Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or any other book or movie references used in this chapter.
Notes: I heard that being miserable was one of the most creative stages you can be in. I hope it's true or else being miserable has come to nothing. Enjoy the story!! Also Grandmother Kanna Gran-Gran.
Ch.1
Katara tried to breath, but the air gave no relief to her aching lungs. The space started pressing in, suffocating, hurting her already suppressed throat, adding weight to her unstable feelings until she felt as fragile as a glass bowl in the middle of a highway. How could this have happened? Her mother, never to replaced now gone, her father missing in Iraq; A new life, a new school, all lying straight in front of her. Three weeks. In three weeks a whole new home.
Katara peered out the back window of the taxi, the car bouncing rhythmatically on the cracked pavement. Sokka sat besides her, his hands neatly folded in his lap. The sky was a piercing blue, and the smell of water hung in the air. The lake, katara thought; the only thing that seemed a bright prospect. Water, an element she could relate too.
The buildings of Chicago seemed to rise impossibly high in the sky, nothing like the two story buildings of their small confined town. The town Katara loved; her home, nothing like this new and alien place. All the houses looked to be on top of each other, none having a definite yard or row of grass. The neighborhoods could not be distinguished from the shopping plazas, all seeming to blend into each other.
"I hope were not living in any of those dumps," Sokka said pointing at a group of houses sandwiched between Larry's laundry and Fine Tibetan takeout.
"No, Grandma said she lives in an apartment on a nice street," Katara said drumming her fingers on the streaked window, "Even with flowers." Katara inhaled sharply as the Sear's Tower came into view. The sheer magnitude of it was overwhelming. That's what Chicago was; an overwhelming enormity different from anything Katara had ever seen.
"Holy firecrackers," Sokka muttered, "I bet it would take me all day to climb to the top of that monster." Despite her dreary mood, Katara chuckled, enjoying the sound that had not echoed from her lips in weeks.
They drove on through the maze of buildings and shops, bringing wild gestures and exclamations from Sokka. Every time some kind of weird structure came into view, which was quite often, Sokka shot up from his seat saying he'd never seen anything like it.
After what felt like hours of being stuck in traffic jams and passing through streets filled with houses, stores, store-houses, they finally made it to their grandma's neighborhood. Apartments lined the street, each about two inches from the next. Some of the lawns even had cute little white-picket fences, and flowerbeds in the windows. The trees that boarded the street reached high into the sky, their leaves in full bloom. It was beautiful; a Thomas Kinkade painting just waiting to happen.
The taxi pulled up to an apartment with three stories. The house was a dark cherry brick, with rows of deep green ivy starting at the bottom and growing up to the very top. The middle floor contained a balcony with a few sleek black chairs and large potted plants, including geraniums. The windows on that level were decorated with boxes of bright yellow, red, and magenta petunias, inspiring the impression of a Swedish windmill.
"Which one do you think is Grandma's?" Katara asked praying it was the warmly decorated dwelling. Before Sokka could answer, an elderly woman in a bright pink sweater burst through the front door. Her gray hair cropped in short wisps bounced up and down like a trampoline.
"Oh my children," she practically screamed, "I was worried sick! You are thirty minutes late!!" She limped down the front steps, and ran awkwardly to Sokka, her short body barely coming up to his chest.
"Cheese and potatoes," Sokka said arching his eyebrows, "It's not like we were two hours late."
"Do you know what could happen in a thirty minute time span here in Chicago? A lot! My best friend Ruth had her purse stolen and her car egged all in thirty minutes. It's your first day here and I already think you won't be able to take care of yourself properly in this city. You have to be careful!!," Kanna (Grandma) screeched eyeing Sokka's stained shirt and ripped jeans, looking as if on the verge to scold more.
Katara silenced Kanna by giving her a hug and an affectionate kiss on the cheek.
"I've missed you too honey," Kanna said returning the embrace. "And you also," She added pulling Sokka into the hug.
Sokka extracted a few bills from his wallet to pay the taxi driver, but Kanna stopped him insisting on taking care of the amount due herself. After a short argument they ended up on the stairs walking, to Katara's delight, the middle apartment. The inside was just as pretty as the outside. Vivid carpets contrasting with the polished wood floor decorated the ground. Red velvet curtains with Chinese calligraphy hung on the walls. The kitchen was spacious with numerous counters. There was a large granite bar in the center, which strangely, accented the brown wall.
"I know it's not much, but its home," Kanna said throwing her keys in a bowl by the door. She hobbled over to Katara and Sokka pointing out their rooms. "I'll let you get settled. Dinner will be in about twenty minutes."
Katara nodded mutely, passing through the black frame leading into a sea foam colored room. Her blue polka dotted bedspread already lay on the bed. Her violin leaned on the wall in the back corner, its bow propped neatly beside it. Katara yearned to feel the soft polished wood in her hands, the string plucking almost tangible notes into the air. The notes felt touchable to her, but then again everyone at her old school thought she was weird. The sounds were weighted with so much emotion, so how could they not feel physical.
On the wall near Katara's bed stood a polished mahogany bookshelf. The different rungs were laden with all sorts of novels, including all six of Jane Austen's masterpieces. And there was of course all seven Harry Potter novels, but the book that was the most rugged, the most read was Ashes in the Wind. Sokka made fun of her all the time, but she loved the pure romance the book beheld. Kathleen Woodiwiss was her favorite authors. The complicated love stories made her feel as if there was someone waiting for her, but when she put down the book that wonderful feeling went away.
There was a comfortable chair in the back of the room and a small cabinet placed in front of it with a TV located on top. Katara smiled. Her Grandmother did not have to give her such a nice gift. Inside the cabinet was an array of movies, including many Jane Austen. The movies that surprised her most were the complete box set of all four Die Hards.
Exhausted, Katara warily sank into the chair. It was soft, with little bits of fur. The comfortness surrounded her relieving the pain in her fatigued body, most of it emotional. A remote lay in the chair, and she switched the TV on. Most of the TV shows on were either reality shows or about celebrity drama, none of which interested Katara. For a second she felt at home, but then it went away after she realized her grandmother was calling her for dinner and not her mother.
"Come on sweetie. I just finished mixing the noodles," Gran-Gran called from the kitchen. Katara wasn't really hungry, but what ever Kanna was making smelled delicious and sounded interesting too. Sokka was sitting at the table staring hungrily at a huge bowl of Thai shrimp stir-fry on the table, which he probably would eat half of. His mouth was close to salivating when Kanna put a fresh loaf of hot bread on the table. He didn't even wait for everyone to seat themselves at the table before he started eating like a ravished man who had been stuck on an island for weeks without food.
"Wait!! You forgot to pray," Katara said hurriedly. Sokka put down his fork but stared at it longingly. She grabbed Sokka's hand on the left and Kanna's on the right. "Thank you Lord for this meal. Thank you for letting us be here together. Please don't let us or others forget about the less fortunate. Amen." Amen echoed Kanna and Sokka, each piling their plates. The food was good, but Katara's appetite still had not come back yet. She wanted to eat, she really did, but her stomach felt weak.
"You have not touched your food," Kanna
"I know," Katara sighed, "I guess I'm just not hungry." Deliberately she stood up from her chair, trying to show a face of mollification, "My stomach is just a little queasy…I think a walk might help."
"Don't wander off. It's getting late and Chicago isn't very safe after dark."
Katara nodded, her face a show of blank emotion, but the starkness in her chest felt overwhelming. The clock showed the time of 7:00 in the evening. A gust of cooling air greeted her flushed face as she stepped into the universe outside. The sidewalk in front of the house was cobblestone, presenting the sensation of walking down a street in Victorian England next to finely dressed ladies with petticoats and parasols. The sky was still a vivid cheerful blue, continuing the fact that the world was happy and she was not.
The avenue containing Gran-Gran's apartment was not long, and the street opening out of it was lined with rows of shops. A Food Plus snuggled happily on the corner caught Katara's eye. A cool iced tea sounded like something she could keep in her stomach.
The store was not the nicest thing she'd ever seen, but she could make do with what was there. The ceiling top had missing tiles, some of which leisurely dropping to the floor below. The ground was an ugly acrylic orange, contrasting horribly with the flamboyant blue walls. Rows of shelves holding chips, canned goods, snacks, and candy bars filled the store, relating the suggestion of a mini-grocery shopping place.
Quickly, she located the refrigerators and grabbed the caffeinated drink, not even looking to see which flavor was enclosed in the jar. At the counter Katara paid with quarters, which wasn't the brightest idea considering the cashier was very slow with change, and the smell of smoke was suffocating.
Hurriedly, she stepped into the almost smoke-free oxygen filled easily breathable air.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. "What the hell are you doing," an angry black haired copper eyed boy screamed from his rolled down window. Katara hastily stepped back from the curb, embarrassed that she forgot to look before crossing. The teenager flashed her a last angry glare before speeding down the street, the gas from his beat up Chevy adding more pollution to the air.
Shakily, she headed home, her can of tea forgotten from the place she dropped it on the sidewalk. She recalled the situation with a feeling of stupidity. The last time she almost got hit by a car was when she wandered afar her mother in a Meijer's parking lot. She was eventually found sobbing in a handicapped spot by Sokka, who surprisingly had eyes brimming with tears, which were forgotten when he gave her the scolding of a lifetime.
With a growling stomach, Katara entered the abode. She felt out of place in the apartment, but she could not deny the welcoming homey feeling Kanna added to the place; bright flowers, oriental carpets, sleek marble counters, vibrant walls, and modern, but Victorian pictures. Sokka was poking at a pile of coals in the fireplace. The clock on the mantelpiece showed the time to be 7:30 in the evening. Katara could not help but smile remembering winter memories of hot chocolate, toasted marshmallows, and Holiday gatherings. Katara did feel sentimental, and what else was there to dwell on except childhood memories of people now lost to you forever. A sad shaky feeling shuddered through her, bringing the overpowering desire for the comforts and innocence of dreams and sleep.
End of Chapter one!!
Hope to hear your thoughts on this newly started Zutara.