kid. Like always, I ignored them all as always and hoped no one would try to walk towards me. I didn’t want any friends, especially anyone in this class.
The bell rang shortly after, and everyone rushed out of the classroom. I saw groups of friends walking together, couples against the lockers, and teachers standing out the doors of their rooms. My next period was P.E. class, yet I usually spent my time at the back, especially around the sports season. The gymnasium was on the far side of the school, so I had to speed walk over there, bumping into others and having others bump into me. Once inside the boy’s locker room, I had to deal with the foul odor of sweat from the other class, mainly the weight lifting class. I was still was sophomore and the weight lifting class wasn’t available until you were at least a senior, which is a class I wanted to skip out on. I wasn’t fat in the slightest, but I was still very scrawny for my age, my relatives used to call me “Tarutwig” when I was little, but has been long forgotten.
I got dressed in my P.E. uniform and walked straight into the gym, laying my back on the bleachers, and wrapped my hands around my feet, placing my head in between them. We were playing basketball for the first sports session. Even though I had a team to play on, I still didn’t want to play, I was never a basketball player, so I secluded myself by the bleachers and watched the others play. Keeping my head down, I heard everyone shouting and cheering, almost as if I was at a real basketball game.
“Man, isn’t that chick over there a real cutie?” A voice called out to me. Looking up, I noticed it was James, a boy from my first period class. James had long blond hair that split like the ocean that Noah split in the bible. He was always wearing sweatbands around his wrists and forehead. He was looking directly where the girls were playing, only to see that the new girl was playing with the others. I never noticed that she was in this class with me as well up until now. I looked back at him, trying to act confused.
“What are you talking about” I said.
“Don’t act stupid, stupid. I saw you staring at her last period. Well I hate to tell you this, but I’m about to make the first move on her,” James began walking towards the girl’s side of the basketball court. He made a stop to the new girl and began talking to her, giving a flirty face to her. I looked around; trying to distract myself from the stupidity James was getting himself into.
James came back with his head down, extremely depressed.
“Well, what did she say?” I already knew the answer, but I thought the humiliation he went through was too humorous to pass on.
“Rejection, nothing more than sheer rejection,” He said in a disappointed, depressed voice. His face was blushing, trying to hold back tears. James always bragged about having sex with every girl he asked out. It was most likely that this would ruin his “reputation” of being a real lady’s man. I hated him for that reason, treating women like they’re some sort of sex tool. But none of that was any of my business, so I usually ignored him.
The rest of the school day lasted for years; I only had that new girl for my first two classes, though I didn’t pay attention to it too much. She was most likely nothing more than a generic popular girl. A girl I didn’t want to get along with. I thought about this as I stood at the top of the hilltop near my house. I watched the clouds float by, trying to find different shapes forming. The clouds flouted by very slowly, almost like time was slowed down in front of me. I didn’t bother to look around anywhere besides up in the sky, it was bright and sunny for an autumn day. I always took the time to appreciate these kinds of days, since they never lasted long for me. At the end of the day, I would feel sad that the beauty of that day was gone. Which was one of the reasons why I loved being up here all by myself.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you come up here too,” The same familiar voice came from behind me once again. Turning around, I saw the same new girl; she stood next to the sycamore tree, her hair being blown from the autumn breeze. I looked into her bright, hazel eyes; it was the first eye contact the two of us have ever made with each other since our first encounter.

I never realized how cute she looked up until now. She was small for her age, making her seem more innocent than usual. She didn’t seem like the others, the ones that would go out drinking with others. But that didn’t mean I wanted to get involved with her. Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you come up here too. Those were the first words she said to me, it felt like those were the first words anyone has ever said to me in my whole life. 
Breaking the silence, I began to speak up, “Its fine. I was just leaving,” I began walking towards my bag that was sitting right next to her. Picking it up, I walked past the girl and began making my way down the hill.
“Wait! You don’t have to leave, we just met,” She began following me down the hill. I kept walking down, ignoring what she was saying to me like she wasn’t there. She still followed me down the hill telling me to stop. Until she finally caught up with me and grabbed a hold of my arm. I was more surprised by how much she tried to make me stay than she was able to catch up with me. Giving in, I turned around and saw her, still grasping onto my arm. She didn’t say anything to me, only giving a light smile to.
I eventually gave in a decided to stay with her on the hill top; I asked her if she was talking to me the last time she was up here, repeating back what she said from yesterday. She recalled the words, but she didn’t remember me being up on the hill with her. I should have figured, knowing everyone never notices me, especially on the hill, I thought. We began to introduce ourselves, telling each other our names.
“My name is Miaza, I moved here with my family. I’m attending the high school here. I hope we get to run into each other.” She said.
“I know you go to this school, we have Geometry and P.E. together.”
“Huh? I never saw you in either of those classes; I think you’re mistaking me for someone else.” I wasn’t surprised from that fact; I shrugged my shoulders and adjusted myself on the floor. We were both sitting right under the sycamore tree, both getting an equal amount of shade.
  I continued introducing myself, “Well, my name is Taruka Nile. That’s all I can really tell you about me.”
“Ah come on, what are you talking about, tell me more!”
“Trust me, you don’t want to hear my story, it’s too boring, you won’t find me interesting.” I said back to her, leaning back looking at the tree leaves. She kept rambling on, persuading me to tell her more about me. I ignored her and kept staring at the leaves. I began wondering, where did this girl come from, why did she come here of all places, why is she trying so hard to be my friend. She seemed too determined to befriend someone she never met before, especially out of school.
What is a friend, a voice deep inside my head whispered into the deepest part of my brain. That was the million dollar question I was asking myself. My guess was that a friend was someone you cared about, but also wasn’t family.
“Why aren’t you listening?” I snapped out of my daydream and looked back at Miaza. She was giving a very sorrow look, her arms wrapped around each other and pressed against her chest. “You think I’m annoying, don’t you,” Miaza said. She was on the verge of tearing up. I looked in shock; I could tell she was trying to hold back her tears. 
“Hold on, you don’t have to do that! Calm down please!” I said, holding on to her shoulders. I kept turning back trying to make sure no one was around. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but don’t go crying more than you are now after, okay?”
She wiped her face, and then gave a big grin as she nodded her head. I leaned back and began looking up at the leaves again as I told her more about me.
“When I was little, I never thought I fit in, I never made any friends in elementary school. Mainly because, I thought I didn’t need any, soon I just became isolated from the rest. It just sort of stuck with me, living as an outcast became a regular thing to me. Living without friends was how it became eventually, and that’s all I needed it to be,” after I finished up, I directed myself over to Miaza.
She was covering her face. I pulled her hands out of the way only to find her entire face and hands to be soiled in tears. I couldn’t believe she was crying from my story.
“I’m sorry, but how could you live your whole life without friends,” She said, and began to cover up her face again. Her sob grew louder. I stood there silent, not believing what I had to witness. I looked around to make sure no one was around again, the coast was clear. Upon turning around I heard another voice creep through, “So now you’re making girls cry huh. How cruel can you get?” Turning back around, I saw Nez climbing up the hill. I didn’t like him coming up here, since I always came up here for one reason: peace and quiet.
“Great, another child to deal with,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Taruka, first you worry us by locking yourself in your room all day, now you’re making little girls cry!?” Nez said, marching over to the tree.  He had a look on his face that seemed like he was trying to make himself look intimidating, but all it did was make him look silly. His entire face was red, and his hair was a mess. He was wearing nothing but shorts and a blue shirt, which made him look even sillier.
“Hey, do you know him,” Miaza asked.
“Hell no, he’s just …”
“His older brother trying to keep him out of trouble, isn’t that right, Taruka?”  He grabbed me by both arms, and pulled me close to his face, his breathe had the smell of peanut written all over it. The more I looked into his eyes, the more I wanted to laugh from the lack of seriousness I had in me. I noticed Nez turning over to Miaza, still having me b my arms and gave her a wink. Alost as if he was trying to flirt with her.
“Are you sure, you’re his older brother, you look a lot younger than both of us,”
“‘B-B-Both of us’, you mean you and Taruka are… the same age?” Nez stuttered. He fell to the ground, fainting in disappointment. I began laughing as hard as I ever could have. I eventually gained control of myself and turned back to Miaza with a straight with and cleared my throat.
“He’ll be all right; he’s just too desperate to get into a relationship. Anyway, why haven’t you told me about yourself, huh?”
“Oh right, I should. Let’s see,” Miaza began talking about how she has an older brother named Miles, in the military. Her and her family used to live over in the east side of the country until he got deported. I thought she was a hypocrite because she told me that she didn’t have much to say for her life. Though, it was far more interesting than what I told her.
“I love it here, the people are so nice. In fact, they were already inviting me to go to a party with them.” I felt bad for her. She was clueless that people around here judge others for their looks. If you were ugly, then you were out of luck. An innocent girl like her probably wouldn’t be able to take that kind of news very lightly.
“Well, you have fun at those parties.” I picked up my back that was right beside her. “I’m going home,” Turning around, I walked away. She stopped me again.
“But, aren’t you going to come?” Miaza asked.
“I never got invited, but why do you care?”
“Oh, come on! You have to come, I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun. We can go right now!”
“I think I’ll pass, I don’t really know anybody I can socialize with,” I said, turning back.
“Can I at least get your name again?” It made sense that she forgot my name, already; I don’t recall anybody asking my name before, so I decided to tell her again. I turned around and found her standing right behind me.
“It’s Taruka,” I said.
“Taa…rarara?” I could tell she was struggling to say my name. So I helped her with it.
“Follow with me, Taa-”
“Taa-”
“-Roo-”
“-Roo-“
“-Kuh,”
“-Kuh,”
I patted her on the head. She flinched every time I patted her.
“Good job,” I said, giving her a smirk. I turned back around and began walking down the hill. As I walked back home, I noticed Miaza walking down the hill as well. Miaza was a very strange girl, one that I didn’t want to get involved with. There was defiantly more to her than I expected. Walking down the sidewalk, the hill became smaller, until it was out of my sight.
My house still had the lights on, mom was most likely home. Dad’s car wasn’t parked outside of the house. I had to slap myself across the face to remember that dad doesn’t live with us. The house was seemed very bland, it was grey and seemed small from the outside. Dad never had the time to paint the house.
I walked into the house and saw my mom heating up leftovers for dinner.
“Well look who’s here early, welcome home Taru,” She said. Mom always called me Taru, which was what I preferred over my full name.
Despite my black hair I got from my dad, my mom had brunette hair. She always cut it until it was as short as boy’s hair, I never understood why she did that, but she thought it looked nice. Mom wasn’t very tall, so she looked a lot younger than she really was. I would usually ignore my mom’s greeting and take an apple upstairs to my room. That’s what I usually did for dinner. But today, she stopped me to taste a bowl of pasta she made last night for dinner. It was covered in hot, red tomato sauce, with pieces of sausage in the pasta. A biscuit sat next to the sauce, golden brown was the color of it.
I grabbed a fork and scooped us the pasta and began to slurp it up into my mouth. Tomato sauce spilled from the pasta and back into the bowl, and some on my cheeks. I gulped it all down and placed the fork on the table, wiping my face with a napkin.
“It’s ok, why did you want me to try it?” I asked.
“Taru, you never have dinner with us, you need to spend time with your family.” I looked down at the ground, only paying attention to the wooden tiles made in the kitchen. Mumbling under my breath without realization I said, “Then why don’t you invite dad back into the house?”
Mom, without hesitation, rose up her arm and swung it across my face, leaving a bright red mark on my cheek. I held my cheek where she struck and looked back at her in terror. She had her hands covering her mouth, as if she was the one that was slapped. Her face seemed almost as horrified as mine. My mother would never slap me or Nez; I knew what she was thinking as I looked back at her.
“Taru… I love you, you know that right?” She said. I could hear the sorrow within her voice. I heard Nez come through the door, taking off his shoes and saying, “I’m back, is Taruka back?”
  I ran upstairs with my mom calling back to me. Ignoring her, I slammed the door behind me. I felt my heart beat in my chest. Panting, and out of breath, I felt weak, and helpless. It made me remember why my dad left in the first place. I still remember that day; he was drunk, and couldn’t control himself. He always drank, but never that bad on that day. His temper was that of a lion, if you were to piss him of; you were dead. Nez and I were still children, Nez being 3 years younger than me, set dad off without his awareness of it. I came after. It was around that time that mom stepped in and eventually told my father to leave. Both of us were traumatized since that day, I remember the promise she made.
‘I would never hit any of my kids, my angels, my babies.’ She broke that promise today. My father taught me not to trust anyone, for ten straight years. A full family is all I wanted in life. A little brother. A mother and a father. I guess I’ll never get that wish.

That night I went to bed earlier that my usual schedule. I could still hear my father’s voice from the inside my dreams. Falling asleep, I felt alone. Everywhere I looked, it was pure darkness. I could still hear the voice of my father echo through the walls of the dark. “Daddy loves you Taruka. Did you know that? I still do.” His voice leads into the deep ends of the abyss.
If you loved me, then why did you harm me instead of help me, I thought. Dad was never one to fight. Growing up as a pacifist, he steered clear from hurting anybody. The sound of emptiness flooded the abyss. I stood by myself, hearing the echoes of my father’s voice pass by. The same name repeated itself inside my head. Taruka, Taruka, Taruka, played back over and over like a broken record player. No other sound came elsewhere than in my own head.
I closed my eyes, as if trying to fall asleep in my own dream. When I opened them once I again, I was in the living room. No one was seen anywhere, the T.V. and lights were off, almost as if no one was home. The doors to me and Nez’s room were still closed. I heard the doorknob of the front door turning back and forwards, as if someone where picking the lock. The door swung open, only for my dad to walk in. He was half awake, and horribly drunk. I was back on that day, the day my father came home late. The day Nez and I trembled over. The day dad left the house.
Dad stomped over to the living room, knocking over vases and picture frame. I tried to speak up but couldn’t, as if my tongue were cut off. My dad walked right through me, like I was a ghost. He stumbled into the kitchen, opening up the refrigerator, passing out soon after.
“Come on Nez, let’s go see what that noise was,” A voice called from upstairs. I knew exactly who it was. I knew what was coming next. I remember every little detail that came after.
No. Don’t come down here, for your own sake, go back to sleep, I thought. I saw door to my room open up, I was carrying Nez when he was still a baby. I could tell I was struggling to get him down the stairs, but eventually made it down. I saw myself walk around the living room, and make my way into the kitchen. Dad was still passed out by the fridge, looking almost like a dead corpse.
“Daddy’s sweeping,” baby Nez called out. Nez was only 2 at the time, and was only barely learning to talk.
“We’ve got to wake him up, I know what to do,” Toddler me said. I rushed over to the cabinet and pulled out a small baby cup. Pulling up a stool, I climbed up the sink and filled the cup with ice cold water. No, no, no, no, no. Stop it. I echoed in my head. I walked over to where dad lied, handed the cup over to Nez.
“Here Nez, you do it,” I sounded so happy on that day, as if we were giving dad a Christmas present. Nez grabbed the cup and began to slowly dump the water on dad’s unconscious head. He sprung up with a roar, wiping all the water off of his face and looked over at both of us. I could still tell he was drunk, but the little me never understood the concept of alcohol. He stared at the baby cup Nez was holding, and then stared back at Nez. He had the look that said, ‘You’ve done it this time.’ He walked over to Nez, raised his arm, and struck him straight to the ground.
Nez began crying immediately, I could still see the hand print dad left on him. I looked over at the younger me, he was heartbroken. Dad began throwing kitchen supplies and everything in front of him towards Nez. After he ran out of materials to chuck at him, he pulled off his work shoes. They were brown dress up shoes, the kind you would wear if you worked at an office. Nez was still on the floor, crying. Dad began to whip him with his shoes like a rope, leaving bruises all over Nez’s face and torso. Nez’s sobbing became louder as dad continued to strike him. I noticed younger me try to run over and stop him. Dad pushed me aside as I went flying across the kitchen and onto the floor. He ran towards my helpless body and proceeded to strike me with his shoe. I noticed that I kept trying to get away from him, but he constantly pulled me by the legs and had me face him.
Each second lasted longer than the last. I remembered why dad was no longer allowed back inside the house. Every time I heard my blood curtailing scream, I wanted to die. Bruises were left all around my face. My nose began oozing blood. I turned over to Nez, only to find his forehead, busted open. Every part of his face was dripping blood. Neither of us was able to stand up. I fell down to my knees, horrified from the sight. I didn’t want to watch anymore, but I couldn’t turn away. My eyes were glued to the scene, not letting me look away. My knees felt heavy, I couldn’t get up. I felt my eyes fill up with tears. I was being forced to witness my own torture that I went through ten years ago. Please, stop. You’re going to kill him, your own son. I thought in my head once again.
Tears ran down the side of my face, splashing onto the hard wooden floor. I wanted this nightmare to end, but no matter what I tried I couldn’t wake myself up. I heard another door open up and rush down the stairs. I turned over to the staircase, and out came my mom running towards my dad. She was wearing her favorite white night dress, making her almost appear as an angel. She eventually pulled my dad off of my younger self, who was already out cold. She and dad began fighting. Dad was still drunk, I could hear their entire conversation, until mom pointed towards the door screaming, “Get the f out!” That was the last of it; dad left the house, speechless.
Mom rushed towards me and Nez, who now had a blood dripping from our faces. She picked both of us up and rushed outside. I followed her and saw that dad’s car was already gone. She put us both into her car and drove off. I watched as the car disappeared from my line of sight as a trail of gas from the care engine followed with. My mother was the only one who took care of us after that day on.
I sat outside of my house for what seemed like hours. My mother didn’t come back after that night. I looked around and noticed that most of the tress seemed a lot younger. Ten years can really make a difference to most people. As I by the front door I notice a car pull up, it was dad. He got out of his car and walked towards the front door. I could tell he was all sobered up. He used his spare house keys to open up the house, I followed him inside. He began going through his drawers and taking everything that belonged to him. His eyes were red and had black circles all around them. Did he not sleep last night or something? I thought. After he grabbed everything he owned, he locked the door and left the house. Entering his car, he drove away once again.
Shortly after, my mom’s car pulled up again, and she got out, pulling me and Nez out alongside with her. I noticed we both had bandages wrapped around our heads, and Nez was wearing a cast. We all entered the house without a single word, and mom began preparing food younger me and Nez. The both of us seemed very happy, as if nothing ever happened the previous night. Neither of us questioned where dad was, and mom didn’t tell neither of us either. After she was done making our food she went straight upstairs. Following her, I saw her kneeling to the Mary picture that sat on her dresser. She was praying, and probably didn’t notice that most of dad’s belongings were gone. I could hear her whisper her prayers to the Virgin Mary.
“Holy Mary, please protect my children. Give me the strength to keep both of them out of harm’s way,” She said. “I would never hit any of my kids, my angels, my babies. So give me the strength to protect both of their lives. And when I die, guide my children in the right path. Amen,” I could see the tears in her eyes as she turned back around and saw younger me standing by the door way. She told me to go back to the table and finish my food. The only thing that I remember my mother saying on that day was the one that I know today. I would never hit any of my kids, my angels, my babies. That was all I can remember on that day.
My only true dream was to live with my family.

I got to school early the next day. I woke up at four in the morning, and couldn’t go back to sleep after last night’s dream. The class room door wasn’t open so I had to wait outside until someone opened. I waited for about five minutes until the teacher came and opened the door. Placed a door stopper by the door and then left. I walked inside and went straight to my desk. I pulled out my book and began reading it. I was very far in and didn’t want to lose my place in the book, so I always kept a bookmark on me. I soon heard others coming into the classroom, but simply ignored them and continued reading.

“Good morning Taruka,” I looked up to see Miaza standing right in front of my desk. This time, she was wearing a thin, white, zip-up sweater, but didn’t bother to zip it up. She was still wearing the same heart shape necklace around her neck. She continued to smile down at me. I closed my book at looked down at the cover.

“So you actually remembered my name,” I said. “Most people have a hard time doing so. Do me a favor, can you only call me Taru, I don’t like it when people call me by my full name.”

“But I like to call you by Taruka; it sounds cute, and unique.” Miaza was right on the unique part. I’m not sure how my parents came to the conclusion to call me such a strange name, it doesn’t seem to have any origin to it, and that was another reason why I didn’t like it so much. But what was cute about it? It just sounded like a bundle of different syllables jammed together, girls are weird.

“Fine, call me what you want.”

“Do you remember my name?” She was still smiling at me, holding her own hands together. She had an innocent look to her, if I were to get her name wrong, she would probably start crying.

“Miaza,” I said. Opening up my book and began reading again.

“You remembered!” Miaza jumped around as she said that, and then sat in her seat next to me. “You know we both have something in common, we both have bizarre names.” I looked over in confusion, wondering what she meant by that, “My name sounds like ‘Mia’ with a ‘Za’ at the end. I don’t know what that ‘Za’ means, and neither does anyone else.” Miaza was right in that too, we both have names that seemed to have no origin behind them, and just sounded like made up names. She was quite the thinker. “Don’t you think that’s really strange for...?” Before she could finish her sentence, the bell rang and she jumped out of her seat.

I put my book away and proceeded to put my head down to relax. I didn’t close my eyes, but only look down at the floor until class started. Miaza poked her head under my desk to try to see my face. She looked really confused as to what I was doing.

“Can I help you?” I asked

“No thanks, just checking to see if you were still alive down there.” She held up her thumb in front of me. “And it seem everything is A-Okay down here,” She gave a chuckle and sat back on her desk. Class started and we began our lesson. While the teacher was writing on the board, I could hear other students chatting with each other. I heard two students talking about their party last night. Saying things like ‘I got totally wasted bro.’ I ignored them and continued taking minor notes. I looked behind me a saw that James was sitting right behind Miaza; he was trying to avoid any kind of eye contact with her after the incident of yesterday.

I noticed that Miaza was only looking at the teacher, but wasn’t taking notes.

“Hey, Miaza,” I whispered. “Do you not have a pencil or something? Why aren’t you taking notes?”

“Actually, I don’t.”

“Seriously? Here, you can one of my spare pencils.”

“Taruka, I didn’t know you actually cared about education.”

“I don’t, I’m just trying to help you out here, now take the pencil.” I looked over my shoulder and saw James eyeing me down. I didn’t understand why he was giving me such a mean look. Was he jealous of me? What for, it’s wasn’t like me and her were dating. Besides, he already got rejected, it wasn’t his fault. After Miaza took the pencil, I turned back around and didn’t turn back for the rest of the period.

After the period ended, Miaza gave me back my pencil as I walked out of the class. Miaza caught with me. We decided to walk to our next period together, since we had second period together as well. Deciding to break the silence, I began to speak up, “Say Miaza. Last period, I heard a few people talking about that party last night. Did you ever go?”

“Oh yeah, I didn’t go actually.” I looked at her shocked. The first party she gets invited to, and she didn’t go?

“W- Why?”

“Because you said you weren’t coming,” She said, as she proceeded to smile at me. When we made it to our second period, I went to my usual spot, sitting up against the bleachers and curling up like a ball as the P.E. teacher took attendance. I heard the students walk over to the basketball court. The sound of footsteps got closers until they all eventually passed by. The gym grew silent. Growing curious I looked up only to realize that no one was in the gym.

I got up from the side of the bleachers and took a scan around the gym, no teacher or student was to be found. I thought of how quiet it felt, it felt almost as quiet as the hill top. It was a very soothing feeling; I wanted to stay here for the rest of the period. I sat back at my usual spot by the bleachers, relaxing by myself. The silence around me made me want to fall asleep where I sat. The lights in the gym were very dim, so closing my eyes were no different than keeping them open. For a few seconds, I felt happy.

Minutes felt like hours as the period dragged on. The air conditioner filled the gymnasium with a cool breeze. It felt as good as the natural wind up on the hill. Drowsiness kicked in, making me almost fall asleep where I sat. Before I was able to fall into a deep sleep, I woke up to the sound of someone calling my name. The sound was faint, making it hard for me to analyze where it came from, or who it came from. It was most likely all in my head, so I ignored it, but the sound became louder. Giving in, I opened up my eyes; my vision was still blurry, as if the entire room was covered in fog. There was a figure standing in front of me, it was most likely a teacher telling me that I couldn’t be in the gym, and where my class was at.

As my vision cleared I saw the figure come together, like puzzle pieces being placed in their spots. Pieces of the person and the background were being placed in an order that formed the gym. That’s what my vision was feeling like. As it cleared up, I saw Miaza; she was giving me an unusual expression of confusion. Her face told me, Is this really what a loser like you does all day? I knew she would never same something like that. But what really concerned me was the fact that she ditched class to find where I was. Yet, why bother looking for me? What made me so special? Was I just imagining things, or would she rather be with me than with everyone else. What could have possibly made me so special that divided me from everyone else?

Miaza’s head was tilted to the side, as if she was curious to what I was doing here. I’ve told her that I’d rather stay by my own than participate in any kind of school activity, so there was no reason for her to wonder what I was doing. Her gym uniform didn’t fit her very well, making her appear a lot smaller than before, which make her look a lot cuter. Although I didn’t want her to know I thought that because that would make me sound interested in her.

“What are you doing Taruka?” Miaza said. She seriously can’t be asking that, I thought. I didn’t say a word to her; only stare at her, silent.

She asked if she could sit with me, I scooted over to make room for her to sit next to me. She held her knees up to her chest, and her arms wrapped around her legs like an anaconda. Staring at the ground, she had a small gin on her face, almost like the one she had this morning.

“So why did you come here? Was there a reason, or something?” I asked, not directing my eyes near her. She looked back at me, then said, “We were running the track, I noticed you weren’t there, so I came back to find you.”

“So why is me running the track important to you?” As I said that, Miaza’s face grew more aggravated as I stared back at her. She approached my face with her index finger pointing at me, like what a teacher would do if you were in trouble.

“You need to focus more on your grades, you’ll never make it far in life if you don’t do well in school,” She said in a very demanding tone of voice.

“Gah! You sound like my mom, besides that is the most cliché saying in all of parenting,” What I said wasn’t true. My mom never really asked about my grades, despite how strict she was. Her only source to see my grades were through report cards. I still didn’t live up to her standards though. She couldn’t check on them online because she didn’t know how to work a computer, every time she opened up a tab, no matter what it was, she would go berserk as if she broke the computer.

Miaza began to brag how she was a straight A student back in middle school. Saying how she could tutor me on the weekends or in the summer. I really didn’t care much because I thought she was just trying to sound cool in front of me, as if trying to make me jealous of her. This was stupid of her to try to do because I didn’t care about my grades, nor did I even know what to do with my life after high school. I continued to look down at the gym floor, not bothering to pay any attention to her, as she grew obnoxious as time went on.

“What does any of this mean to you anyway!?” I shouted to her. Miaza jumped back and grew quiet, and her face changed to one after seeing a ghost.

“Well… Don’t you have anything planned for your future..?” Her voice became soft, and weak. She began to shiver. I could feel my hand clenching up in a fist. “Don’t you have a true dream you want to accomplish?” Upon hearing Miaza saying that, my hands fell in relief. The rest of my body began to loosen up, turning into jelly, and falling down on the floor. My hair flew over my face, covering my eyes. I could still see Miaza looking over my shoulder, shaking me to see f I were okay. She began to call my name. “Taruka, Taruka,” was the only thing I could hear now. Miaza was still shaking me, attempting to wake me up, yet I was still wide awake.

My true dream was the phrase that wandered through my mind. That was the only thing that I was thinking about. My true dream…Was to live a life…With my family again. My whole family, Not just Nez and Mom, but dad would be there too. I didn’t hate him, yet why did I fear him so much? Was it because of that fateful night? Every time I saw him, I stayed away. I loved my father, but I thought he resented me. What was my true dream? That echoed through my mind once again, and again, until I repeated it back.

I got back up; the first thing to catch my eye was Miaza. She was still shivering and was holding back tears like a dam.

“What happened?” She asked.

“My true dream, is to live with my family again,” I was repeating the same words that went back and forth in my brain along with everything else that circle around. Miaza looked confused from what I said. Realizing that I haven’t told her about my father, I spilled the beans, telling her every last detail there was to that day ten years ago. She began sobbing halfway through, most likely not paying attention to my story anymore. I helped her wipe the tears away and we both sat with our backs on the bleachers.

“Now you can sort of see why I’ve never wanted any friends growing up,” I said. Miaza simply nodded and smiled back at me. Perhaps that is why she wanted to look for me so badly; she wanted to be my friend. She wanted to be the first person to notice me, and to remember me. Yet, I still could help but wonder…Why..? By now, she was most likely more popular than anyone in the class, why stick around with me. I’ve always thought I would ruin her reputation as the new girl. Yet that didn’t seem to get her down. She was a very motivated girl, I could tell.

I didn’t bother to tell her about what my mother did to me yesterday, or about the dream I had last night. Seeing how sensitive she was, I didn’t think about trying to break her heart anymore than I already had. She had an entire family to look up to. They were the ones that she depended on, but I didn’t have that. But perhaps Miaza was the one that I would depend on, almost like an older sister, despite us being the same age. I knew Miaza felt that way too, she was the mentor, and I was her student. That kind of feeling made me feel safe around her, she was my first friend.

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly. We were given very little homework assignments, which gave me enough time to read my book. That novel was all I cared about. I was on the last few chapters, close to the big climax of the book. Just the thought of reading the ending excited me, like someone excited to see the sequel to their favorite movie. That’s what books were to me. A teacher actually recommended it to me around the beginning of the school year. My homeroom teacher that was also an English teacher noticed that I would do nothing during homeroom, so he told me to read that book. “It’s one of my favorite novels by my favorite author,” he told me. I wasn’t sure about reading it at first, but I eventually fell in love with it, reading it nonstop.

Miaza and I went to the hill top to start up the homework that we were assigned as quickly as we could, helping each other on problems we didn’t know. It was basically a tutor session since I didn’t get most of the problems, so she would have to teach me them from scratch. We worked on our homework for a few minutes, yet it felt like hours. I pulled out “The Shadow Home,” the novel I was reading, lied down on my back and began reading.

“You must really love that book,” Miaza said. When I moved the book out of my face, she was staring right at me, like a curious dog to its owner. I shushed her and continued reading, holding the book close to my face this time. “What’s it about?” I ignored her. “Taruka, you’re making me sad!” She whined like a little crybaby. Getting fed up with her, I closed the book and told her a summary of the plot as fast as I could.

“It’s about a boy who can turn into a shadow. He seeks to kill the man who killed his father in order to take revenge.” I said that so fast she didn’t even understand what I was saying. I could practically see her head spinning in circles. But I wasn’t about to repeat myself, so I opened the book and started reading again. I assumed she understood I didn’t want to repeat myself because she just said “Okay,” then looked over at the view of the suburb.

“So Taruka, do you want to write books when you’re older?” I looked over at Miaza. I thought about what she said, since I have thought about the idea myself.

“Writing it too hard, it’s better left to the professionals,” I said, still reading my book. “Why don’t you write your own books?”

“I would, but I’ve already decided what I wanted to do. I’m going to become an artist,” she said that full of glee. Knowing that Miaza wanted to be an artist really fascinated me for some reason. She had me thinking about my life and I could focus on what I was reading. It made me feel like I was lost. Lost in words I couldn’t understand or decode. She and I weren’t so different from each other than I had expected.

I gave up on trying to read my book and eventually closed it up. Getting up, I opened by bag and check the time on my phone. I didn’t realize it was starting to get late; it was already four-thirty. I packed up my belongings and threw my back on my shoulders. Miaza was surprised since I told her I never go home this early, but I told her I had something important to take care of. I said goodbye to Miaza, and we both took our own separate passages. There, I rushed down the hill and straight home, sprinting as fast as I could. I was already out of breath but I kept on running, trying to get home before it was too late.

Upon seeing my house, I sprinted through the doors and saw my mom and Nez sitting at the dinner table. The table was covered in a red and white pattern and was already set with forks and soda laid out.

“What wrong Taruka? Forget something?” Nez asked.

“N- No, I just didn’t want to miss dinner with my family,” Nez and my mother both stared at me, and then gave me a big grin. I sat down at the table and mom served me a plate of chicken, rice, and beans. Sitting next to Nez, I patted him on the shoulder and gave a smile back to him. Even if dad wasn’t here, we were still a family, a whole family. I realized this today when I was sitting with Miaza in P.E. It was the first time in ten year that I ate dinner with my family.

School let out early that Wednesday, so everyone rushed straight home. Halloween was around the corner, and Nez was excited for this year’s Halloween. My mom wanted me to take Nez out to find a costume for him, so I couldn’t go to the hill top today. I felt bad because Miaza was most likely still up there all on her own.

Nez and I were at our local party store looking around for the needle in the haystack. It was more of a drag because Nez still didn’t know what he wanted to be. He came back with outfits such as Elvis Presley and Freddy Mercury, asking me if he would look cool in any of the costumes. I simply nodded at everything he picked out. I couldn’t imagine Nez in any of the costumes he picked out, but he though he looked good in everything. Getting fed up with my act, Nez complained, saying that I wasn’t being serious enough.

“Come on Taruka! Be serious about this, Halloween I so close and I don’t have a costume. I really need your opinion, please!

“You want my opinion? Fine, go as something scary. Only losers go as people like Elvis Presley.” I had no idea what I was talking about. I was one to talk about being a loser. Yet Nez seemed fascinated from my opinion, even though it wasn’t what I really thought. He stared down at the costume he was holding, giving it a suspicious look. Every year Nez always went as either a cartoon character, or a celebrity impersonator, so upon hearing this news, he almost lost it.

“Y-Y-You think I’m… A loser…?” Nez’s face began trembling in sorrow. His eyes began watering. So now Nez was turning into a crybaby? I though.

I gave a sigh and looked back at Nez. Taking off my sweater, I used the sleeves to wipe the tears from Nez’s face.

“Gezz, I hope no one saw that,” I said, throwing the sweater over by shoulder. “You’re not a loser, ignore what I said. Go as whatever you want to. People my age still go as Elvis Presley. Now pick your outfit and let’s go.” As I walked away, Nez interrupted.

“Aren’t you going to pick a costume too?” He said.

“I’m not going trick-or-treating this year, and I’m sure you can take care of yourself.” I began walking towards the door, looking back at all the years I went trick-or-treating with Nez. Mom would go with us. I would always be shy to go, especially since I was never social. Even when I was 12 I would never say “Trick-or-Treat,” to any of the houses I went to. It was this year that I decided not to go. Not because I thought I was too old, but because the feeling was gone. I didn’t feel filled with the holiday spirit that I usually did, making me not want to participate in Halloween this year.

Walking out the door, I waited for Nez to pay for his costume. It was already starting to get dark, feeling like it was eight when it was only four o’ clock. Halloween was on a Saturday, so I was expecting Nez to come home late. He’s always wished to stay up until midnight, since that’s when Halloween was officially over. All you had to do to bribe Nez was show him a piece of a chocolate bar and he would do whatever you commanded. Nez truly showed his childish side on Halloween, which also made him seem younger than he was.

I saw mom pull up by the store, and Nez came rushing out as fast as light. My grades weren’t the only things my mom was strict on. Nez’s curfew was about nine-thirty. I hope Nez realizes that mom will never let him stay up past midnight, even on the weekend, I thought. As we drove home, I saw the day get darker. The sun set fairly quickly, and the clouds covered the night sky. Halloween sales flooded every store.

“Get your free Halloween pumpkins for fifty percent off! Don’t forget about your costumes. Decorations on sale now,” is what they all said. As we passed by, we saw all of the houses covered in decorations. We didn’t have any decorations on our house, which was the only way we were able to tell our house from the others in the dark.

That night, I didn’t go to sleep. I was up for half of the night reading my book. I wondered what Miaza was doing for Halloween, but seeing how childish she already acted, I had an idea on what it was. I tried to think of what she could possibly be. I fell asleep before I had a chance to think about it. Only to wake up to my alarm clock. Beep, beep, beep. The sound of it drove me crazy, like I was being tortured of all of my crimes. I eventually got up and got ready for school.

“Two more days until Halloween,” I said. The memories played back in my head. Nez would rush from house to house nonstop, while I trailed behind. I remember I went as a samurai when I was 8 and Nez was a ninja. I was always too scared from the decorations that hung from every window. I would trick-or-treat by any of the houses with decorations on them. All the kids would go frolicking across the neighborhood for candy, while I barely would get any. I remember one year where I got such little candy that I gave it all to Nez, he had a grin that stretched across his entire face.

“Look Mommy! Look what Taruka gave me,” He said. My mom didn’t think it was a good idea at first since she though he would eat too much, she was right.

I left the house, walking on my own to school once again. I noticed this time that the sun wasn’t coming up, it was already seven forty-five and it was still dark. The thought of a ghost or a zombie following me gave m Goosebumps. My skin crawled up and around as my mind drifted away. The town was already looking like an abandoned suburb as I looked over, making my imagination run wild. The undead, crawling out of their grave as one grabbed me by the legs and dragged me down with them. Or ghosts haunting every home, no way to escape their wrath and anger constantly crossed my mind. I had a very sick and twisted imagination sometimes. I blame it on that novel; it was a horror after all.

I got to school with a few minutes to spare. Miaza showed up late, making her way through the door, a minute after the bell rang. She was panting very heavily, as if she were a dog after running a mile. I didn’t bother saying good morning to her since she already looked exhausted, and most likely wasn’t having a good day so far. The sun rose once class began, giving a perfect view of the stadium that the football and soccer players used.

I was starting to get used to the class period times, so they never felt very long to me anymore. Miaza and I walked to our second period class. I apologized to her for not going up to the hill top with her the day before. She accepted my apology with ease and we both began sharing small talk. Neither of us mentioned what we were going to do for Halloween, but I didn’t think she would be happy with my plans.

P.E. started slow. Doing our stretches, we began our basketball session. I stayed b the bleachers as always, although I wanted to get a glimpse of the action. I kept my head up, watching the others play, seeing them run around the way they did kept me motivated to continue. Cheering on certain teams got them even more pumped up. I even began applauding to them whenever they scored. Every time I looked over, I saw Miaza playing too, the girls would throw her the ball and tell her to shoot it where she stood. I was surprised to see her play so well seeing how she didn’t seem like the sports type. She missed the shots now and then, and even failed to pass the ball to her teammates, but she was able to throw far. I imagined Miaza attempting to perform a slam dunk on the basketball, as the glass from the basket shattered into the pieces and fell to the floor. She would look back at the other team as they trembled from her mighty basketball skills.

“Where did you learn how to play? You’re grandma’s house?” She would say. Miaza was never one to insult, so I could see her telling such a lame insult like that.

Looking away, I watched the other side play. All the guys were playing very competitively, as if they were in a real game. Looking back, I could see that the girls were just having fun. Everyone laughed and joyfully passed the ball to each other. One of the girls wanted to try to shoot into the basket from the other side of the court. She ran to the edge and threw her arms behind her head with the ball firmly gripped. Closing her eyes she began to take a few deep breaths, and then swing with all of her might. The one throwing was none other than Alesa Skylar, one of the strongest members of the girls’ basketball team. Although she was quite famous for not having the best coordination.

One the balls flew from her arms, it flew like a bullet. Alesa lost her balance and fell face first to the floor. The ball traveled at high speed, flying straight forward. Every person dodged out of the way, ducking their heads. All except for Miaza, who didn’t pay attention to Alesa’s stunt. Miaza turned around only for the ball to strike her in the center of her tiny nose. Everyone turned over to find her lying on the ground. I quickly ran towards her, being surrounded by everyone else I forced my way through.

Miaza’s nose was bright red. I softly shook her to make sure she was conscious, she opened her eyes. Her nose began to bleed, dripping onto the floor of the gymnasium. I got her back onto her feel and wrapped her arm around m shoulder, taking her to the Nurse.

Taking her to the nurse, I laid her on one of the bed and let the nurse check on her. When the nurse came back, she said that she suffered minor injuries. The ball was soft, so it made sense if her nose wasn’t broken.

“Although she might still need to go to the doctors to get an appropriate checkup,” The nurse said. When the nurse walked out of the room, Alesa walked into the room. I never noticed it since I’ve never had an encounter with her like this, but this was the first time I’ve seen her up close. She had a thick dye of pink in her hair, and her skin was as bright as daylight. And she had braids that were placed on her left shoulder. She apologized to Miaza for accidentally hitting her. Miaza seemed very forgiving towards her.

“Oh it’s fine, you have nothing to blame for,” She said. Alesa smiled at her and turned over to me.

“And, who might you be? I don’t believe I’ve seen you before,” Alesa said.

“That’s Taruka. He’s one of my best friends,” Miaza began smiling as she pointed towards me.

“So you’re a friend of Miaza,” Alesa pulled me over, leaning towards my ear. “Looks like she called you her best friend, I’m so sorry that you don’t have a chance at dating her anymore,” She began to chuckle and pushed me away. I began blushing, still thinking what she whispered to me. Me, date Miaza? Why would she think that? I thought.

“Hey, what were you talking about,” Miaza said.

“Oh, nothing. I was just telling Taruka a joke.” She gave another chuckle. Trying not to act suspicious, I began to chuckle with her, unaware that I was still blushing. “Hey, I just remember something.” Alesa reached into the pockets of her gym shorts she brought from home, pulling out two tickets. “To pay back my troubles, here are two tickets to next week’s basketball game. You two should come!” Miaza grabbed one of the tickets from Alesa’s ands and stared at it in amusement.

“Wow, really? Thanks Alesa, I can wait to go” Miaza said.

Alesa passed the second ticket to me. As I took it out of her hand, I read the information on it.

Girls’ basketball game. Friday November sixth from: four P.M to Seven P.M. At Rollingberg High School.

The ticket had photos and illustrations of basketballs, and players performing slam dunks and free throws. The ticket was painted with a turquoise background surrounding the texts and pictures.

I ignored questioning how Alesa got the tickets and looked back at her seeing her walk off back to the gym. She looked back at me and said, “Well, the teacher is going to wonder where we are if e don’t get back in time.” I nodded my head and followed Alesa from behind. Not having the chance to look back at Miaza.

We walked back to the gymnasium, which was all the way on the other side of the school. Alesa turned back at me, gave me a smile, only to stop walking in the middle of the long, hallway. When I passed by her, side by side, she grabbed a hold of my shoulder. It caught me by surprised, so I turned back and looked over at her. Alesa was still smiling at me, I felt uncomfortable from the way she gave me the smirk she had on her face.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Just admit it.”

“Admit what? What are you talking about?” I couldn’t help but cringe over the grin she had, as if she knew a secret she was going to blackmail me with. Alesa laughed and stared down at the ground, covering her mouth, trying not to laugh to loud. When she looked up, she had the same smirk. Leaning over to my ear, she whispered, “You, Like, Miaza.” I pushed her away from my ear.

“Will you cut that out already? What makes you think I have any kind of crush on her?” I was unaware of how red my face was turning.

“Don’t even try to hide it, you were the only guy to rush over and help her when she got hurt. That’s a sign.” Alesa said. I didn’t understand what signs she was talking about. Then again, she was a very crazy girl. I only met Miaza a few days ago, so I doubted I would develop feelings for her. Developing feelings for anyone was something that never crossed my mind.

I turned back around and began walking down the hall towards the gym. Alesa followed from behind, and neither of us said a word once we got back. The day went on normally after second period. Miaza was sent home early for her injury and I stayed on the hill top all on my own. Climbing up the sycamore tree I began to finish up the last few pages of my book. The sun shined on and off, as the clouds blocked the sunlight and dimmed the world around me. The earth felt empty without Miaza being with me. We always shared conversations with each other, filling up the silence around the world, so with Miaza gone, the silence grew larger.

The day ended shortly, and a new one took its place. Today was Halloween Eve. It was still early, being only five in the morning. Darkness filled the neighborhood, making it impossible to see anything when looking outside. The darkness that said, “It’s not time to get up yet, go back to sleep.” Being the middle of autumn, my room was filled with a cold breeze, making it seem more like it was winter.

I didn’t want to get out of bed. I was already cold even with my sheets on. The warmth around me felt like a soft fur coat, as it hugged around my skin like a towel. It almost convinced me it was a warm spring day in April.

I eventually made it out of my bed an hour after I woke up. I went downstairs to make myself breakfast, only to find Nez lying down on the couch watching cartoons. He turned around staring at me. He was only half awake, with layers of bags under his eyes, making him appear as a walking corpse. His skin felt cold and was as pale as white. He coughed up mucus and saliva. I jumped back, trying not to get coughed on. Nez turned back around and dug himself deeper within the pile of blankets that covered him up.

I patted his head and walked out the door. He seemed to have been there all night. Even after I closed the door I could hear him coughing. Let’s hope he isn’t feeling that way when he goes trick or treating. Once I got to school, the first thing I noticed was that Miaza wasn’t here. I haven’t heard from her since I saw her yesterday.

Classes dragged on for hour, after hour. Each class felt longer than the last. Alesa told me that Miaza was at the hospital to get x-rays on her nose after yesterday’s injury. I’ve gotten so used to spending so much time with Miaza, that I forgot what it was like to be alone. Tick tock, tick tock, the clock marched on.

Finally the day ended, making it the longest day of the school year. Miaza wasn’t at the hill top today either, so I went straight home. Nez was still lying lifeless on the couch. His Middle school lets out later tan the high school, so I could tell he didn’t go to school today. The T.V. was still on, playing afternoon dramas. Mom wasn’t home either, she gets out of work at four and it was only three-thirty. I lied in my bed waiting for the day to end. I felt my body fall asleep, and my head began pounding like a heart. I began to think about how much has happened over the week.

So much has happened so quickly that it was too hard for it all to sink in. Only a few days ago, I met Miaza and learned so much about her. By this time, she was already making friends with everyone. Not a single person in the school didn’t know the name, “Miaza Dire.” For years I never paid attention to the idea of making friends, and here she was, making friends like she’s practiced it.

The ceiling felt s if it were getting smaller, approaching me until I was closed up in a box of nothingness. Once I got to the point where my vision faded away, I found myself in a deep sleep. I felt lost, wandering into nothing for hours, up until the point where I couldn’t move anymore. My mind was bank. Only to wake up to the sound of banging on the wall.

Springing out of my bed, I looked over to at my clock to find out it was eleven o’ clock. It was Halloween day, and the sun was fully out already. I rushed out of my room to find the source of all the banging. I walked into Nez’s room, to see him attempting to put on a pair of white skinny jeans. He was grunting, kicking his feet around, knocking off various items from his bookshelf.

“Nez, would you mind explaining what you’re doing?” I asked. Nez turned around and gave a loud scream, as if I were a burglar that broke in the house. He rushed towards the door and closed it with full force. I could hear his panting from the other side of the door. “I hope you realize that it’s way too early to go out trick or treating”

“Its starts when I say so! I want candy so I’m going now!” Nez cried, as his voice cracked.

“Are you feeling any better, you seemed pretty sick yesterday.”

“Don’t tell mom! She’ll never let me go out if she finds out I’m sick.”

“So that’s a no then,” I began walking away from the door, calling out for mom. “Hey mom, I hope you realize Nez is...” Nez came rushing out his room. His pants hanging from his ankles, and began covering my mouth. He had to stand o his toes in order to reach my face.

“What the hell is wrong with you!? What kind of big brother are you,” he screamed. “Okay, what do you want, I’ll give you anything.” I moved Nez’s hand from my mouth.

“Give me twenty-five percent of your candy and I’ll let you go,” I said. Nez nodded his head and rushed back into his room. Walking into the living room, I saw my mom setting up a bowl of candy. There were Halloween movies playing on T.V. Leaves continued to fall from the trees outside, landing on the windows and sidewalk.

Time passed by as I sat down and watched a variety of movies. I heard the doorbell ring. My mom walked over to the door with the bowl of candy in her hand. I looked over at the clock; it was barely turning two o’ clock. I guess with Halloween being on a weekend really got kids excited, I thought. When mom closed the door she looked at me and asked, “Is Nez still in his room?”

I looked back at the window, only to find Nez running from house to house in his Elvis Presley costume.

“He’s definitely somewhere.” I mumbled under my breath.

Time passed, and the day grew darker. More children came to gather treats. I thought about how much candy Nez could bring back, the more he got, the more twenty-five percent felt like. Mom went out to go look for Nez. She didn’t trust Nez to go out all on his own, so she told me to watch out for any trick or treaters. I heard the doorbell ring. Grabbing the bowl of candy, I opened the door.

“Trick or Treat,” Said the group of children. Of the group there was one that was the tallest of them. Looking up at the tallest revealed a familiar face.

It was Miaza. She had a bandage on her nose, most likely from her injury. Miaza looked in surprised to see me answer the door. I was just as shocked as she felt.

“Taruka, I didn’t know you lived here,” She said in sorrow, as if she were apologizing.

“Life is full of surprises, aren’t they,” I said.

“Why are you still at home? Aren’t you going to come out too?”

“Well no, it’s already too late. Besides, I doubt people would want to give a teenager candy. They would probably just say, ‘Aren’t you too old for trick-or-treating?” I could tell the children were beginning to grow impatient with the long wait. I gave them all their candy, none of them besides Miaza say thank you for them. “So who are your friends here, siblings?”

“They’re my cousins. My Aunt wanted me to look after them this year. Miaza said. She looked down at her bag of candy, suddenly looking upset. “You can’t miss out on Halloween.” Miaza reached into her bag and pulled out a full sized chocolate bar, and placed it into my hand. It took me by shock that she was giving up such a big bar just for me. As I looked back at her, she smiled and left.

I could hear Miaza’s cousins say to her, “Hey Miaza, was that your boyfriend?” I laughed from the childish ways of her cousins, remembering what Alesa said to me.

I noticed Nez walking towards the house bumping into other children. As he got closers, I noticed his costume was torn up. Rips and stains were found all over his cloths. As he stormed through, he had a petrified look. Making his way up the stairs I shouted, “Where’s my twenty-five percent?”

He jumped, startled from my voice, and rushed into his room. I followed him and found him sobbing over a pile of crushed candy. He barely noticed me walk in, so I slowly closed the door not making a sound, knowing I didn’t want to disturb him, seeing how he was in a bad mood. Making my way to my room, I opened the chocolate bar Miaza gave to be and took a huge chomp out of it.

I lied in my bed, and thought of the generosity Miaza had in her. She was like a saint, the saint of our world.