It was a warm august evening. Tally Youngblood was in her room looking through her window. She was feeling mixed emotions, not sure whether to be happy or sad. She looked into the distance, watching the sun set over pretty town. The Pretties' parties were starting, their slender forms jumping off of buildings with bungee jackets, the first few safety fireworks going off. Tally longed for the day that she would be part of the fun. Her small chubby childish face and her too small eyes gone. The pretty face instead, like all of the others sixteen and over. Every since tally had seen a Pretty, she wanted to be like one. Tally couldn't wait till she turned sixteen.
The sun had finally set over pretty town, the safety fireworks plenty, lighting up the sky towers. Tally started to feel alone. Her chest tightened even thinking about it. The pain that Tally had been trying to avoid came flooding back, the deep stabbing pain aiming directly at her chest. He eyes started to sting, but somewhere deep down inside her, covered in sadness; there was a small glimmer of excitement. She couldn't believe the day was almost there, the pain of leaving her parents for the first time. In less than twelve hours, Tally would be starting a new phase of her life. She would be pulled away from her parents and put into a dorm. Even thinking about it made tally cry harder. She felt like she was being pulled apart from the inside out. Tally grabbed her blanket off her bed, curled up in it and cried into the soft folds.
"Tally? Are you ok?" Tally heard her mother's soft voice. She woke up to a gentle shaking. She opened her eyes and saw both her parents knelt down in front of her. Their eyes filled with sadness. The saw the moon still low in the sky, she heard the steady beat of music from Pretty town. As she looked back to her parents, she felt the pain that had numbed from crying, rushing back attacking again. She knew that she had to be strong. She looked into both parents eyes, took a deep breath and told them
"I will be alright, don't worry about me"
Her father said in a tone covered in sadness "I know how it feels to start school, living in a dorm with out friends or family. We've all been through it and I'm sure you will too." His voice started to crackle near the end. He had a small river of tears steaming down his face. Tally looked over to her mother; her eyes had a far away look in them.
"we heard you crying, we wanted to make sure that you were ok. You know that we'll always be there for you, No matter what" he mother said, he voice choking up as she said each word. Her eyes never moving from the space on the wall, Tally pushed off the heavy blanket and wrapped her arms around her parents. "I love you so much" Tally said with a few big tears rolling down her face, making dark spots on her father's crisp white polo.
It was a bright sunny morning. The shining light coming through Tally's window filtered through her eyelids. Tally rolled over and looked at her clock. It was about half an hour until her alarm. Tally closed her eyes and tried to sleep. But the constant pain in her chest kept her wide awake. She heard her parents starting to move around down in the kitchen. The familiar sounds of their feet shuffling across the floor, the humming of the food processor. The warm scent of coffee and waffles with maple syrup started to come up the stairs. Tally eyes were dry from all the tears, but her eyes stung. Tally wondered if this was the last time she would wake up to the scent of coffee and the sounds of people. Her alarm went off disturbing her thoughts. Routinely she reached over, pressed the snooze button and got up. Tally unplugged the alarm clock and threw it in the small duffle. The duffle looked quite deflated. Barely any clothing was packed. Just a few outfits as the Ugly dorms have uniforms and regular clothing in not required. Tally threw in her blanket off her bed and zipped up the duffle. Tally finished getting ready. She threw on a electric blue pull over and jeans. She grabbed the duffle from the door and headed to the kitchen. Taking in every part of her home in a different light.
Tally answered the questions heartlessly. She knew by the way her parents were fidgeting that they were upset also. Tally walked over to her seat and sat down like any other morning. The room was silent except for the sounds of eating. After the meal was finished and Tally and her parents were sitting at the table drinking the last of their coffee, and Tally her juice. Tally's parents handed her one of the packages. Tally slowly opened the taped sides of the blue and silver striped package. She removed a blue box with white stripes down the sides. She undid the clasp on the front of the box and opened the lid. She found a beautiful electric blue and silver watch. She carefully removed the watch from its packaging and put it on. It fit perfectly, the screen coming alive.
"I love it, how did you know I wanted a watch?" exclaimed Tally.
"We knew you needed a watch, were glad you like it" Her mother replied as she handed another box with blue spiralled designs on it. Tally once again lifted the tape off each side and pulled out a rectangular cardboard box. She tugged open the box, and pulled out an object covered in bubble wrap. She carefully peeled the wrap off of the item. Tally lifted the gift from its nest. She immediately recognized the picture. It was the three of them standing together the previous summer. The trees in Cleopatra park creating patterns on the ground with the sun rays. The picture changed to another picture from the park, Tally and her classmates at graduation. She couldn't help but smile when she saw her friends with their sparkle of energy showing in their bright eyes.
"You can add more pictures if you would like" her father smiled "we programmed some in from our database to get you started"
"Thank you some much, I love the necklace and picture frame" Tally smiled.
"Don't thank us just yet, we still have one more gift" Tally's mother smiled as she handed a small gold package to Tally. Tally slit the wrapping and pulled out a small white box, blank with no lettering. Curious, she lifted the cover and cotton layer to reveal a silver chain with a polished "T" in script. Tally felt now familiar tears rushing to her eyes. She looked up at her parents.
"I…I don't know what to say, thank you again, I love it she exclaimed" Tally said almost crying.
"We thought that you would like it" her mother smiled as she came over to Tally and fastened the shining chain around Tally's neck. It fit perfectly.
Tally's parents started to clean up from breakfast, Tally tried to help, but her parents wouldn't let her.
"Go on, finish packing" Her father told her.
"But, I'm already finished" She protested.
"We're leaving in ten minutes, make sure you have everything" He mother told her.
Tally gave in and went up to her room to make sure she packed everything. She did a quick check in her closet. Each one of her sweaters hanging crisply on their hanger. She decided to bring her black sweater. She grabbed it off of the hanger.
"Tally, it's time to go" Her Father called
Tally grabbed her sneakers from the closet and went downstairs. She threw the sweater into her duffle and stuffed her feet into her sneakers. Taking one last look at the house, she left the house and hopped into the Hover car.