A New Someone
“Memphis-!”
Memphis woke up with a start, “Mother?! Father?!” The shrill voice of his mother still lingered in his head as he looked around. He knew that he had another one of those dreams. Ever since he had run away, he had terrible dreams. He didn’t know where they came from, all he knew was that he wanted to go home, but which way? He got up from the cold moss he had been sleeping on, picked up the food he had stored: dried berries and fruits, smoked and dried meats (so they wouldn’t go bad), and herbs; put the mossy rocks back where he had found them, and headed in the direction he thought was the way back to his home. He felt as if it had been years since he had last seen his family, but in reality, his all brown-haired, and hazel-eyed family had seen him just a few months ago, before his birthday. He walked down sinuous roads and over a cold stream. He continued down the winding path until he thought he couldn’t walk anymore on his red, blistered, and blood-streaked feet. He stopped at a nice clearing and found a patch of moss. He was cold, but he didn’t bother with it because he was too tired. He was afraid his dreams would come back, but he fell asleep anyway.
Memphis woke up after his dream again and decided that he couldn’t sleep anymore so he got on the move. He saw many animals: a cardinal, a bear, even a deer. Then, behind a full bush, he heard a girl’s voice. “Ow!” The voice said. “Who’s there?” He cried out with a squeak. A girl emerged from the bushes, she had golden brown hair, icy blue eyes, and looked to be about 14, the same age as Memphis. The girl explained that she was Akira, and she had lost her family in a fire that she called “The Downfall” because she fell into a hole that saved her life. As she explained the details of the fire, Memphis noticed the small amount of ash and dirt on her cheek and was taken aback by her beauty and felt a strange pull to her, so without thinking he said, “I would like to have some company. Would you like to join me?”
“Sure,” Akira said with a roll of her eyes. Memphis built 2 small huts that night and they went to sleep in the cool night.
In the morning, they continued. Memphis told his story since Akira told hers. “And that’s how I got here,” said Memphis. “Wow, Leaf- can I call you that? Your eyes remind me of leaves in the fall! Anywho, I had no idea that you went through all that! I’m so sorry!” Akira said.
“It’s alright, and yeah, that’s cool with me. Just been a bit lonely, that’s all. Now, I wanna go home. I don’t even remember why I left in the first place!” finished Memphis. Akira made a sound that sounded like a cross between a goat and a giggle. “That’s funny. I hope you know where you are going.” Akira said. Memphis gave a simple nod and a nervous laugh. Truth be told, he had no idea where he was going. After their talk, they didn’t speak until there was a fork in the road. Akira then asked, “Which way, Leaf?” as she was walking down the right path. “Uh, let’s go right,” he replied, wondering why girls ask questions and don’t wait for an answer.
***********************
When it became dark they made camp again. Neither of them could sleep. It seemed like something was off that night. Finally, morning came, and they were ready for whatever may come their way. They skipped and giggled, but didn’t speak. Akira broke the inarticulate happiness with a sudden stop. Akira started to freak out saying, “FIRE! I. SMELL. FIRE!” Memphis had to calm her down, and then he smelt it... the smoke. He felt strangely faint and felt as if he could not breathe. The air became thick and soupy. Finally, Memphis came to his senses.
They saw that they had come to a house. The house had green siding, lighting that would make you think it was daytime in the night, and cobwebs here and there on the house. Memphis and Akira were scared. “What do we do?” Asked Akira. “I don’t know. We will figure it out.” Memphis and Akira came slowly up to the house trying to find a way to get around it, but the fence was too long, and they knew that they had to go inside to get to the other side. So they rang the doorbell and the door opened itself with a creak. They walked in with caution and tried to find a light. Leaf felt around to find a light switch. Akira looked around, but she fell and as she looked up, she found a little box and behind it, there was a little night light, an old one though. She clicked it on, and they were in a dark room with one window and one other door. Memphis opened the other door and walked in slowly. Akira and Memphis heard someone humming and looked at each other “Is there somebody here?” They both thought. They looked around the corner and saw just a little old record playing. They sighed with relief. They ran through the house and got to the back door. They forgot about the backyard and it was completely fenced in, and they didn’t know what to do. It started to snow so they went back in. It was spooky but they made it through. When the snow stopped they ran back outside and found two inches of snow, and they decided they could use that to build a staircase to get out and above the fence. After getting around that spooky house, Akira had found something and had brought it along. She showed Memphis that the pictures she had taken had her and her family in it. We had gone straight through her own house! In that house, Memphis felt he belonged there. Maybe. Just maybe.
