My father had left my mother and I at home to go back to the harbor. He had to leave in the middle of work because he had to come to my school. The moment he got home, he took his reindeer-alpaca and left.
"What did your teacher mean you were glowing?"
"I don't know..."
"How can you not know!?"
My mother huff as she runs a hand through her hair, trying to brush away her ferocity. Seating across from her, I copy her actions and glare at the ground as she tries to figure out what could have happened to me. We are both seated around our dining table, surrounded by...I don't even know what to call these things other than junk. Old junk at that. But my mother, for some odd reason, couldn't let these things go. What a waste of space.
"...Whatever it is, don't do it again. You might get taken away."
Don't have to tell me twice.
We live in Whale Tail Island. Just a few days ago, some Fire Nation ship docked in the island to restock. Everyone pretty much ran away from them.
Okay, maybe not ran away but they definitely kept their distance. Anyone with children were hidden away in their homes and no one dared to come out until word has spread that they were gone. But they will be back because they headed south. One day they would have to turn around and return here again. My dad saw the Fire Nation ship and said that there was only one. He said it was weird for there to be only one ship and there was even a kid, a teen to be precise, bossing the soldiers around. Although there was an older guy next to the teen, it was obvious that the teen was the leader.
My dad said the teen yells a lot.
"Answer me, Wan. Do you understand me?" My mother asks one more time as she wave her hand upwards in front of my face, signaling me to look up at her.
"Yes." I reply as I look at her. She look down at me with a stern expression but it softens after a few seconds.
It's not often that my mother looks like that. I don't really get much comfort from it though. Not saying I don't at all! I do love it when my mother is like this with me but I always know it will never last. She's pretty aggressive. I remember the times she were rough with me. She would apologize later and said it was because times are tough and we need to be tougher. It's not just me either. Every other kids have been roughed up by their parents before. It's nothing new nor is it uncommon.
I really hate this stupid war and the stupid fire nation. Because of them, I-...No...we have to live like this. My mother, my father, the other villagers. All of us. While I have never left this island, I'm pretty sure the rest of the world are miserable too.
Except from the Fire Nation of course. I bet they're sitting on their butts in big, comfy chairs drinking the blood of their enemy in gold goblets.
That's what I heard from the other kids at least.
My mother sighs and lean back to stretch. Just watching her stretch makes me realize how tense I am that it made me stretch along. My mother yawns and the motion soon infects me as well.
Finally feeling the air lightening up, I can look at my mother in the eye without feeling intimidated.
"I wonder how is that earthbending kid doing."
My mood soured immediately.
I really don't like that kid and the Fire Nation can take him away for all I care!
Of course I will never said that out loud. That's just asking for a slap to the face!
"Dunno." Is my distant reply. I really don't wanna talk about him.
It was because of him that the rock incident happened. If he hadn't earthbend that stupid rock at me, then no one would throw rocks at me either!
...
I sigh as I remember those times.
They actually used to throw rocks at me but after their parents found out, they were severely punished. Not as many kids throw rocks at me anymore but his friends would sometime throw rocks around me instead and run away like cowards.
I'm pretty durable though. Stronger than most kids but not the strongest. Maybe the strongest girl? I guess. At least in Whale Tail Island.
"Here."
My mother passes me a paper with a list of items on it.
"Go get them while I do the laundry. Then we can make dinner together." She says as she lifts herself her chair. I grimace at the list and I have every right to. Who likes to do extra chores...? My mother saw that look on my face as I remain seated. She rolls her eyes and lift me off the chair easily.
Maybe the strongest female child.
"Come on now. Not like you have anything else to do."
I can sleep.
My parents and I seat around the table, ready to eat dinner. Our bowls and cups are mismatched with different sizes, colour, and design.
"I heard from the other sailors that they saw a big pillar of light down south." My dad notifies us as he take some vegetables into his bowl of rice.
"Wasn't that where those Fire Nation soldiers were heading?"
"Yup. Oh, and I'm also expecting a friend over. He said his kid can't fit into her old clothes anymore so he's giving it to Wan."
I stick my tongue out in disgust behind my bowl of rice. Yuck. Old clothes from someone I don't know and who knows what the clothes have been through!
Unexpectedly, although it has been expected, three knocks came from the door.
We exchange glances and my mother and I land our sights on my dad. He is expecting someone after all.
"That's pretty quick..."My dad mumbles and he gets up from the dinner table.
My mother gives a look to my dad before looking at the door suspiciously. I watch as she follows my dad to the door as I pick up my bowl of hot soup to drink. The last thing I saw before I focus my eyes on the soup was my mom picking up something from her pile of junk.
Wow, that's some soothing soup. I can feel it's warmth envelop my body. I put down my soup and sink into my chair as I breath out a hot breath and feel myself relax like I'm in a hot bath. The warmth didn't last forever and I suddenly start to feel unnaturally cold.
"Wow, you're pretty early." My dad says as he takes the box from his friend. My mother releases the breath she was holding, along with the statue in her hand as she sets it on the nearest flat surface.
"Hehe, you know me. I have no patience and I like to get things done quickly. Hey, did you see the pillar today? I remember that you were going fishing today but when I was leaving, your boat was still there!" Scratching his beard, he asks curiously.
My father only shakes his head with a smirk, "Nope, Sorry. My kid got in trouble at school so I had to leave late. Did you see it?"
His friend straightens his back proudly and place his fists on his hips," Yup! It was amazing!"
"What did it look like?"
"Mmmmm...Something like that."
My parents turn to the direction he is pointing. Confused at first, since he pointed inside their house but the answer became clear when they saw their own child glowing from her eyes.
"Shit." My father breathes as he pulls in his protesting friend into the house and close the door.
My mother quickly snatch me from my chair and lay me on the ground. She tries to close my eyes but it's hard to aim for the eyelids when there's two bright beaming lights shining at her face. All she can do is cover my eyes with her hands and even then, light would seep through the small gaps. My father opens the box and quickly take out a bunch of clothes and shove them to my face.
"So your kid glows and don't need to breath? Amazing...!"My parents turn to glare at the source of the oozing sarcasm but they couldn't argue since he did have a point.
Right when they were about to remove the clothes from the bottom of my face, my body started to spaz from panic...to what feels like an attempted murder!
My dad immediately removes his hands. I quickly sit up and crawl away from them in fear.
"What are you doing!?" I scream at them as my back hit against the...I would say wall but my mother's junk is in the way.
I watch as my parents struggle to answer, making me even more suspicious and afraid.
"...You glowed?" Is my dad's blunt answer.
I could only stare back in terror that broke my parent's guilty heart for being the recipient of my horror.
"Why...?" I croak out and wait for their answer.
"It was an accident, we didn't mean to, baby..!" My mother pleas as she reach out a hand for me. Even though I am far from her reach, I try to crawl away further with all of my strength that I push my mother's junk backwards and bump them against the wall, truly reaching the limit of how far I can distance myself from them right now.
Really...an accident? That's not a good enough reason!
"...Why?" I ask one more time. To purposely hurt them. I am a horrible kid, yes I am. But I like revenge.
My parents told me to stay in my room after dinner. I am not to come out even after tomorrow. Not until my dad comes home with someone who could help me. And who knows how long that will take! But I gladly stayed in my room. I don't care that I glowed, I will always remember that my parents nearly tried to kill me. I don't care if it was an accident!
They should have been more worried about me than...what other people would think if they find out what is happening to me...
Protecting me should be important to them, right? I'm their kid! That's what parents are supposed to do!
I sigh and push the thoughts away. Just thinking about it makes me so mad.
In the next day, around evening, I glow again. I'm having an afternoon nap because, really, locked in a room with nothing to do?
Sleep is the answer.
At first, I think that what I'm seeing is just part of a nightmare. All I am seeing are skeletons. It is my first time seeing human skeletons and I should have been afraid of it. But all I feel is rage and remorse that feels like it's melting me from the inside out. I feel it starting to bubble and rise up to my throat, remorse so black and rage so red on the verge of overflowing that it I'm starting to feel afraid of myself. I see the wind, blowing with such a force that gives me the impression the it's screaming somebody's name in grief. I feel myself being spread thin like my soul is being spread all over the world. I also feel that someone is here.
I feel like I'm not alone. Not in body but in spirit. When I try to find out who it is and to tell him or her to stop this idiocy that makes me glow and getting me into so much trouble, I have woken up. Lifting my head a little, my eyes shift to the door, waiting anxiously for my mother to just barge in and try to...'hide' my glowyness.
After a while of nothing, I sigh in relief before dropping my head back into my pillow. That episode was tiring. A tiring nap. How ironic.
It is night time and I have never felt more awake. All those evening naps have screwed me over from having a good night's sleep. I tried to find something to do in my room, but I can't focus on anything because the overwhelming anxiety that keeps pulling my eyes to my window.
My dark brown eyes stare at the deep, dark blue of the sky as the cold ocean wind acquaint itself to my room. Everything in my room is dark and the only source of light is the crescent moon looking down at us.
I mean, me.
Everyone should be asleep by now.
No one is awake.
Not even mother.
No one would know if I left my room.
I get off my bed and walk towards the window. Not a single soul is outside. I could run around and no one would care. I've always wanted to lay on the ground and stare at the sky. But I never did because I was afraid I might accidentally fall asleep outside and get into trouble the next morning. Didn't want to get a scolding. But this time, it's different, I'm awake, alive, and ready for anything. A simple night watching couldn't do much harm.
The urge beckons me to rebel my mother's orders. The guilt beckons me to obey my mother's orders.
Which do I listen to? Obey or calling?
...I must be turning 13 soon because I can feel the rebellious stage that my parents are so worried about turning on.
I climb up my window and jump to the ground. My house is a single story building so it's not really that hard to get outside. Hearing the grass crunch under my feet, I feel giddy with excitement.
I'm outside...at night!
I just start to dance on the spot, crunching more grass beneath my feet. Why have I never done this before!?
Then, just as I feel a hot breath being blown to the left of my ear, I gasp in cold air from fright. Quickly stumbling away, I fearfully turn to the source of the breath to quickly apologize to my mother.
But it was just another one of our Reindeer-Alpaca. The top half of my body feels faint from relief and slump forward and I breathe out air in agitation. Now I remember why I never sneaked out before. My mother pretty much stationed the reindeer-alpaca to make sure thieves won't climb into the house through my window.
"God damn it. You scared the living shit out of me." I hiss in low volume at the reindeer-alpaca. It isn't affected by my words and comes closer to lick my face. My scowl immediately morphs into a smile. But with a hint of disgust. I would never speak like this in front of my parents so it felt good to say it out loud when they're not around. Despite learning the fowl words from my parents themselves.
I pat the animal and whisper to it, "Stay quiet. Don't tell my mom okay?"
I turn took a few steps forward before having to turn around the shush the animal with one hand and telling it to stop moving with the other. It's trying to follow me but couldn't because it is tied to a wooden beam so it doesn't run away. My hands keep giving the signals while I walk away from my house backwards. Once, far enough, I run away to find an open field to lay down in.
Come on, what's the worse that could happen from just being outside on an island for a little while?
"Should we really enter a village at this time of night?" Katara asks as they spot some lights from an island up ahead. "People might think it's suspicious."
"Don't worry, Katara. With two strong men, you won't have to worry about a single thing. We'll protect you." Sokka assures his sister but only succeeded in annoying her.
"Hey, I can take care of myself just fine!" Katara snaps before walking up to Aang. She has faith that Aang would be a better partner to converse with.
"Hey Aang, how are you doing?" the waterbender asks with concern. She watches Aang as he looked on at Whale Tail Island with empty sadness. Ever since finding out about his people, he hasn't smiled. A sad smile, yes but she wants to see the smile she remembers back home before he knew about the war. No one could blame him though but no one could help him feel better either.
How on earth does one cheer up a person who lost his entire people and blames himself for it for not being there to protect them?
Nothing. No one can soften the truth.
"Whale Tail Island is Air Nomad territory. Or at least, back then. I don't really feel that good about going there because if my people really have been..." Aang tightens his grip on Appa's reign as shame overwhelms him once more. He even feels too ashamed to hear his own voice to complete his sentence.
Katara waits silently, giving him the time he needs to find his voice again. But as the silence continue to stretch on, it was obvious that Aang just wants this topic to slip away. Sokka shifts uncomfortably as he watches his sister do the thing she does best. There's not much he could do anyway and being all emotional and stuff is just not manly. He has to be strong and tough, in body and in heart. Sokka has his sister to be his counterpart so he doesn't have to be.
"We don't have to go there, if you don't want to. We can go onto another island. How about the one we just passed?" Katara offers but Aang shook his head.
He really doesn't want to head back in that direction. He just wants to get as far away from the Southern Air temple as he possibly could.
"No, I want to move forward." Aang insists as he turn to look at Katara and smile the best he could. "Who knows, we might make a new friend, like Momo!". All attentions turn to the sleeping Lemur, reminding them that they should be getting some sleep too. "In the next morning, of course. Appa needs to rest. Right, Appa?"
Appa makes a sound that would be as close to the sound of agreement that an animal could make. Aang pats the head of his pet bison, the only friend he has left from a hundred years ago. He must take good care of Appa no matter what.
I lay in the open field and slowly count the stars in the sky. But for some odd reason, it feel like the stars are blinking. Like, that star! It just disappeared from the sky and came back a second later. Stars don't do that!
I think.
Losing count of the stars that I had in my head, I focus on the blinking stars instead. It is like it the starts are blinking in order of a line. I watch with mild curiosity as the stars slowly blink one after another, heading towards the moon. Then I saw a cloud is passing by the moon but I think that it is too...solid for a cloud.