• tab tab tab tab tab tab tab tab Chapter 2: Someone New



    tab The next day, Meadow woke to the enticing smell of pancakes. Her stomach had growled at the delicious scent and her mouth began to water. “Food, let’s eat!” that’s what the growl seemed like it meant.
    tab With the command of her starving stomach, she stood up, looked at herself on the mirror, tidied herself up a bit, and headed out her door. At the end of her stairway, the smell of the pancakes was even stronger. Her mouth began to water even more. Quickly, she walked to her kitchen. Her mother had just placed a fresh batch of pancakes on a plate, while her little brother was on the table, eating his pancakes sloppily.
    tab “Do you mind if you can give me a hand, Meadow? Apparently, your father isn’t here to help us,” said Mrs. Sky.
    tab “When did he ever, Mom?” Meadow asked. She despised the day when she discovered that her father had been cheating on her mom. She was walking home back from the grocery store when she clearly saw her father laughing with some other woman in an outdoor table in front of a restaurant. Meadow was just nearby, watching. She lingered and watched to see if the woman was just a friend. Meadow saw a blueberry bush nearby, so she hid behind it to confirm that the woman was just a friend. But as she stayed longer, she began to realize that the relationship between the two was much more than that. Meadow stood up, and when she did, she clearly saw her father kiss the woman.
    tab Meadow hadn’t realized it until she felt a little stream of water run down her cheek. She was crying. Meadow quickly turned around and returned home. Her mother was nowhere to be seen when she arrived and neither was her brother. She walked upstairs to her room and stayed there the rest of the day.
    tab Soon after, her father yearned for a divorce with her mother. Meadow didn’t desire to even hear her father’s voice, so she stayed upstairs in her room along with her brother. She and her brother were sitting atop Meadow’s bed, her brother cuddled inside Meadow’s arms. There, even with the door closed, she could hear the wails of her crying mother and the demanding and furious yells of her father.
    tab “Your son is too energetic. Every time I fix something up, he always comes around and destroys it again. When I didn’t clean something up, you yell at me because I didn’t clean it up. When I tell you that I didn’t see it and that your son had done it, you yell at me even further because I’m blaming your son. I can’t take it anymore! And your daughter … Don’t even get me started with your daughter! She is of no importance to me at all!”
    tab Meadow had flinched when she heard what her father’s comment about her was. Her eyes became watery as she sunk those words in. Her brother was wailing along with his mother. He had heard what his father said about him, too.
    tab Meadow placed her hand atop her little brother’s head while she was still crying, but not as much as before. “Daniel, don’t listen to Daddy. He’s just acting. He’s going on a trip where he has to perform. This is part of his act. Mommy is just helping.”
    tab Behind the words of Meadow, her mother had yelled, “I’m sorry! Don’t leave me! I’ll try and fix everything that’s wrong! I promise!”
    tab “Don’t lie to me! We’re divorcing, and that’s final!”
    tab Meadow heard the last words of her father before he left the house, slamming the entrance of the house hard. She could hear her mother wailing and sobbing in agony downstairs. Meadow and Daniel were crying as well. Slowly, they both stood up and went downstairs to confront their mother.
    tab Their mother was just to the left of the stairway. She was sitting on the floor, sobbing. Daniel came up to her, with eyes watery, and asked, “Mommy, was that an act? Meadow told me that Daddy was going to go somewhere to act.”
    tab Mrs. Sky held Daniel’s hand as she began to stop crying. “Yes, dear, weren’t we amazing?”
    tab Meadow was crying while her mom had said those words.

    tab “Meadow! Meadow!” her mom said.
    tab Meadow recovered from her memory.
    tab “Honey, were you thinking about it again? Your eyes are suddenly all watery,” said Mrs. Sky, “Please forget about it, and help me here.”
    tab Meadow did as told and when she finished assisting her mother, eating, and washing the dishes, she told her mother she would be out on her favorite place again. Mrs. Sky gave a little thought about it first and asked questions.
    tab “Did you finish your homework?”
    tab “Yes, Mom,” said Meadow.
    tab “Did you finish studying?”
    tab “Yes, Mom,” Meadow replied again.
    tab “Did you watch Go Diego Go! with your brother yet?” said Mrs. Sky.
    tab “Mom!” Meadow laughed as she responded.
    tab “I’m just kidding. Since it’s a Saturday, you can go.”
    tab “Thank you, Mom!”
    tab Meadow walked outside her door and was greeted by a gentle wind. She closed the wooden door behind her and began to travel to her most favorite place – the hilltop with a sakura tree and a comfortable rock as a seat.
    tab Meadow sprinted through crowds of people and waved hello to those people that she had known ever since she was born or recently met. Remembering what the letter had said, she began to carefully run past everyone. When she met a small meadow that contained blooming daisies and other flowers, she slowly walked by them and walked towards the hilltop where the sakura tree was waiting to greet Meadow. She traveled through a bush that led to the hilltop. Because of this, no one knew of the hilltop.
    tab Once Meadow reached the hilltop, she stopped suddenly. A boy was sitting atop the rock she was sitting on yesterday. She crouched down to make sure he didn’t see her. Slowly, she began to move, still crouched down, to examine the person. When she could see him clearly, she lingered at the spot, gazing at him.
    tab The breeze blew his black silky hair as well as Meadow’s. His eyes were closed, and his mouth was smiling. To Meadow, it seemed like he was enjoying the breeze as well as the scenery. He opened his eyes, and to Meadow’s surprise, he had gorgeous eyes. His eyes were stormy gray, but it seemed to glisten at the presence of sunlight gazing down on it. His T-shirt, which were colored white with black stripes, compliment this glistening. The blue sky complimented the whole scene even further. Meadow was completely enchanted.
    tab “I know you’re there. You can come out now,” said he.
    tab Meadow quickly crouched down even further with her face red.
    tab “Come on, don’t be shy.”
    tab Meadow slowly stood up, her pink blouse flowing in the wind. She placed her hands behind her, and her head was facing down, not desiring to look up. “U-um, sorry about disturbing you. I’ll leave now, okay…?” Meadow turned around to begin walking back home.
    tab “No, you can stay. That is, if you want to,” said he.
    tab Meadow turned around once again, this time with her face facing his. Wow, he’s so handsome, she thought.
    tab “My name is Damien Milan. It’s nice to meet you.” Damien held out his hand, waiting for Meadow to shake it. Meadow slowly took out her hand to shake his. When she did, his hands were incredibly soft. She did not desire to retrieve her hand, but since she didn’t want to look weird in front of Damien, she had to. Meadow yearned to hold his hand again.
    Then, at that second when she had her hand with her again, she thought, Was Damien the one who gave me the letter?
    tab “What’s your name?”asked Damien.
    tab Meadow looked into Damien’s eyes. “Oh, um, my name is Meadow Sky.”
    tab “You have a nice name. I like it,” Damien smiled as he said those words. He turned his head back to the blue sky and watched a cloud as it flew by. His eyes were squinting, looking as if he was studying the cloud to see if it was a creature of some sort.
    Meadow was completely stunned when she was shown that smile. When she sat down next to him after recovering, she looked at the sky, too. His smile was just like an angel’s, Meadow thought, I hope he is the one who gave me the letter… I wonder if it’s the right time to ask him…
    tab “Hey,” Damien nudged Meadow’s arm, “That cloud right there,” he pointed at a cloud, “What does it look like to you?”
    tab Meadow looked at the cloud he was pointing at. Hmm…, she thought. “That cloud looks like a cat to me. The cat looks like it’s playing with a ball of yarn since it’s crouched down, and there’s a circular cloud in front of it.”
    tab “Really? I see a dog biting a giant ball. Ha, ha, ha!”
    tab “…Do you have a dog?”
    tab “…I used to. My dog, Stormy, died a couple of months ago. He had a tumor on his head. When he underwent the surgery to remove the tumor, the vet told me didn’t live.” Damien faced his head down to face the smooth surface of the rock that they were sitting on.
    tab “Oh… sorry I asked you…,” said Meadow.
    tab “No, it’s fine. I got over it.”
    tab “So… um… I’ve never seen you before. Are you new here?”
    tab “Oh, no, we’ve been living here for awhile. I just don’t visit this place regularly,” said Damien.
    tab “Oh…”
    tab “Where do you live?”
    tab “I live not so far from here. If you continue to walk straight on Drough Street, you’ll eventually see a blue house with a white wooden door. The windows have white lace curtains hiding what’s inside, and there’s a garden on both sides of the sidewalk leading to the porch of my house. I also have white chairs on my porch and a glass table with a pot of flowers sitting on it.”
    tab “Wow,” said Damien, “your house sounds beautiful.”
    Meadow giggled. “Thank you. How about you? What does your house look like?”
    tab “Err… my house? It’s really old. You’d probably get the picture of how it looks by just saying that.”
    tab “Hmm… I hope your house is better than what I’m picturing right now.”
    tab Damien looked away and smiled at the sky that began to become dark. “Wow, it’s already getting dark.”
    tab Meadow looked at the horizon, too. “Yeah, it already is. It’s amazing how we talked that much.”
    tab “I can’t wait till the sunset. That’s why I’ve been waiting here this whole time.”
    tab “Really?!” Meadow looked at Damien with a surprised expression on her face, “I came here to wait to see the sunset, too!”
    tab “That’s great! … Oh wait... here it comes!” Damien pointed at the horizon.
    tab The sun began to slowly set as the two sat comfortably on the gray rock. The sky and its clouds were beginning to be colored with a combination of orange and yellow. A cool breeze flew past the two, causing Meadow’s hair to sway and flow along with the breeze. Meadow was hugging her knees, her head laying on them. Damien’s hands were behind him, forcing pressure on the ground while his legs were spread out in front of him. He was smiling and so was Meadow.
    tab Slowly, the sun began to disappear, and the clouds began to camouflage with its surroundings. Then, after a few minutes, the sky was dark and the stars began to show themselves.
    tab “Wow, that was a gorgeous sunset,” said Meadow as she slowly stood up.
    tab “Yeah, it was. It always is,” replied Damien.
    tab “It’s getting late now, and my mom would worry so… I have to go now. Bye, Damien Milan! It was nice to meet you!” Meadow smiled as she said goodbye and jumped off the rock.
    tab “It was nice to meet you, too, Meadow,” he smiled back, “Goodbye!”
    tab Meadow turned away to return back home. She was walking towards the bush that led her there in the first place until she was stopped with Damien’s voice.
    tab “Hey, Meadow, are you coming back here tomorrow?”
    tab Meadow, with a smile on her face, turned around and responded to him, “Yeah, of course!”
    tab Under his breath, Damien mumbled, “That’s good…” Before Meadow could turn around again, he yelled to her, “Please be careful!”
    tab Meadow became shocked. Those are the same words as in the letter. Maybe the letter did come from him! thought Meadow. I don’t think I should ask him about the letter just yet, though… If I ask him now he might think I’m crazy… I’ll ask when I know him more.
    tab Thus, Meadow continued on towards her house with a smile on her face. Again, she was cautious with her surroundings. When Meadow returned home, her mother gave her a big bear hug.
    tab Once done, Meadow walked back into her room, changed into her pajamas, and laid in bed for awhile. Please let Damien be the one who gave me the letter, she thought.
    Once Meadow was comfortable in her bed, she fell asleep.