Abinaya+Sivakumar

  Have you ever read a story and said “Here it is again.” Every single one is the same. The same story. The same monotone birds screeching in the air. The same super smelly allergic flowers and the same yellow grass meadows. The same short trees and the same tall oak. But my story is not the same. My story is different. A story of adventure and sadness. A story beyond the usual utopia. A story with a moral and realization. A story from the heart.  It started one early morning-on April 23,2011. The sky was a grim grey and clouds silhouetted it. 2 bikes stood in the driveway. The door screeched open and my friend and I ran out leaving it swinging sadly behind. I stumbled onto my scratched and scraped blue bike and gripped the rigid handle bars, ready to take off. “Abi,” my mom moaned. I winced. “Too late” Achinth whispered.  “Make sure you wait for me,” Mom advised as I put a foot onto my peddle. “Hurry up-pretend we already left.” Achinth ushered urgently. We took off at top speed swerving at the curb peddling again. It felt so good to be outside. The trees were fresh from the rain that had just soaked them. The air was moist and my wheel trudged in the thickened brownie-colored mud. “ I’m catching up!” Achinth yelled. With a bump we hit the road and sighed from riding for a long time. Parking our bikes against the chipped yellow curb, we ran up to the playground. The ground was mushy –as if we were walking on pillows. The mulch sank as we hurried across to the monkey bars. Achinth stumbled up the stairs and wiped the raindrops on the bar with his sleeve. He tightly held the bar in one hand and reached across to another, desperate for a grip. I look ahead to see a girl with short ink-colored hair whiz by on her bike. She is bright in her pink shirt against the foliage behind her. The girl looked as if she was in a hurry. She paused and with a push of her peddle, she disappears into the forest path way. We started to head back home when something stopped us. A police car approached us and we froze like a baby deer in front of a head light. The window lowered and the police officer stared. His eyes were serious. Achinth and I exchanged looks, both of us silently daring each other to make the first move. But luckily neither of us had to.” Did you guys um… see a uh… a girl –pink shirt and black hair?” The police officer stammered, finally able to carry out the words. “You mean Nikita?I did. She disappeared behind that dust path.” I admitted nervously-as if the police officer was some snake ready to attack. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Why? Is she missing” Achinth asked his voice a little shaky. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">As if on cue, it began to drizzle leaving tiny splotches on my shirt. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“I’m afraid so,” he said looking away. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“But I knew her! It can’t be. She was a friend; a good friend,” He protested. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“I-I should get going” the police officer replied rolling up the window. Achinth stared aimlessly and wobbled on his bike. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Suddenly I felt a pang of guiltiness. Maybe I was like the girl. No wonder my mom had always told me to wait for her. Now I realized how much she had wanted to protect me from the outside world. It was like a forest of monsters and she had tried to stop me from going. All this time I had ignored her advice and her pleas-and now I saw the result. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Achinth, you think we should find her?” <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">I had always known my friend for one thing; never giving up. He does things even if they have almost no hope. Usually, this lead to over-confidence but today it was a good thing. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Um…sure.” <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“You don’t sound so sure” <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Yes I’ll do it,” he replied <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">I followed after him, stopping suddenly when he stopped in the big yard. I tipped my chin up and tasted the golden liquid drops on my face. They were not like the time before. They were not sweet. They were somewhat bitter- as if the whole earth were crying over the incident. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Achinth called “Nikita!” everywhere he peddled and I echoed after him. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Achinth,” I said after failing to find her on five streets. “I have this really peculiar feeling. It’s like I know she is not kidnapped, but I just don’t know where to find her. It’s like a big fill-in-the-blank.” <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“I know I feel that way too.” Somehow I wasn’t too confident that the police needed two little kids roaming the street looking for a missing girl when they had about 3 police cars and a mob of parents looking for her. Besides, our parents wouldn’t be so joyful and calm when there was a “kidnapper” on the loose. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“It’s no use,” I lamented. And this time even Achinth didn’t deny it. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">About 20 minutes later we reached home and thankfully news of the missing girl did not reach our parents. When we started to explain, Nikita's parents staggered in absolutely abashed. Her mom’s face was pale and stained with the path of tears. The older sister looked like she’d seen a ghost and the father looked like he was in a coma and made you want to cry. The aghast family stammered and choked on their words. The rhythmic patter of the rain made it worse. Unable to watch, I stared out the window imagining how my parents would look if I had gone missing .I reminded myself–Mental Note: Never go bike riding without my mom Just then a flash of pink whizzed past my eye. Tapping Achinth wildly on the arm I pointed and whispered loudly “look!” <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">His eyes widened and he replied “Am I hallucinating?” <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“No!” I squealed. “Look! Ma look! I see her there,” I jumped almost unable to breath. We ran, as fast as our legs could carry us. NIkita’s face held a confused and “what’s going on?” expression. Her parents cried with pure joy and started to interrogate all at once. Never had we been so happy to see her. She was like a light to her parents faces, because all of a sudden their faces glowed with happiness. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Where were you?” My mom asked, careful not to scare her. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“I was coming to your house!” <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Our house?” Achinth and I cried in unison. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Well duh, I just took the long way.” <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“But you never even told me!” Her mom complained. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> “Maybe you would of heard me if you hadn’t been watching America got talent on full volume!” <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">“Whatever, I ’m just glad your back.” Her sister said relieved, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">With one last embrace the family departed. Looking me square in the eye my mom explained “And that is a good example of why I always tell you to wait for me.” That time neither of us denied our mother. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">From then onwards I always felt a little guilty doing something without my mom. And sometimes I wonder if it’s a good thing. <span style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0.917969); color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">