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It was the peak of spring, with the blue hyacinths in full bloom and the sun beating down without mercy. Yet, it snowed all around her. Ten year old Khione knelt on the ground, the tall grass enveloping her on all sides like the earth protecting her from the world beyond.
Pale snow drifted down from the skies in pretty patterns and the searing heat from the sun bored down on her back like a beating drum. She did not know how long she sat there, drawing illegible designs on the sand and occasionally pushing away that one ladybug on a rampage to destroy her work. The hysterical and breathless adults had put her in that dreadful and noisy ambulance in the hopes that she did not have to witness the cruelties of life just yet.
But oh, how careless they were. In the distance, she could no longer see the usual sight of her tall gray apartment that greeted her every evening when she ran off to the nearby children’s park. Now in its place, all that stood was an enormous clump of charred black mass and burnt furniture with singed fabric laying in places it should not be.
It was too loud, too red and too warm there. The smoke had made her eyes water and her nose run so she had run off to her own little safe haven. The masked people in their thick suits had told her that they would bring her parents back to her and that she should stay until they brought them back to her. But mama and papa wouldn’t want her to cry from the smoke. They would know where she was. They always will. They had promised her that they would find her no matter where she was or how long it took them. She supposed it was her turn to do that.
This game of hide and seek was still new to her. No one had told her the rules of the game but she was still excited as she sat amidst the grass, covering her hand over her mouth to muffle the laughter spilling out of her lips. She dusted the white powder off her hair and dress, sneezing at the musty and odd smell it carried with it everywhere. She looked over shoulder and heard vague shouts and water hoses being carried back to the ambulance. Strangely, the air around her hung still and quiet and she dared not to move a muscle, fearing that a single movement would shatter reality and give away her location.
She lay flat on the soil with her back pressing against the hard ground, the warmth of the soil
seeping into the backs of her hands and knees. The pure, vivid blue of the sky was marred with heavy clouds of dark gray beginning to take over the expanse of the whole sky. She could no longer hear the sharp trilling of the sirens or the shouts of the desperate people. A heavy sensation of dread sat on her chest, pinning her down to the ground like a butterfly pinned to the wall of a museum display. A part of her recognised that no one was going to find her. It wasn’t that she hid too well. It was the fact that there was no one to find her anymore.
A fragment of snow landed on her cheek and she took it between her fingers, rubbing it. It was coarse but its structure came apart the moment she touched it. From the perfectly formed flakes, it turned into powdery nothing. Something in her set fire to her sanity the moment she watched it fall away. She scrambled to her feet, giggling, and started running around with her mouth open.
It was mama and papa.
Maybe they weren’t whole but they were still there. If they could not find her, she would find
them. If only she got all the snow in her system, they wouldn’t ever leave her. They would stay in the pockets of her heart and bones, tucked away safe and sound. She would find them this one final time. And when she did, they could all live together for the rest of eternity as a family. Her, mama, papa, and all the lovely neighbors.
***
For the love of art,
Maia Koi
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