Chapter 1
TRAIL ENDS HERE
Losing something that you had, for a long time or even for a moment is never easy, yet it’s something we all have to deal with. Amie just got the news two months ago but she’s already leaving today. She planned to go to a college school but not like this.
She had packed her school and civilian clothes, her school supplies, and all she can think of, for she can’t come back, not easily anyway. It pained her to leave her friends and family but this was a great opportunity, given only to less than one percent of the country’s population. She was willing to make the sacrifice, to take the different path rather.
She put down her other bag at the front door, the door itself has the knob sticking out. She looks up, the roof is rusty and has rays of light passing through it.
“I can’t think of what to say, I’m not even entirely sure about this”
Wrinkled hands and gray hair, her father pats her head.
“Go and make your mother proud, you can feel her in this house”
With a deep breath and closed eyes, she nods. Her elder brother takes a step.
“Try to have fun there, find what you want”
His father goes inside to lay down and starts coughing, on the old dusty wooden bed with barely any sheets.
She glances at his father and hands his brother a piece of paper. She whispers in his ear, then steps back.
“I got some sweet potatoes there for breakfast back there and made sure everyone has a piece”
Her little brother, still rubbing his eyes, tugs on her skirt.
“Make sure you come back tonight to tell me stories”
Her elder brother picks their brother up.
“Big sis can’t come back home tonight because she’s going to another school”
Amie puts out her palms and shows it to him.
“I have a magic trick for you, wanna see” says Amie
“I wanna see” clapping his hands
She held a transparent rubber ball in her hands, and it begins to glow.
“Woow, that’s amazing”
Her little brother holds out her hands, opening and closing, her brother passes him to her.
Her younger brother tightly hugs him.
“I wuv you”
She closes her eyes and accepts the embrace.
“I love you too, all of you” Returning the child back.
She opens her brother’s hands and gives him the ball.
“What’ll will you do when I ’m gone” says Amie tapping her sides
“Firstly, fix our door and roof” her brother replies
“And you’re gonna look after John and go to school at the same time, do all the other things and-“
Her brother taps her in the shoulder stopping her rant, he looks straight at her.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine”
She stops her patting, and takes a breath. She takes a few more seconds before she picks up her bag. She stares forward blankly, with her elder brother carrying the youngest she utters.
“Things will be different when I come back”
Her brother nods and she heads on. She walks a few steps and wave one last time before proceeding. The rays hit her light skin, as she trek the narrow road, they felt soothing rather than burning. She pass the river filled with fishes swimming in crap, tires, plastic bottles and all the undesirables of the community. But it will serve as her guide on the way out. One of his neighbors, the one she helped with his recycled stuff a few days ago was at a distance.
“How’s your day going Mr. Ramirez?” waving at him
The man with two others points at her.
“That’s the one, the one going to that freak school, don’t come back to these parts”
He along with the others disappear to the alternate route to avoid crossing paths with her. The man had just thanked her for helping him a few days ago, she almost froze, she grips her bag strap and kept going. She walks almost a kilometer before getting out. She reaches the highway, and waits. The honks of the car distract her from what the old man had just said about her. Soon enough the bus comes to the Stop. The bus opens and she asks.
“Is this going to Quirk College?”
The man says with a creaky voice
“Where’s your I.D”
She raised it up.
A guy with a clipboard checks her I.D. and takes her luggage.
She gets in and she’s not even there but she already misses them. The smell of the air had a sting as it enters her nose and the windows were closed, a stream of air blowing from above. She pulls out her keypad phone, a gift from his brother and starts to type. Messaging her closest friends, precious people she won’t be able to see anymore but neither forget. If one thing good came out of this was money, she is a scholar now. She plans to give half to her family, the least she could do. Both parties win, they wouldn’t get hungry anymore. She was more than happy to help.
A message surprised her, from her best friend, saying that if she ever sees her in person she shouldn’t talk to her anymore, it’s over and below saying you can no longer reply to this conversation anymore. She drops her phone and it turns off. She picks it up with her shaking hands. With deep breaths she calm herself down. She was probably told to say it with no other choice, after all she was the only one in her school to be transferred. Her parents were cautious and looking out for her, she understood, but she start to wipe the tears that fall in her eyes. She bullshits herself and laughs to tell herself these are tears of joy. She tucks her phone in her pocket and feels the sting in her nose more as she breathes in. She wipes her tears and her vision blurs, she wipes it over and over until she can barely open them. She hugs her bag, as she can longer open her eyes and falls asleep.
She wakes up five hours later, her eyes glued together, she blinks a few more before the dark green blur becomes leaves and branches. Another girl sits beside her. She takes out her phone and long presses a button. She couldn’t go back now, so the only way is forward. She smiles, it glows with its brand name.
“Now you don’t see a phone like that so much these days, not to be mean” says the girl beside her
“Oh, it’s alright, I like it, it’s a gift”
The girl extends her hand “I’m Vanessa by the way, it’s my first time in an air conditioned bus, ooh, your hands are warm, you’re a good person”
“That’s not how you can tell” says Amie letting out a giggle
“I know, I just felt it” Vanessa squints her eyes
“Did you cry, I don’t mean to pry”
“Is it that obvious?” She says rubbing them again
“Saying goodbye, um” she looks away, as if removing dirt in her face and takes a few seconds the sound of the air conditioning becomes obvious.
“You alright” says Amie
She returns back “I’m alright but it’s not really easy shifting gears all of a sudden”
Amie sighs “It’s not but at least we have this opportunity”
“Speaking of, did you hear you can get rich in there”
“The scholarship or when you get a job?”
“Aside from those, in the school itself, there are ways of getting huge money”
“Is it legal?”
“Of course, the school organizes it, I think it’s an event or something”
Amie’s eyes shine and she nods three times.
“Oh, you like that” says Vanessa laughing and tapping her shoulders, Amie laughs as well
“I’m sorry you just looked so serious, but what do you say, we can work together on making money”
Vanessa puts her hand up expecting a high five, Amie swings her hand but she misses.
