01 ☆ childhood

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It was mid-summer; the time of elongated days, brutally hot afternoons, and cool but ephemeral nights where the viridescent glow of fireflies brightened and dimmed in an alluring pattern while floating around beneath the starry and city-lit sky.

It was during this time of the year that six year old [Name] and her parents moved to a new residence. Her father had accepted a new job that offered a much higher pay than the previous one but it was further away from their old home so, to reduce the commute, they had decided to move.

The house they chose wasn't too big nor was it too small. Like Goldilocks and the bears' porridge, the house was just right for the family of three.

It was a two-story house constructed from wood painted over by a coat of light gray and the only part of it that was composed of a material other than wood was the stone chimney that protruded from the side. At the front door, there was a small porch covered by an equally small roof held up by two wooden pillars that were slightly rotting at the base, and had a metal chair swing hanging from its underside. The yard had been well kept by the previous resident albeit the fallen leaves and flower petals that laid scattered across the grass, tumbling across the ground whenever the wind blew.

As soon as she got out of the car, [Name] excitedly ran and jumped around the yard after kicking off her shoes, feeling the soft blades of grass cooled from the shadow of the house against the bottom of her feet that were rough and calloused from the countless times she had gone outside barefooted.

"Be careful, [Name]." Her mother warned as she walked past with a couple of boxes in her arms, but a smile was present on her face at seeing her child so elated.

The small girl stopped in her tracks suddenly when she spotted a brunet boy who looked close to her age on the sidewalk across the street gazing at her with large hazel eyes filled with curiosity. [Name] usually didn't talk to or even approach anyone, even more so when it was someone she didn't know at all, but something compelled her to lift the corners her lips into a smile she hoped was friendly and raise her hand to wave at him.

The boy's eyes widened slightly at the greeting and he nearly dropped the toy spaceship that seemed humongous in the grip of his tiny hands, since he hadn't expected her to notice him or even communicate with him. He quickly composed himself, however, and beamed at her in return followed by a wave of his own.

Before he could say anything else, a parent's voice rang out in the air, beckoning their child with a call.

"[Name]! Come inside and eat!"

It seemed that the two children both wanted to talk to each other - the innate urge driven by some unknown force - as one could see by the way that the girl glanced back at the boy with an apologetic look glimmering in her [e/c] eyes, and the boy could only stare after her as she half-skipped, half-ran back to her house.

Before it could slip from his mind, he inscribed the girl's name to his memory, then returned back to his own home that was just across the street from the girl's.

─ ★ ─

It was not too difficult to adjust to living in a new place for six year old [Name] for she didn't have much that she'd left behind in her old town.

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