Contrary

Chapter 4: Pinkish cloud

Kaila

I never found a way to fill all the silence. In the weeks that followed the great tragedy of my life, I jumped from my bed every morning, donned my pink sneakers, a black leather coat with a hood and went out of my dark room.

Every morning, I do a step-by-step move on the winding stairs and look at the paintings that are hanging on the hard wall.

Whatever I do, I cannot forget my parents. Everything seemed gone from me. My happiness, my courage, and my weaknesses were gone. This kind of life I had is meaningless; it does not have a destination; it is just flying with the cold breeze.

Sitting on the concrete stairs in the front of our mansion, wist deep in thought because if I think of my parents, I don't feel so alone. Looking at the groves and copses of trees came whip-c***k sounds as the slight breeze moved its icy branches.

The sunsets have changed. They are not as beautiful as they looked before. I have memories of my parents being everywhere around our mansion. I did nothing all day but remember my parents.

I know that I live in a part of the country where throughout a year means ice, snow, and cold weather. That's why I always wear my leather coat or parka every time I go outside my mansion. All these days, every sundown, I sat down on the piles of snow and remembered the way my parents hugged me, the way we played on the piles of snow, throwing snowballs at each other, the way they taught me how to build a snowman, and the way they glanced and smiled at me.

Night had gathered within a few short minutes; still, I was looking at the black-and-white world of smooth, dark roads, snowy roadside fences, and the tracery of trees.

Amara got out of our mansion and walked towards me. She was wearing a white shirt with a blue corral, a black leather coat that's striped with pink thread in the center, and long pants that were fastened around her waist and hanging down around her legs. Her hair was tied by a pink band into two portions that were both bouncing as she walked towards me. She stopped beside me and looked at the fireflies that were spreading their intermittent light and flying around the foliage of copses of trees.

"Kaila, don't you want to get inside the mansion?" she asked. "It is cold outside."

I get a snowball and throw it in the groves. "I am just okay," I replied.

"Okay...? It's been many days since you have not eaten well or slept well, and look at yourself. You are not the Kaila that I know, " she replied while sitting down beside me.

"It's not your business; I can do anything that I want," I said. "Just leave me!"

"Not my business? Your parents told me that I must take care of you whatever happens, and you are just telling me to leave you?" She replied. "You forsook everything: your schooling, your friends and yourself. Your mother will not be happy if she sees that you are always sad."

"My friends? Do I have friends? Everyone leaves me behind. I am alone in this cruel world!" I shouted while there was liquid dripping from my eyes.

"Please don't cry. I am always here for you. From now on, you can consider me your best friend," she replied, while she wiped the tears that diffused on my face with her pink handkerchief.

Maybe Amara was bored of sitting beside me, so she said, "Kaila, I will just go inside the mansion to prepare your dinner, and please eat it because I don't want to see you become a skeleton."

Amara stood up and walked down the wide entrance between the aligned lampposts. I saw her enter the wide door of the mansion. She continued walking until I saw her diaphanous silhouette that passed by the window that was made of glass.

After a few moments, I saw a darker moving shadow. It was taking the walkway several feet away from where I was. In just a few seconds of looking at it, I recognized that it was a horse that was carrying the carriage. It stopped in front of me and an old woman got out of the carriage.

I recognized that she was wearing a leather coat and long pants. She has long, curly hair that is spread around her back. I am not sure, but she is an ugly old woman who looks like a hag.

She went towards me, looked at the mansion, and said, "I can hear the whisper of sadness here, and the heart that's shouting for justice and equity."

I don't know what she was talking about. Maybe she is just crazy. As I turned to leave, I felt a cold hand that seemed to be a hand of death because of the cold that held my arms. The old woman whispered in my ear, "Do you want to get revenge on those merciless people who killed your parents?"

I noticed that the voice of the woman is not totally the voice of an old woman, because it was a little melodious and she's just talking normally, as if she were a young woman. Maybe she was joking when she asked if I wanted to exact revenge on the merciless people who murdered my parents, because I know an elderly woman like her will simply collapse under the bullets of those criminals. But I also know that there is nothing to lose if I talk with her. I just want to ask how she knows that my parents are already gone.

"How did you know that my..." I was about to say a word when she interrupted.

"It's been many years since I have watched you and your family," she replied. "And I also know who those cruel people are that killed your pitiable parents."

"Who?" I asked. "Please tell me, I need to catch those cruel people so that they can pay for their sins, and I can also give justice for my parents' death."

"I will only tell you if you will promise me that you will retaliate against them," she replied. "You will kill them as what they did to your parents."

"But how can I kill them if I am only sixteen and don't know how to use a gun because I haven't touched one since I was born?" I asked.

"Just trust me, I will give you power, so that you can kill those cruel people without exerting a great effort," she replied. "Do you want to have it?"

"Power? What kind of power?" I asked. "Of course I want."

She opened her mouth, and there was something that came out. It was a pinkish cloud that floated towards me, entered my nose and mouth, and because of that I could not breathe well, I lost consciousness.