Slice of Life 2

As the day became late afternoon, the sky was a mixture of azure and aquamarine. The wind ran across the city with enthusiasm. Phoria’s hair flowed along as the breeze tugged her hair gently. Sitting on a silver-bronze bench at the grassy field, she waited patiently for Mady’s arrival. 

Taking her sketchbook from her bag, she drew the scenery ahead of her, a irregular-shaped pond near an enormous oak overwhelmed with emerald-green leaves. The oak’s casted a faint shadow over the pond as the sunset-orange began to glow. 

A few minutes later, Mady’s sudden voice entered her ears among the silent symphony. Startled, she turned back and saw her best friend smirking then Mady questioned ′ What are you doing?′

′ Capturing the view of my surroundings.′ This was quite different from what Phoria used to be. Nature was her passion, touching their inherent creatures and knowing them were her joy more but never staying far away from them. Something’s wrong...

Approaching her with a different subject, she smiled and asked,′ Guess what did I bring today? ′ 

‘Gummyberries?,’ Without any hestitation, Phoria answered with a small grin.

′ That’s one of them but I’ve brought something else... Come on, think!′ she said as she shook Phoria’s shoulder. Putting her sketchbook and pencil away, she tried her best to figure it out. 

′ Book ?′ Mady grimaced at the sound of it and shook her head no.

‘Waterberries?’

‘Lollipop?’

‘Pumpkin sugar?’

Phoria snapped her fingers. ‘Ah... I think I know it now.’ Mady gave her a skeptical look.

′ Chocolate!′ Phoria exclaimed.

‘You make me sound like a candy shop,’ Mady let out a puff of frustration. She shushed Phoria from tossing any other fruitless answers by placing a finger at her lips. ′ Close your eyes,′ she requested.

′ Open...′ Before Mady could continue her sentence, Phoria blinked open her baby-blue eyes. A small bag of fish food daggled in front of her.

′ You want to feed the fish?′ she enquired while cocking her eyebrow, gazing at Mady questioningly. ′ Ok! Let’s do it!′ she grabbed the bag and they sat near the pond.

As soon a biscuit was thrown, a lemon-streaked guppy caught it and munched enjoyably. Phoria laughed, ′ You did that everytime I fed you gummyberry. So adorable!′ and then she mimicked the action. 

Mady gave her an expressionless face and muttered, ‘Funny,’. As much as she disliked the metaphor, she couldn’t help but smile on the inside, seeing Phoria’s true self again.

Grabbing a handful, she threw them up, making them scatter across the water surface. A colourful school of koi weaved through the crowd and snatched the food, then waved their tails in triumph as they glided away. 

A small pair of black beady eyes peered from the shadowed edge of the pond. As it moved out from hidding place, it revealed a baby turtoise with a thorny umber shell. Phoria threw some near it and grinned as it managed to eat most of it before his friends took them. 

Maddy once again sent the tiny round biscuits showering. Drops echoed faintly. Ripples of waves ebbed away as the fish swam around to devour them. The pond was like a watercolour painting, filled with different shades of scintillating scales under the glimmer of sunset.

The baby tortoise crawled out of the side of the pond and moved towards Phoria’s knee. Struggling to reach the height, Phoria held it up and placed it on her lap. The unexpected aid made me it shrunk back into its shell. ‘Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you,’ she whispered. After a few moments, it slowly came out and glanced at her curiously. Using her index finder, she patted its head softly. At first, it was rigid with shock but as seconds ticked by, it got used to it accepted her affection by rubbing its head against her finger like a cat. 

‘I won’t go to college,’ Phoria sighed. 

Mady’s eyes gaped open wide and screamed, ‘What? It was your dream!’ 

′ Papa was barely hanging on with the shop. I once heard that he’s lack of fund and borrowing money from the bank during a discreet phone call at the backyard. I don’t want to burden him further,′

′ We will find a way like we always do, alright?′ Mady held Phoria’s hand, trying to comfort her. 

′ Maybe this is not my destiny,′ Phoria told her with a melancholic grin. 

′ We’ve been through thick and thin together. I’m not going to let you give up like this. You healed me, now it’s my time to do the same,′ Phoria was touched and amazed with Mady’s rare emotional words. Lying her head against her shoulder, she looked up in the beautiful sky that was now shimmering with a cluster of stars and mumbled, ′ I don’t know what to do without you,′ 

 ′ You will never need to wonder that possibility. We’ll always be together as one.′ With that, she put her head on Phoria’s and indulged the starry night.

' We will find a way like we always do, alright?' Mady held Phoria's hand, trying to comfort her.

' Maybe this is not my destiny,' Phoria told her with a melancholic grin.

' We've been through thick and thin together. I'm not going to let you give up like this. You healed me, now it's my time to do the same,' Phoria was touched and amazed with Mady's rare emotional words. Lying her head against her shoulder, she looked up in the beautiful sky that was now shimmering with a cluster of stars and mumbled, ' I don't know what to do without you,'

' You will never need to wonder that possibility. We'll always be together as one.' With that, she put her head on Phoria's and indulged the starry night.