Seeing in Color

Sixteen

Hazel

Tucking a curly strand of golden hair behind my ear, I stepped off the loud bus and onto the silent, empty sidewalk. No one else got off with me. I hesitated, hearing the bus doors slide to a close behind me. I felt the ground vibrate as the bus trudged along down the road and around the street corner. A gust of wind blew my curly golden hair to the side, a few strands flying across my face. I blinked, shaking the hair off my face, but they simply floated down to rest on my forehead and jawline. I tightly clasped my backpack straps, taking a deep breath.

My heart raced as my feet turned, my mind spinning as I slowly, reluctantly walked down the warm sidewalk. The sun was casting its rays through the canopy of trees above me, a few dancing across my face and body. The breeze cooled the nervous sweat forming on my neck and face. A few birds sang in peace, somewhere hidden in the trees around me.

It was such a beautiful day to be miserable.

It felt like hours as I slowly walked down the sidewalk, my feet feeling heavier with each step, as if someone were slipping rocks into my purple shoes. But for long as it felt, it ended too quickly.

I stopped at the end of our driveway, slowly turning to face my house.

From the outside, it seemed like an ordinary brick, one-story house, with a one-car garage at the top of the driveway, two windows on either side of the front door. The small flowerbeds hovered at the front of the house were filled with purple, yellow, and blue flowers, vines creeping along the edge of the stone walkway leading to the front door. A silent, lonely willow tree swayed in the breeze in the lawn, an old, rusting white metal bench hidden among its curtain of pale leaves.

I loved my house; I truly did. But just like my mother, its exterior beauty was a trap: its appeal hid the craziness hiding inside.

Slowly treading up the driveway, down the curving walkway to the front door, and, after unlocking the handle, I quietly slipped inside.

The sound of the door closing felt like a crack of thunder on a silent, peaceful night. I winced, inhaling sharply, but no one appeared; no one called out.

I heard the clicking of claws against wood as I slowly set my keychain in the woven basket on the side table by the front door. I walked slowly into the hallway to my right, all the lights off, all the doors open. Entering the door on the right, I entered my bedroom.

A small bundle of fur squeezed inside before I had the door completely shut. Sighing, I collapsed onto my comfy, pillow-covered bed, my eyes closed.

I breathed in the comfort of my room; the faint remains of my cinnamon candles on the windowsill, the sweet taste of chocolate in my mouth as I contemplated grabbing a treat from my hidden stash under my vanity, the feeling of the soft pillows around me.

A sharp whine interrupted my thoughts. I opened my eyes with a groan and sat up, staring down at the enormously pregnant Aussie with her paws propped against the side of my bed, her brown and blue eyes shining as she formed her begging face. Her tongue stuck out to the side as she panted, trying with all her strength to jump up, weighed down by the five to nine puppies inside her.

She stopped jumping, and instead had a staring contest with me. Her puppy eyes won, and I sighed as I got up and dragged my fuzzy pink bowl chair to the end of my bed. She wagged her stump and jumped up onto the chair and then up onto my bed, crawling over to sit beside me. I rubbed her behind the ears as I pulled my homework out of my bag, slipping my shoes off my feet and onto the floor.

Just as I opened my American History notes, I heard yelling. I froze, fingers pausing on the edge of the pages. Kai stopped wagging her rear end, her tongue disappearing back into her maw. Her eyes turned worried.