Her long silver hair flowed down her back like a waterfall, her indigo eyes mesmerized in the wonder of the small thing placed in her hands. "IA, you are so dreamy!" Master scolded her in disapproval, he came walking toward her, "What have you got in your hands?"
"A mini-globe, Master." IA excitedly replied. Master snatched the ball from her hands, and replaced it with a sheet of music. "Master, can I have the globe back?" she whimpered.
"No," He stated firmly, "Learn the music, then I will let you play with the globe, and DON'T daydream, IA."
She sighed and looked at the music in her hands. She didn't want to translate the jumbled mess of notes into music, at the moment. She looked toward the window longingly, how great it would be to go outside.
She imagined going into foreign lands of strange fruits and loud locals. Jungles thick with trees, animals, and plants of every single kind there is. Hot deserts where nomads would roam. Majestic mountains outlining bright green valley meadow, with lovely sea coasts and sandy beaches. Oh! How great it would be to jump right out the window and fly! Fly over the ocean, and count the countries as they pass by.
She slowly walked toward and gazed outside it with mournful eyes. She saw a few of the neighbor's children running around playing some pointless game with no winner or loser. "I wish I could play with you guys..." she thought out loud. That's when the thought came to her.
Without a second thought she cracked open the window, lifted her leg over the sill, took a look back at her room, and finally jumped out the window. She jogged over to the children, "Hey, guys!" They looked at her strangely.
"Yes?" they answered a bit uncertainly.
"Can I play your game with you?" she beamed a radiant smile.
"Uh... I guess..." One boy with red hair said. A brown haired boy in overalls, taller and more husky, interrupted the ginger saying, "Yeah, you could play, but that means your it."
IA smiled but frowned a bit naively saying, "What does it mean to be 'it'?" The children snickered at IA's question.
"Being 'it' means that you gotta chase us, and if you touch one of us and say 'Tag!' that means you aren't it anymore." The brunette boy explained, his voice sounding really sticky.
"Okay!" said IA confidently.
"On the count of ten!" One of the other children began, "Ten...Nine...Eight," IA readied herself. "Seven...Six...Five..." all the children broke off in a run. "Four...Three...Two..." Things got tenser and tenser. "ONE!" A whole load of children screamed loudly as IA made many sad attempts to catch the agile little ones. She finally tagged a fat boy who couldn't run very fast, who tagged back a girl with blond pigtails. Never had IA this much fun. She enjoyed so much running and shouting!
When finally, IA decided it was time for her to go. All of the children looked very disappointed. "I'm sorry, guys, but what if Master catches me gone?" They all nodded their head considerably. "Goodbye! Goodbye, grey-haired lady!" they all shouted as she climbed the fence, back to her home.
She came into her room at last, and shut the window closed. She turned around and her mouth fell instantly open at the sight. Master was standing there with his arms crossed and his face angry. "IA," he began, "Why did you decide it was a good time to disobey my orders?"
"M-master, I-" IA started to explain herself, but her master has interrupted her.
"IA, I trusted you to stay put in your room. To memorize the music I gave you. What did you do?" Master questioned so as to surface guilt into IA. It was working. IA felt tears threaten to come into her eyes, a heavy, hot lump sat in her throat. "M-master, please... I'm sorry! I won't e-ever do it again!" She moaned between soft sobs.
Master solemnly nodded his head, and he stepped out of the room, leaving IA to drop down on her knees and weep loudly. She rubbed at her eyes, and inwardly smacked herself for making such a stupid mistake.
"My dreams are stupid!" IA yelled at herself, "Why can't I just learn to get my head out of the clouds!" Even though she tried to forget daydreaming, deep down in her heart, she didn't want to. She knew she couldn't ever have those dreams fulfilled because her destiny was already written out for her. But, she knew there was one thing, one thing that could not be taken away. The memories of her playing tag with those children. Every detail she will remember, nothing shall be forgotten. She may never see the kids ever again, but if she did it will be the happiest moment of her life.
Author's Comments:
More of a drabble than a one-shot, but I think it counts. Sorry for the short length, I'll go for a longer one next time. I know it's a bit of a downer, I'll try to make it bit more mood lifting next time.