AN: This is a little extra story from my story Colors. Reading Colors is recommended if you wanna get the whole picture, but I guess you could still read it by itself. This is a mini oneshot, keep in mind, so sorry if the ending kind of bothers you, but everything will be (sooner or later) explained in Colors. Alrighty, enjoy! :)
"Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky, little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same. There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one, and they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same."
I sing this to myself as I stroll in my neighborhood. Today my mom taught me about what happened in the U.S. after World War II. In the lesson she played the song "Little Boxes" and now it's stuck in my head. Especially since I'm walking around in my neighborhood looking at the houses in detail for the first time. Other than the plants and decorations in the front yards, they do remind me of the houses in the old photograph.
Since I don't remember the lyrics to the rest of the song, I switch to humming. Crossing the street, I notice a yellow house with a U-Haul truck parked near it. I walk up to the house, wondering why would the people want to move into a house made out of ticky tacky. Staying on the sidewalk, I could see from here that there are two people in the backyard. There's a tall man, though not as tall as my dad, who has dirty blond hair. He's kneeling down to talk with the other person.
The other figure turns out to be a skinny girl that looks at least my age. For all I know she could be older than me. She has blond hair put into a French braid. She's wearing a pretty lace dress, not unlike one I saw in my mom's closet. She's facing away from me, her hands behind her back as she rocks on her heels. She looks kind of nervous. Her hands play with a sparkly ring on her finger. She looks a lot like my mom, but in kid form. I haven't even seen her face.
I can hear their conversation, so being the eavesdropper I am; I listen to what they're saying.
"But dad!" complains the girl, "I haven't seen anyone my age around here! The only ones close to my age are little kids and teenagers. There's like no twelve year olds here."
I gasp a little to myself. I got it right. Looks like she is my age after all.
"Honey, I'm pretty sure there is at least someone who you can hang out with," encourages the man who I guess must be her dad, "Go, on. Let's go meet the neighbors. I'll go with you, don't worry."
"All right, I guess." mumbles the girl.
I gasp when I see them coming. I quickly dash down the sidewalk several steps. I turn around, pretending that I never overheard their conversation. I look to the side, putting up an act that the little boxes called houses distracted me. How they would, I don't really know, as long as they buy it. I hum some of the song again like an unsuspecting stranger.
"Sweetie, see that girl?" asks the dad, "I bet she's twelve too! Go say hi to her!"
I keep walking at my steady pace until I hear the girl's voice call out to me.
"Uh, wait!" she calls out, "Hold on!"
She runs up to me, her braid swaying side to side. She gives me a pearly white smile before continuing.
"Hey. My name's Heather," she introduces herself while giving a small curtsy, "I'm new here."
"Hi Heather," I greet, "My name's Andrea."
"Andrea! That's a pretty name," she compliments, "It fits you."
By this time, her dad grins a bit before turning around to leave. He lets Heather know before going back into the house.
"Heather is a pretty name too," I say, "And it fits you too."
"That's what my dad says!" She laughs, "He calls me Heather the Feather."
"Why Heather the Feather?"
"Because he says that I'm as light as a feather."
"Oh. There's nothing that rhymes with Andrea, though…"
"I'm sure there is. How about… Himalaya?"
"Like the mountains?"
"Yeah! Let's see, I'll call you: Andrea, queen of the Himalaya!"
"That's pretty cool! Thanks!"
"Hey, I wanna show you something," Heather tells me, "C'mon, it's in the woods!"
"Wait," I say, kind of suspicious, "How do you know if you just got here?"
"I explored the woods a little while my mom and dad were unpacking," she explains, "And I found something that I wanna show you."
"Okay," I say, "Let's go then!"
We run into the woods, hopping over rocks and dodging trees. All I see is her back, and her braid flinging wildly. I probably should have asked my parents, but who cares? I'm going on an adventure with my new friend! We dash through the woods, until I see Heather start slowing down. I slow down too and stop when she finally stops.
"It should be around here," she muses, "I remember it was close to this pine tree, the one I took the pinecones to make a smiley face."
I look around at the ground until I see what she's talking about. Pinecones are arranges into a smiley face, exactly as she said.
"Heather!" I call her, "It's over here!"
She sees the smiley face and looks immediately to her right. A smiley face of her own appears on her while she scampers off to whatever she saw. I trail right behind her. She stops at what looks like a pile of rocks. She points to the pile of rocks as she forms an even wider grin.
"You see that small opening," she points, "That's an entrance to a mini cave. I'll go first!"
She crawls into the hole, which is easy considering her small frame. I follow, entering the darkness until I see a light coming from inside. Once I get inside, I see that Heather is holding a flashlight. When did she get it? Who knows? Once I see the inside, there is something that stands out. My eyes widen at this.
"Cool, huh?" Heather smiles.
The walls are filled with a symbol I vaguely remember about. I don't remember where it came from, but I do remember its name.
The Operator Symbol.