WATER FOUNTAIN

01.

/⛲/

The night fall upon the town. engulfed it with the night's cold blanket, yet gentle. rocking the people inside to sleep. drifted far away to their own dreamland. or anyway far inside their mind, beyond their imagination or vision they have envisioned before. some people in the town already nestled on top of their own mattresses they loved. sunk in as they nuzzle their favorite position. either with themselves by their own lonesome and tranquility, or with the loved ones they dragged with them, placed beside their own body. just a perfect night with perfect solid atmosphere of solitary. even the air seemed to grow and move thinner and lighter. as if nothing blows. aware enough not to make any ruckus if they bumped into something.

like they bumped into a little girl's cheeks they crossed path with in the pavement road of the town outside the warm houses of the townsfolk. a thirteen year old girl, called after dal, paving her own way atop the frozen concrete road. her arms hugged her own body. being careful not to crack any small narrow slit for the breeze to surge in.

dal had just finished helping her mom closing her bakery shop. pushing her mom's wheel chair toward her room, dal helped her mom tucked in bed. caressing her daughter's cold cheek with trails of frozen beads of sweat produced after her fatigue after a long day in the shop, she never had an excuse to not mention how she love her daughter so much, and that she is beautiful. also, asking for apologize for not able to give dal the best for her life. but then dal's mom wasn't so quick to voice it out. dal was faster and she said that she is thankful for her mom and she promised to be by her side until the very end. dal ended their small talk with a pure, innocent, light kiss on her mom's forehead, tip toeing.

afterwards, she ended up walking on the pavement road. toward the town's small garden. not because dal likes to see the flowers and the lush green sight. she is not a big fan of the wild world, the nature, because she still finds it disgusting, and dirty, and itchy. fresh bloomed flowers compared to the wilted, then died, turned into dried skeletons, dal would prefer the second. the main reason why she beat all the cold night's penetrating breeze was because she wanted to pay a visit to her favorite water fountain.

there is this one thing coated in white paint. huge in size, placed majestically in the middle of the garden. with vines dancing along the surface making curls after curls, swirling along the neck of the fountain, and onto the top. they complete the sight with their contrasting color on top of each other. creating another one dead masterpiece. too bad the water isn't flowing out from the top which dal wishes someday she might see it.

pushing the hobbit-sized metal gate, she made her entrance to the garden.

under the moonlight that pouring out their dreamy, angelic shines, bathing the sleeping town underneath, dal catches a glimpse of another figure already standing by the fountain, that is suppose to be her spot. who on earth dare to take her favorite spot? narrowing her eyes toward the direction where she catches the view of another presence of being, she stepped forward. making sounds after the grass beneath her foot overlapped with one another. cutting the solitude of the figure, gaining back its consciousness.

"who are you?" dal sounded first after she made out it is a human, an ordinary one, but she isn't quite sure yet what is that, more like who is that. more importantly, does she know her/him? oh well she has to figure out the gender first.

the figure turn its head toward the source of dal's voice.

there under the moonlight, where the shadow of dal, the figure, the fountain, and many other being or things underneath are casted, dal made it out it is a boy. a grinning boy, with crescent moon eyes as he does so.

"hello!"