The woman at the entrance desk gave us directions to the children's in-patient wing with a grateful smile. It was on the fourth floor. I heard a baby lullaby play on the speakers. Shalae, who everyone was following, did a little cheer and giggled. Another girl told me, "That song means a baby was just born!" We came to a series of hallways on the fourth floor. "Okay, so lets all go in pairs! Luana, you come with me!" Shalae instructed everyone. They all seemed to know what to do. We all separated, each carrying a few balloons, into different rooms. I stood there for a moment, watching as all the jocks, cheerleaders, and popular kids alike went into each room. Shalae pulled me along to the end of the hallway, where a grumpy little girl with a baseball cap looked up at us. "Shalae! You remembered!" The little girl's face erupted with joy. "That's right, Terry!" Shalae smiled endearingly at her, then turned to me. "Today is Terry's birthday!" Shalae gave Terry the biggest of our three balloons. I watched in amazement as she conversed with the little girl, making her laugh and smile. I could hear a lot of little kids, laughing and having fun in nearby rooms. The dreary hospital, with it's gloomy rooms, seemed to brighten up considerably. The kids were all happy, and the nurses walked with a spring in their step. After an hour or so, when we had been to three or four rooms each, we made our way back to the parking lot. I watched the jocks, who still acted as goofy and thick headed as before. The cheerleaders all were as gossipy as before, and they definitely still worried a lot about their appearance. Then there was Shalae, who was sashaying through the parking lot. Shalae, who seemed to be the leader of the cheerleaders, spreading truths and rumors through the cliques, like no other. 'So they come here a lot, to visit these kids....' I pondered the idea. Maybe these superficial, flaky people weren't as stereo-typed as I thought they were. Maybe they were actually really nice people. As I watched them all, they seemed to have something magical that made them more appealing in every way, drawing me to them. Their personalities were surprisingly deep, and each of them had a certain magnetism to them. I smiled a real, full blown smile for the first time in a while. 'These people are amazing.' I silently thought to myself.
*Creepy Voice* I have heard tell of this tale, and my kingdom sings this song of praise: MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE!!
No! Please not the brains!!! And I feel.. Hypnotized, add if someone is whispering "more more.. More" to me! XD Thanks for reading, guys ^-^ sorry it took so long ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So, where do we drop you off?" Shalae asked. She was driving everyone home. The few kids still left in the car turned to look at me curiously. I felt self conscious about my small home, thinking of how extravagant all their houses were. I noticed we were already near the entrance to my neighborhood. "Oh, you can just let me out here." Noticing their slightly offended expressions, I added, "it's not too long of a walk from here, and I still need to walk today. I walk whenever I can." Shalae looked a little confused, but she nodded. "Okay, you can walk from here, I guess. But be careful! You never know who's just standing around out here!" She pulled the car over, and let me out. I waved goodbye at them as they drove off. Grateful that I wasn't forced to reveal where I lived, I set off walking at a quick pace. One, two. Three, four. One, two. Three, four. I skipped a little bit in my fast paced walk. I was happier than I'd been in a while. Remembering my experience at the hospital, I smiled again. Shalae really was a cool person. I started to wonder if we would be friends from now on, but stopped myself. My grin faded as I realized this was probably a one-time thing. But then a thought entered my mind. 'Would they be my friends if I tried?' I wondered. It would be wrong to expect them to be friends with me, if I stayed cold and unresponsive. Maybe it was time to change. But.... but then there was always the 'but' side of things. How could I trust them all to be my friends when there was always going to be that chance? The chance was that they didn't really want to be my friends, and they were preparing me like a meat for slaughter. My thoughts completely vanished from my head, all the sudden. I was standing at the park. I mean the park, as in the same park that I found Earl. It seemed like years ago, but it also felt uncannily familiar. Well, it really was just a couple days ago, but now this place had a connection to me. Whether it was a good or bad connection, I'm not sure. But why was it that I always drawn to this place? Am I going to end up here every time I walk? I was once again brought to attention when I heard someone clear their throat. I looked over. There was someone sitting on the swing sets, waiting for me. And he was smiling, like always.
I will update again in a couple days ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I sighed. Earl was leaning back in the swing set, making faces at me. "Are you coming, or what? The best seats are right here!" He called out to me. Walking over to him, I retorted, "The best seats to see what? Your gigantic face?" I sat down on the swing next to him. "You're feisty, huh? And my face is perfectly normal, thank you very much." He made a picture frame of his face with his hands. Out of no where, a huge flash of light ran across the sky. It was a second of pure brilliance, disappearing in a flash. A tail was left behind it for a split second, before it disappeared too. I stared at the sky, jaw slack. "That was... the biggest comet I've ever seen in my life!" "That wasn't a comet!" Earl laughed at me, "Today is Haleigh's meteor shower! It only comes around, once a year you know!" He walked a finger at me. I didn't answer him. We sat on the swings in silence, watching the meteors fall every few minutes. It was really cold, but for some reason, I felt warmer than usual watching the meteors fall. Most meteors looked small, being far away. The first meteor we saw was the biggest one of them all. "It's really beautiful, isn't it?" Earl always seemed to be bringing me out of a daze. I realized that I was grinning stupidly at the sky for several minutes now. I tried to stop, but I just couldn't stop smiling! I looked at him, still grinning. "You know.. sometimes, I think that all of us people are the same as stars. We all have to go through, trying to find our way through the clouds. Also, we all have the potential to shine the brightest we can. Some of us aren't really as bright as we could be, but it's really just because they haven't realized how beautiful they are. Or they just haven't developed enough to be all bright and shiny..." My rambling faded off. I was embarrassed. It was just one of my random philosophical ideas. I occasionally get these odd, deep ideas when I walk. Earl was silent for a long time. I felt humiliated for saying so much, and turned back to watch the meteors. It then occurred to me that Earl might have taken offense. What if he thought I was talking about his suicide attempt? I didn't say anything - I had already said too much. I waited cautiously for his reaction. "What kind of star are you..?" He asked tentatively after a very long time. "Me?" I was surprised. "Yes, you." His gaze was unwavering, as he studied my reaction. I thought for a moment. Should I open up to him? I knew too much about him, so I decided to tell answer. "I guess.. I'm just a little blue star. I have a lot of flaws, but someday I want to shine as bright as the brightest star." I smiled unconvincingly. I knew that I probably would never get the chance to shine. "Maybe you are already shiny, but you just can't see it. Maybe you're too bright to look in the mirror." He said quietly. I wasn't entirely sure what he meant. This conversation was already quite awkward, and I wasn't going to bring the topic further. "Maybe," I allowed. We both looked towards the sky again. Well, I did. I only hoped that he did, because I didn't want to offend him in some way. It looked like the meteors had stopped for the day. I had to leave soon, anyways. I stood up. Suddenly, there was one last meteor. It wasn't as bright as the first one, but was still brighter than the others. A shallow breeze passed through the park. Suddenly, it was just the two of us in the park. The meteors stopped. The stars dimmed. The moment was over. "Looks like the last curtain call." He said wryly. He started to walk away. I started to walk away, too. When I reached the small park's entrance, I turned around. I saw that he had turned, too. My mouth was brought to a small smile. "Goodnight, Earl." "Goodnight, Luana." "Call me Ana," I told him, "My friends have always called me by that nickname." "Well, I definitely want to be your friend." He replied, "but I won't call you that. You'll always be Luana Mona to me." "How come?" I questioned. What did he mean by that? Was there some double meaning I was missing? "I'll tell you some time later." He laughed, and turned away. "Goodnight, Luana Mona." I could tell he was smiling. 'What was all that about?' I wondered, as he left me standing at the park's entrance in the cold.