Chapter 1
“Humans always want a happy ending”,
he last page of the book that the 70-year-old lady read and smiled nostalgically, creaking in her chair as she removed the dried freesia from the book and held it in her hands, and shut her eyes forever as the sound of the fallen book echoed in that lonely house.
In a vast field of evergreen grass, a little girl was screaming with joy, running through that field, she excitedly hugged another girl—Almond, who smiled to the ends of her ears, both laughing through their little innocence. Suddenly, their laughing sound stopped as they heard rustling sounds getting closer, Almond rose from the seat and started running, and the little girl- Alice looked back at Almond running for her dear life. Large rough hands from the back grabbed the waist of the little girl and raised her in the air, as she turned back, she smiled brightly at the face of her beloved Father. They both smiled and the father kissed the cheeks of his daughter lovingly and carried her down the field. When Alice looked back, she could not catch even a glimpse of Almond and she let out a reassuring sigh.
After running to a safe distance, Almond looked back from afar, looked at the loving family, and pursed her lips at that beautiful sight, her yearning eyes glimmered. She tightly closed her eyes and smiled bitterly, aware of the way her family considers her a nuisance, she caught her breath and slowly drifted towards her house. She soon reached her house, went through the backyard, walked inside the shelter for their cattle and stood before a small underground entrance, opened it, and jumped into it. She slept in that bed made of hay, thanking god for allowing her to spend the day with Alice and closed her eyes for a small nap. After a little while, she heard loud banging at the door, she looked at the door with fear and ran and hid in one corner of that place in the dark, shaking, until the banging stopped. After a while, she slowly crawled back to her bed, tears rolling uncontrollably, and rested her head.
The next morning, as light fell on almond’s eyes, she woke up and looked at the broken mirror. Her flattened face and big almond-shaped eyes- she so hated was presented. She went closer to the mirror, hoping it would show a different face that her family would welcome- her futile thinking. She turned back, climbed the ladder, and opened the door as the cow’s Moo welcomed her. She smiled and patted its back and quietly went near the well to not disturb her siblings and her parents and to take a bath and drink some water. She went near the calendar and looked back at the house, put her head down, controlling the tears, she sniffled quietly.
“Almond!!“, a soft voice called her. Almond was searching for that voice, again, now a little louder-“ALMOND!!“, she caught that sweet voice and whispered shockingly “Alice??, What??“, her eyes telling her to run away, as her legs approached her, she climbed that wall and grabbed the shoulders of Alice. As Alice smiled innocently and she put forward a bunch of Freesias and said ” Happy 10th Birthday! My dear Friend”. Surprised almond, slowly lessened the tight grip she had on Alice and stopped for a second and thanked god again for the love and the last gift, she took that bunch of flowers and looked at Alice, who was smiling innocently unaware of the truth, hugged her warmly and looked at the bright sky, tightly closed her eyes, telling her heart to enjoy the moment and to forget the bitterness of the future. Alice took a flower from the bunch and clipped it on Almond’s hair and looked at the unique beauty of Almond and felt proud of herself.
Almond took 5 steps back and smiled, gave her one of the freesia flower, thanked her again, and climbed back inside the house. Alice watched her, she wanted to grab her hands and ask her to spend some time with her, but she didn’t want to be hated by her only dear friend and realized she could meet her that evening too and started going back to her home. As Almond went inside, she didn’t go back to her usual spot- the underground, but near the backyard entrance. She opened the door and found herself in an empty house as their family went to watch a famous drama. She went to the kitchen and poured alcohol over the house. She took a match and lighted it, her flames went dull but the flames over the house ignited with the passion to burn. She stood still and watched the flames get bigger. It didn’t take more than 10 seconds for the flame to spread, Alice who was walking started running towards Almond’s house as she heard someone shouting for help, she ran as fast as she could and as she tried to enter the house to see Almond, a villager stopped her and held her tightly, she wailed and wailed, telling them to let go. For a second she saw Almond, standing still looking at her happily, her hands held the Freesia’s that were burning.
As Almond Closed her eyes, she remembered the time she met Alice unexpectedly, when she was running from her siblings who were beating her. She entered an abandoned house to escape from the cruel reality, when she found a small girl digging the dirt with her bare hands. As she approached her, she saw a smile which itself was fiction to Almond. The one and only human, who did not condescend her and viewed her as a fellow human, and gave her a warm smile. As Almond remembered the day, she opened her eyes, hugged the freesia and said “Goodbye my dear friend” and closed her eyes to embrace the grueling pain of death that kept crawling through her skin. Alice cried and cried, unable to accept the reality at the mere age of 7, she fainted as the evening never came again in her life.
