My eye’s fluttered open, quickly flicking towards the blinds that were slightly cracked open, giving me brief looks of the drowsy world outside. The sky was a bloodless blue, puffs of clouds stretched along the sky like cotton balls. The outside was still. Silent. Lifeless. But not in our apartment. My mom and dad were awake. My mom already in her clothing for our trip. I slowly got out of bed. Trying to push away the temptations of crawling back into bed and hiding from the world. But alas, I had to force that thought into the depths of my brain just out of my reach, before I succeeded in that factor. If you can’t tell already, I am not a morning person. See the thing with me is that I will either be drawing, reading, or just staring at the ceiling thinking about life for like two hours or so before going to bed. And then in the morning my sibling and my parents have found that i have slept until noon, or I find my little sister who is literally only 26 inches tall, crawling along my abdomen, crushing my gut with her feet, and managing to get her saliva on my face.

Anyway, with the speed of a very old sloth, I brushed my teeth, took a shower and got dressed( remember the last time I wrote about Yosemite, I wrote that my parents made me change my clothing? Well lets just say that happened multiple times this time. So just imagine what I wrote before but two or three times more.) Let’s just say that after THAT experience my parents and I were all really agitated. Soon we were all laced up into our shoes. I stood there in my extremely worn Levis. My heels clicking against the cement steps that led to the parking lot.

As soon as we all buckled our seat belts, the car was started.

“LeT’s Go EvErYbOdY!” My dad yelled. I covered my little sisters ears expecting what was soon to come. I made the right choice.

My little sister started crying because I was covering her ears so she got irritated. So my dad being the GENIUS he is started singing SO OFF KEY that I almost WENT DEAF. I cringed as I took my palms off of Thulasi’s ears.

“RoCkAbYe BaBy On ThE TrEe ToOoOoOoP WheEeEeENnNn ThE WiNd BlOwS tHe CrAdLe WiLl RoOoOoOoOoCk. WhEn ThE bOw BrEa-”

“AaAaAaAaAaAahHhHhHhHhHhHhHhH! StOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoP! I screeched. Luckily my little sister squealed in agreement(or maybe that’s just me).

Anyway, we continued driving along. My parents were super peppy and my little sister and my little brother were both at the same level of non-drowsiness ness( is that even a word? ) I on the other hand, not so much. I’m not accustomed to waking up at six thirty in the morning over the summer. So I was just sitting there looking like I haven’t slept in a week. I was dying on the inside, and I looked like it on the outside. So in order to regain my composure I slept in ten to fifteen minute time periods and then woke, watched my surroundings for a bit, and then got back to sleep. Yosemite was 149.5 miles away, therefore it would take two hours and 56 minutes to actually get there.

We stopped at a Costco parking lot about one or two hour’s after we started driving from home to freshen up. I stepped out of the car, but my feet felt like mush. I stumbled as I walked to where my dad and my brother were seated, along with my little sister in my dads lap, fussing with his fingers, trying to stick them in her little mouth to bite them. I sat beside my dad, curled up into a little ball of lethargic energy(I was still quite worn down) I started playing with a little fire ant that was beside the toe of my shoes. I watched as it moved along, dodging weeds that were growing from the cracks in the dry road. It looked as if the little insect was dancing or something. Suddenly my dad plopped my little sister on my lap and walked back to the car and opened the trunk to put a bunch of snacks out in the front of the car for the road.

My mother plunked herself to my right as my little brother ran( okay I’m being honest here, when he runs it’s like he’s dodging or something, so it doesn’t even look like he’s running) to the car to torment my father. My dad came back with his phone out and started telling us to look up at him. But Apollo was not being kind to the world today( Apollo is the Greek God of the Sun and countless other things) As soon as we started complaining that the sun was destroying our eye sight my dad INSTANTLY said:

“Oh come on you guys, Vitamin D is good for you!”

“I know Vitamin D is good for me but the amount of UVB- rays reaching my exposed skin is gonna make me pass out.” I retorted.

“Just one more, alright?” He said.

“FINE. But just ONE. NUMERO UNO. NUMMER EINS. NUMERUS UNUS.” I said( Numero Uno is Spanish for one. Nummer Eins is German for one. And Numerus Unus is Latin for one)

“Okay okay, look at the camera!” He said. I instead glared at him as the sun shined directly into my poor unfortunate pupils.

Five or ten minutes later, we all walked back and sat down, buckling our seat belts. My dad started the car. I watched the windows on either side of me. We passed by houses, farms, and fields with cattle roaming about. I saw rows and rows of olive and grape tree’s, the tree’s giving of a tint in the crisp, fertile air. The leaves danced in the subtle air, the branches swaying along. The windows in the car were wide open, as we drove the speed of the wind coming in increased. I hadn’t tied my hair back so my hair was lapping against my face due to the force of the wind. I asked my mom repeatedly if she had an extra hair tie but each time she said she didn’t. So there I sat. A black hurricane sweeping my face. But I adore the feeling of wind in my hair and face. It makes me feel so free and alive, just like the rain does.

We stopped at a gas station near by for a break and to use the restroom. I unbuckled my seat belt and my little sister’s too. I stretched on my seat like a cat, cracking my knuckles( and legitimately scaring brother have to death just by doing that ). After informing my brother that I didn’t just break both sets of my fingers, I grabbed the tube of Pringles chips and opened it. I didn’t eat anything since I was asleep moments before so I was starving. My dad went into the gas station to get my brother something to eat because my brother honestly looked like he was on the verge of passing out from either motion sickness, or just being plain tired.

Anyway, my dad came back with three ice creams, one pistachio, one raisin(???) and one that was supposed to be lemon but tasted like rotting sugar on a stick. All of them tasted disgusting to us.

My dad took my brother to the portable restrooms that were standing a few feet from our car. I got my little sister out of her seat and handed her to my mother so she could be fed( my little sister, not my mom.) A few moments later I heard a THUMP from the distance. I turned to see my brother literally tumbling out of the door and landing face first onto the ground. I laughed( I know I’m heartless XD) because usually I’m the clumsiest one in our family. Once the boys came back my mom and I took our turns. I don’t think I want to describe it though.

Anyway, we were all back in the car just hanging out. Soon we were back on the road, I was up and alert, my sleepiness completely disintegrating to the back of my head. I watched the buildings change to little shacks, the concrete turning into grass and wheat, electricity lines turning into trees.

I played with my little sister and cooed when she smiled. I don’t know, but, something about little babies just hooks me. I mean with there huge eyes, little fingers and toes, there little smiles. Thulasi looked up at me with those glassy black eyes, laughing and giggling, her arms flailing. She is always fascinated by with fingers and my arms. What with the my watch and occasional bracelets. Her grubby little fingers were clinging onto my fingers in a motion saying “Don’t you dare let go!”

I won’t.

My dad continued to update us on how close we were to Mariposa. Mariposa is the area that you go to before entering Yosemite. We stopped there so my dad could pick up sandwhichs we could eat when we got to the hotel. The rest of us stayed in the car. The heat was starting to get to me and I couldn’t stand it, so I tried distracting myself. I looked at my surrounding. The place reminded me of a small town in a book that I read a few years ago. I saw a woman holding her phone, crooking her neck in a very dangerous angle(unfortunately for her neck) and then, surprise, surprise. She banged her head on a pole in front of her in the middle of walking and scrolling. And the fact that she had these clunky heels made it even worse for her.

Now lets clear something here, I was not staring, I just happened to see the woman as I was analyzing my surroundings. And honestly, I felt terrible for her as she walked away rubbing her forehead with the palm of her free hand.

Moments later I experienced a faint but painful tug on the left part of my hair. I turned and saw Thulasi clutching a fistful of hair( in my little sisters case, that is a small amount of hair). She started to go into a fit of giggles as I sang her nursery rhymes and clapped my hands to distract her from ripping out locks of my hair from the roots.

A little bit later, my dad came back with a bag and put it aside by my moms feet, along with the other contents at her feet( diaper bag, snack bag, purse, sandwich bag, etc.) My dad started the car and we were driving again, and with that we were all rewarded from a cheeky smile from my little sister. We have learned that she loves to ride in the car with the window wide open, the wind running in her hair and face.

I watched the small wooden shacks and buildings disappear and become replaced with dry fields and tree’s. It was just us, the road, and the occasional accompany of one or two other cars. I watched as the amount of tree’s started to increase. Dense tree’s were now everywhere I looked, incredible hues of green bursting with life.

Soon we heard the crash and fall of water, the sound increasing. We all turned to the side in the which the sounds were heard and there was the water. Little trickles turning into streams, streams turning into forceful mediocre surges, and then a full river. Huge boulders being drenched constantly with water. I couldn’t tear my hungry eyes away. We finally had come to the toll booth, and then went past. I looked at the hills and saw that they reminded me of the aged skin of an elephant. The dry patches were like the wounded skin of the creature. I zeroed into the distance. I saw the bridge that you crossed and I whooped. I love crossing that bridge because the sounds of the river get amplified. It can shake me to the core. We drove closer and then finally we we started crossing. The river almost looked like milk, creamy and white. But lethal and deadly. Even if one person falls…. They’re done. Dead. Ceased. Departed. Obliterated. Annihilated. Okay I just brought this into a really depressing turn. Ehe, sorry.

Occasionally, the view of the river would be blocked by the opaque groups of tree’s, or a massive boulder. The rock formations fascinated me. Especially since erosion happened a lot in areas like this.

We were driving to Cedar Lodge. We have stayed in the hotel in our previous trips so we were quite familiar with the area. We were going to be staying here for the night and then leave the next day. We drove and watched our surroundings, We planned on eating lunch when we reached the hotel area, maybe hang out and just take a break for a bit at the hotel, and then get back on the road to go straight to Glacier Peak and maybe go to Yosemite Falls before or after that. Seeing the waterfalls and going to see the rivers are always my most desired parts of our trips here. Feeling light sprinkles of water hitting my face and other exposed parts of my body. from the sky. I love the feel of the rivers rushing through, undergoing in my fingers and tickling my skin. Along the way, my parents talked and I played with my little sister and watched the landscape. My brother still looked like he was gonna pass out.

I guided Thulasi’s eyes to her window and showed her everything. I explained to her what everything was. Along with her constant babbling and giggles she wouldn’t point at the window. I would nod my head and talk to her like i understood every word she said.

“Etha.”

“Oh, wow what a great observation.”

“Ababababa”

“Wow so interesting!”

“AaAaAaAaAa, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Oh really? Is that right?

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Tha.”

“You are so right Thulasi.”

“Da.”

“No need to thank me little lady.”

“AaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”

“Kay.”

In the end of that conversation there I honestly thought she was trying to start a war. What with her and her babbles starting to sound like war cries. Or maybe she just wanted me to shut up and let her enjoy the view in peace. This kind of reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad a few weeks before:

“Kanmani what are you reading?”

“The Hunger Games.”

“I thought you already read that series, considering the fact that you lectured me about it for a straight fifteen to twenty minutes about it.”

“Well I am reading the books again because SOMEONE refuses to take me to the library, because that certain SOMEONE is to busy to spend a mere FIFTEEN MINUTES TO LET THEIR DAUGHTER GET BOOKS IN A LIBRARY.”

“And that certain SOMEONE is y-”

“LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA”

“Let me finish my sen-”

“LALALALALALALALALALA.” He walked away with his pointer fingers plugged in both ears. Still yelling obnoxiously.

“I have a father with the good nature of a spoiled child.”

Anyway as I was having a flashback, my little sister started fussing so I snapped out of my daze and handed her, a little baby teether. I learned that it comes in handy when driving. But at the moment…

Not so much.

When I handed it to her she just flung it at my face. One of the little bead thingys making me temporarily blind in my left eye for like two minutes. Once my vision cleared once again, I let her fiddle with my fingers for a bit. That experiment ended up with her biting my index finger. And let me tell you, a babies two little teeth may look like nothing at all but merely just little peaks of white in their gums but, oh no no no, you got it all wrong. Being bitten with those two little teeth can result to whatever part of you that was bitten into a red, throbbing pain in the neck(literally). With my finger still throbbing and the little teeth marks turning from red, to blue, to purple, I decided to just let her play with a little plush book toy thingy.

We inched nearer to the parking lot of Cedar Lodge. We were supposed to check in a few hours later so we had plenty of time for lunch.

My brother looked a little green at the edges so I shoved a plastic baggy that smelled like baby powder under his mouth and he heaved. While that happened my mom handed me a big brown bag with the Subway sandwiches and the plastic water bottles, and I followed my dad into this area with picnic tables and a bunch of chairs sprawled about. My mom cut and passed out the sand whiches and we ate. I felt kind of odd because directly in front of that little area is the parking lot and apparently they were doing construction or something because the sounds of them working always broke the air. My dad got up from his place in the chair and walked away to look at the view of the river.

“OH MY GOD!” A screech pierced the silence, apparently the sound slipped from my dad.

“What?” I said in sync to my mother.

“OHMYGOD!”

“WhAt?!”

“OHMYGOD!”

“WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU EVEN OHMYGODDING ABOUT DAD?!?!” I yelled in annoyance.

“DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME TALKING COME UP HERE AND LOOK DOWN!” He said to me and my mom.

I walked up and then my mind and mouth imitated my fathers actions briefly before:

“Oh. My. God.” My jaw dropped.

“I know.”

“Oh my god.’

“I know.”

“OH.MY.GOD”

“I.KNOW.”

“OHMYGOD!!”

“IKNOW!!”

Down below there was the river and near the shallow end where there was the shore was a large, broad strip of sand. It was the perfect place to settle down and eat and put our feet and hands in the water. My dad seemed to have the same idea.

“Gather everything up and help your mom bring the stuff down there.”

I helped my mom and she and I walked down and saw my dad seated in one of the two chairs already there.

I lost total regulation over myself and instantly kicked off my shoes, the pebbles and small rocks and sand crunching under my feet as I marched my way towards the shallow water. I rolled up my pants and waded my feet in the water. It was freezing but I didn’t care. After being in a car for long periods of time really made my body much less stabilized. The river water was fresh and cleansed and refreshed my body. Each wave of bitter cold that hit me made me feel alive and raw( does that make sense?) I loved how soft the sand was underneath my feet. This sand was the patch that was being hit by water, only sand stood. Other small rocks and pebbles were pushed away to either end. The sand soft and frictionless. I took my glasses and my watch of and stuck them in my shoes before I severely damaged them with my childlike ways around water and sand.

(I found the watch months before when I was looking at my dad’s old watches in his watch box. I came across one watch that had a pristine face, the numbers written in Roman Numerals. The band was a deep burnt umber, almost black leather. I put it on my wrist and for some reason it looked like it belonged there. I recognized the watch from old photos of my dad. I showed it to my mom and she scrunched up her face when she saw that I was wearing a man’s watch. I ran down the steps and found my dad seated on the couch. I asked him if it was his watch. He obviously knew that i knew it was his. But he knew that I didn’t know it’s story. The watch used to belong to my grandfather but he had died a year before I was born. Then my dad wore this watch. My dad told me that the leather strap had been replaced once but then never again. I stared at the watch resting on my wrist like a long lost memory waiting to be found. My dad asked me that if I promised to keep it safe, I could have it. I grinned with glee. I finally had a piece of my grandfather with me. Passed from a grandfather to a father, to me. Ever since then a day never passed without me wearing our watch. I didn’t want the watch to receive water damage so I took it off. I didn’t want to destroy something so precious to me and others.)

The amount of time that we decided to spend in the little secret beach area accumulated as the time passed.

I stood in the water until my feet went numb. I sat in one of the chairs beside my mom. My little sister was unbuckled from her car seat and seated beside my mom as if she was in a little throne. I stood up and sat in the seat closer to Thulasi. Since she was free from the seat belt, she was squirming around touching the sand. But then she picked up sand that was equivalent to the mass of the contents of a teaspoon, most of the sand falling back to the ground but she attempted to put the rest of the contents into her mouth.

“THULASI NO!” Shrieked my mother as she put the bits of sand back onto the ground. We all laughed as my mom picked up my little sister and put her in her lap.

I had abandoned my appetite and spent my time there putting my feet and hands in the water. Moments before consisted of my dad and I talking about how the parasites and other things in river water can potentially kill you and make you have a slow and painful death.

I really don’t think I should get into that.

I sat down beside my dad in a chair, my feet dipped in the water, and I staring at the landscape around me. Tree’s were everywhere, on the hills, behind and beside us, and some fallen tree trunks drowned in the shallow end of the small shore.

My feet rested in the soft sand accompanied by the free flowing water. My calves were completely soaked, along with a quarter of my jeans. In between my toes were bits of sand. And my brother thought it was a great idea to dump a pile of sand on my head when I wasn’t looking. I managed to get the majority of the particles out, but there were still small amounts left that I couldn’t get at in between the weak tangles in my hair.

Honestly none of us expected to find such an amazing spot to spend time in. As I just sat there in the peace of it all, I thought a short poem that accommodated my perspicacity:

The glow of the scattered stars at night, the moon illuminating the river’s shine. The sweet hush in the gentle good night, the slow, alluring dying of the light.

I love a long winding, waiting road, taking me to a place that I cannot foresee, until the hills reveal a landscaped mystery.

The morning rise of the sun breaks the shadow of night. The coming and going of a saturated sunrise. The clouds praise the sun, the sun praises the sky. The sky praises the tree’s who praise the souls who pass by.

The rolling hills beam as we pass. The water waves and breaks our trance. The bears lurk in the obscurity of the forest, the mountains set fire to the there shadows before we take notice.

There is another sun and sky, unrecognizable in the land of metal and gilt. The sky is bare expect for it’s bloodless puffs of clouds, the sun a ball of air and light.

The wind whispers to the waiting tree’s, a simple yet stirring type of a gesture. The mass conjuring a body of wind and frond.

I have stepped in a word of yellow and gold, the water a swirling sea of silver and green.

The steadfast feel of sand in my toes, the bewitching glow of the maneuvering shore. The wind blowing constantly, the sweet taste of the ocean hanging in the air. The water, it calls me, telling me to defy the space between me and them.

I broke out of my trance when my dad said ” Soooooooooo, shall we pack it up? We gotta check in to the hotel soon.” I pouted as I walked barefoot on the path, my shoes hanging from my fingers by the laces. I put on my watch and stuck the rocks and pebbles I found in my pocket so I can put them in my satchel when I can access it. The ground was so hot. And we were all walking around barefoot. I hopped about until we reached this small patch of grass and put on our shoes. I put my glasses on the bridge of my nose and strapped on my watch onto my wrist. We reached the car and dropped our stuff in there. I stuffed the rocks I collected into my satchel and ran to the shady area in which my dad was seated in a wooden bench. I scrambled to find where my brother went.

I was stupid enough to mistake him for a tree.

We walked into the large lobby area. There were glass cases with these vintage looking dolls and a bunch of teddy bears. Apparently they were for sale. There was this cute little doll that looked like a younger version of Sacagawea. But the clothing was all wrong. I pointed it out to my mom and she smiled. I walked around.

The dolls kinda creeped me out after a while so I walked away and looked at the other side of the room that extended to be a gift shop.

No one seemed to be there so I just roamed along. I saw a bunch of trinkets and shirts, hats and coasters with the words Yosemite stamped or pressed on them. I saw in a small crack in the corner of the room a small little green sprout. It looked exorbitantly close to deteriorating. I poured water into the cap of the plastic bottle that I was holding and poured it slowly over the young bud. I capped the bottle and I walked to this little box that was displaying these pens that had the heads of deer on the top of the cap. I was beaming at this incredible painting of the Half Dome that was splayed along the wall, but due to my very short stature my head went all the way back and actually touched the small of my neck.

Though that didn’t stop me from staring at it incessantly. I touched the strokes that almost seemed invisible to the naked eye. I hesitated as the tips of my fingers reached the familiar texture of a painted canvas. I instantly pulled my hand back when from the corner of my eye I saw a couple admiring the painting as well. They smiled at me and I sheepishly returned the gesture.

I bet in their heads they were like: “Why is that petite girl touching that painting? She looks ridiculous trying to reach up to that height.”

They probably didn’t actually think that but still.

I shuffled back to where my mom and my brother were seated on a big black couch. I sat, but the instant I did my dad came back and opened the door so we could grab our stuff and go to the hotel. I sluggishly slid of the couch and walked through the door, the blistering heat hit me like a punch to the face.

If I were able, I would’ve punched it right back.

My dad told my mom, brother, and I to find the room, while he drove the car to parking spot that would be close. Luckily we found the room and we grabbed our stuff from the car. I grabbed my satchel, and a smallish medium sized-ish duffel bag that had my clothes and my mom’s.

My mom told me to give them to her so I can help my dad grab a few more things. I also handed my mom the key card that gave us access to the room. I grabbed the snack bag and Thulasi’s diaper bag and climbed up the cement steps. I smiled at one of the staff who was stacking fresh towels onto his cart.

It’s funny how when you smile, that person smile’s back. And even after you have walked away, they sometimes even still remain smiling.

My mom left the door open halfway for my dad and I so I walked right in.

The room was really nice, two beds, an armoire, a bathroom, a couch, ceiling fan, and the air conditioning was already running. I put the stuff I was holding next to the other bags. My little sister was sitting on one of the beds. My brother was sitting on the small couch, above it hung this really cool metal leaf art that really made the room cool. I flopped onto the bed that was adjacent to the one Thulasi was on. My dad walked in a told my mom how great he thought the room was.

“Move over.” My brother said. I retorted back:

“No way.”

“Geek.”

“Dweeb.”

“Dork.”

“Dimwit.”

“Doofus.”

I soon took extreme measures:

“I refuse to move over mortal!”

“Nerd!”

“I refuse to move muggle!”

I could tell he was running out of ideas.

“Fine! You.. you…. Butt….Nerd. Butt Nerd.”

Okay, my brother went a little off now.

“What the heck is a Butt Nerd?!”

“Why are you calling each other names?” My mom dove into the conversation.

“And what in the world is a Butt Nerd?” She questioned.

“Ask the genius who said it mother.” I jested.

While my little sister played, my dad napped, my mom did who knows what, and my brother was drawing on a little pad of paper that he had in his backpack.

I hopped down softly my feet my creating a faint thud. My dad stirred, I walked slowly towards my satchel and reached to open the pocket. I grabbed my Kindle and walked back to the bed, in the process of retrieving my device, I snatched the bag of veggie chips. I sat there, quietly munching and reading. It was two o’clock, and we planned on getting back on the road to Glacier Peak at three.

But we definitely needed a break from driving around non-stop.

It felt lovely to just relax, and stretch, without the sun burning us to a crisp. It was nice to have some sense of pe-

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!”

And… My sister started to bawl her eyes out.

I hoisted her up and let her cling to my hip. I put her on my shoulder, patting her back, hushing her. Eventually she fell asleep, so I gently put her down beside my dad, I pulled up a chair and put it beside the bed, I sat down and continued my decent through the extent’s of my book.

Eventually my father and sister woke up and my mom decided that we should split the rest of the sandwiches before we leave.

In a lot of scenarios throughout my life,( trips, walks, drives, etc, )my mother can be EXCEEDINGLY fabricated. For example I would ask her for fun if she had an avocado in the hotel we stayed in at Yosemite. Then she would literally hand me a FREAKING AVOCADO and then ask if i need her to dice tomatoes, cut a lemon, and slice some onions so we can make guacamole. Another exemplification of this stereotypical situation with my mother is when we went to Mount Diablo and we were having a picnic. She literally brought at least five courses, plus a bunch of old plates and cups( that we never use at home) as well as, various types of fruit, and a bunch of other things.

Another time, we went for a walk and we started walking towards downtown, the sidewalk we were walking on seemed to quite dim and we didn’t want to step on an unfortunately stationed arthropod. So my mom decided to pull out a HEAVY DUTY FLASHLIGHT OUT OF HER FLIPPIN PURSE.

So it was no surprise when I saw that my mom brought the rice cooker, a kettle, and the toaster on this trip.

After about thirty minutes we all hauled into the car and started driving to Glacier Peak. The drive was quite long though there was no traffic. At one point we found a route to Bridal Veil Falls. But this wasn’t the path where all you did was look at it from a distance. “Come on it will be fun!” My dad said. I was actually thoroughly excited about walking to the path and up to where we could really see up it close. Especially since we were actually only going to see Yosemite Falls tomorrow. I always adore seeing Yosemite Falls up close, so seeing another waterfall would be awesome.I ran/military hopped, out of the car, my brother an obstacle in my path. I jumped out of the car, my brother on my trail. We all grabbed water bottles and I plucked my little brother’s fedora and put it on my head. My mom put on her baby carrier and my dad slipped Thulasi in. She looked adorable with her arms and legs just sticking out, and her head resting on my moms chest.

We hiked up the path, my dad and I looking ahead. My mom, my brother, and Thulasi close behind. As we creeped closer the sound of water slamming against rock elevated, water hitting my face in small doses. Finally the( well anticipated ) cataract came to view. The falling water kind of reminded me of locks of hair. Cascading down each hair either taking on a new texture or remaining it’s way. The water almost looked like cream with it’s depth and proliferation. We stood there, breathing in the crisp perfume of wet leaves My eyelashes were dotted with orbs of water, my skin freckled by the spray from the crashing water and wind. I couldn’t tear my eyes away, really it is not as simple a pantomime for me.

We stood there for a while that way, then my dad told me:

“Close your eyes and just don’t do anything, really feel it, it’s presence. Okay?”

“Okay.”

I close my eyes, the water that rested on my eyelashes trickling down my cheeks. This was a whole other way to experience something so, so.. Uh, I can’t even describe it! It’s just. I give up. Nothing can describe it unless you’re the waterfall itself. My dad and I continued standing there. There was this one girl standing on one of the rocks distanced away from the waterfall a little, she had this cloth sign that said TRAVEL MORE, apparently she was trying to get someone to take the picture of her holding it to be one of those “trendy” pictures you always find in social media. But with the wind blowing she almost fell backwards and the cloth kept blowing so it looked like it said: AVEL ORE. I rolled my eyes as she screeched for help when she dropped her high heeled shoes while her feet dangled impatiently for someone to retrieve it for her. Girl, it’s your problem that you’re wearing heels. We stood there for a bit longer, my mom decided to go back to the car with Thulasi. My dad and I decided to go back, my brother just waddling in front of us. (Don’t ask me why.)

We continued driving to Glacier Peak, stopping sometimes at some of the points that overlooked the majority of the landscape,( Half Dome, El Capitan, etc.) I started to get really agitated from being stuck in a car. I mean REALLY REALLY REALLY FLUSTERED. I started to let my complaints escape from my head and out my mouth.

“Ma ma ma, mummy, mama, mama, ma ma ma ma ma maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.” I dragged out.

“Yes Kanmani.” My mom sighed.

“Hi.”

When I’m bored I have a way of annoying people, and by people I mean my parents.

A LONG while later:

“WHERE HERE FINALLY. OH MY GOD.” I scrambled out of the car.

We walked towards the lookout area, but my dad decided to let my brother and I get ice cream at the General Store that was close by. I grabbed a strawberry cheesecake ice cream on a stick, my brother went off getting something else. Once my mom payed, we met my dad at one of the look out areas, waterfalls at almost every direction I turned. I bent down and looked at the cars driving below, like beetles scouring dirt roads. On one of the rocks that was jutting out of the infrastructure of the path we stood on, two men seemed to be standing on it, doing ridiculous things like pretending to jump of the edge. I rolled my eyes, my mom looked away, and my dad whispered the word “stupid” into my ear. A tall man standing beside my dad said “Idiots.” and then my dad replied with an “I know right!” We decided to go to our usual spot for looking at the view. It was this massive boulder, and underneath a thick bed of rock that we sat on, leaning our backs against the slab of rock behind us.

I took a few pictures with my dad’s phone, my dad geared with his DSLR camera. We both rested our devices and just looked, but then my dad’s phone rang. His ringtone was the James Bond theme, a man turned around and said “Whoever has that James Bond ringtone, I want it.” He chuckled. I smiled as my dad cheekily said “Hehe, that was mine.” He raised his hand like a student would in school when answering a question. Then the man walked away and started talking to another man about how his phone only made a DING DING DING sound that can really pick at your last nerve.

“This is how a REAL professional takes a picture.” My dad said with the familiar click of the camera and intimate look in his eyes. I made a sound that was a cross between of a snort, a goat’s bleat, and a laugh. But I have to admit, when my dad says he is gonna take a good picture, he takes a good picture. Anyway, the sun was hitting the Half Dome perfectly, making the body glow gold and aurelian. We had sat there for more than thirty minutes. Spending our time wisely staring, people came and went, mainly trying to catch a glimpse of the sunset hitting the outlook landscape. A lot of people were stupid enough to think it was a good idea to stand on the railing that was protecting people from falling 3,200 feet above Half Dome Village. A while later, we slowly walked back to the car, my mom huffing along the way. We all got in the car my dad started the car and we started driving, the tree’s passing by, some tree’s had sage, some were oak. My parents informed us to guess what my mom was making for dinner.

“Rice?”

“No.”

“Sandwiches?”

“No.”

“Pasta?”

“Close.”

“Noodles?!”

“Yes.”

“Wooohooo!”

“Wait, ma, how are you going to make noodles? In a toaster?!”

“No Kanmani, I’m going to use the cooker.”

I mentally gave myself a slap to the face. I mean obviously she can make noodles in a cooker, this is my mom we are talking about. Plus a cooker is a cooker, so yeah.

My brother fell asleep, then I felt a soft head of hair gently hit my hand, my little sister’s head to be exact. She had managed to fall asleep on the front of my hand. The soothing feel of her pulse made me sleepy.

A while later:

I blinked, we were still driving, tree’s on either side of the road. But then we saw a small group of people at the edge of the road. “OH MY GOD!” A woman had wailed. A scream that shook me to the core. I then saw a car that was laying sideways in the forest. It had fallen, possibly with passengers in it. My dad shook his had in sorrow, my mom bowed her head in despair. I silently hoped that , no one was hurt and that all will be well.

I went back to sleep, but the funny thing with this action is that once you go on and then wake up it feels like you had just rested your head. So when I dosed of and my mom woke me up when we got back to the hotel, it felt like I had only slept for a mere five minutes. We all went back to the hotel, grabbing whatever we may need in the hotel. As soon as I walked in I grabbed my pajamas and went straight to the bathroom to change. I sat on the bed my sister was seated on and played with her, she managed to get her hands on my Kindle. I mean I don’t even remember leaving it there.

My mom started up the noodles, my dad was watching something on the T.V., my brother was playing with Legos we brought from home and I was reading on my Kindle.

My mom had everything laid out, tomatoes and onions, salt, spices, noodles, tools to mix the noodles the vegetables in it, paper plates, etc. I watched as she cooked, my mouth watering from the steam.

Nightfall hit the sky hard. I sat there eating my plate of noodles, a bottle of cold water next to me. I read the book I was reading while eating. My dad stepped out with my little sister just outside the door. After my brother and I ate, my mom told us to eat a few apple slices before going to bed for digestion. I forced some down before my head hit the pillow. I thought about the day and was taken back to a quote I had read that was written by an anonymous:

Wanderlust consumed her;

foreign hearts and exotic minds compelled her.

She had a gypsy soul and a vibrant hope for the unknown.

Huh, I wonder who that could be…

 

 

Singapore lies one degree(137 km) north from the equator, located at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia. Singapore’s territorial geographic land forms consist of one main island along with sixty-two other islets.( Islets are small islands, and can mainly be found along with larger islands, or even found secluded or in a group of other islets.) Singapore is 277.6 mi² in size. And yet holds a human population of approximately six million. It is widely known for being the smallest known country in southeast Asia. The weather is EXTREMELY hot because it is so close to the equator. The Sun hits the Earth in an angle, therefore hitting directly at the Earth’s middle. Singapore has a rain forest like climate so even the rain is warm. So I suggest that if you ever come here, where shorts, thin shirts, sturdy shoes, and a hat would help.

It is my mother tongue and my It is well known for it’s multicultural population as well as being the most expensive city in the world. But I have to admit the food is delicous and the people there are super nice. I myself speak Tamil. It is my mother tongue and in Singapore, everyone I met who spoke Tamil said so cleanly without a single chunk of English. I mean even my parents speak with hints of English sprinkled here and there. Most of the people there have a really nice accent as well. The buildings and architectural structures constructed there are incredible and it’s hard not to behold over them all. But honestly, my favorite thing out of all of the things representing Singapore is the rain. It just comes so suddenly and then as soon as it starts, it stops. And in the end it doesn’t leave a single trace or piece of evidence showing that it rained j¨st moments before. It’s miraculous it tell you.

• Part 10 Day 6

I rose to the sound of cars driving about as the sun rose from it’s deep slumbers. It’s rays punctured through the crevices of tree’s and reflected on the windows of vehicles and the glass of buildings and the towering skyscrapers. I dragged my half alert body from the bed and forced my feet to walk to the bathroom to brush my teeth. One foot forward, one foot back, one foot forward, one foot back. One foot stepping on a loose piece of paper, one foot slipping on Madhavan’s sock. One part of my face ramming into a closed door, the other half of my face gets a full face of my moms shoulder. Yeah I am TOTALLY the most perceptive person on the face of the Earth. I stared at my feet, or to be more specific my mix-matched socks. I scolded myself for being the stupid person I am, and mumbled offensive things to myself while I brushed my teeth. What a GREAT way to the start the morning in which we prepare to leave the current place we are in and fly to another one. Or to be more clear, we were basically leaving Singapore and flying to India. We were going to do all that in one single day.

I quickly did my usual routine and helped my mom and dad put stuff away in our bags. I checked each crack and corner of the room, seeing if we left anything behind. I probably did that five or six times before my mother and father told me that we had everything in our bags and that nothing was left. I helped my mom make the beds and clean up. We grabbed everything putting it in the car. Ganesan Mama, Deepak, and Sumathi Athai did the same. We then went to Anand Bhavan for one last meal there before we left for the airport. We said our goodbyes to the owner and told her that we would come there again the next time we came to Singapore for another visit. It felt as if the food was even better now that we were consuming it for the last time before we left.  After our brief goodbyes we climbed into the cars.

We arrive at the airport and walk around until we got to the luggage area to put everything away. We got into the point where we had to leave Jagan Mama and  Bala Thatha behind and venture one our own. I hugged both Jagan Mama and Bala Thatha. Thatha ruffled my hair and gripped his firm hand on mine and then let go. I appreciate him dearly, he was there with us ever since we stepped foot on Singapore soil. And he was here when we were going to leave it. I can never ever express my gratitude through such simple choice of words. Jagan Mama and I embraced and said our goodbyes. It went on until it came to the point where my mom and mama had to say bye to each other. It was so sad. And when they left, Sumathi Athai, my mom, and I all left to the bathroom while my dad, my brother, Deepak, and Ganesan Mama waited.

I had been dreading this day ever since we landed. I hate the sight of seeing my own mother cry. I despise seeing those tears trickle down her cheeks and chin like raindrops in a heavy storm. I become pained when I see her doe like eyes become filled with doldrums of agonizing tears. Her sobs ring in my ears like echos in a deep cave. My heart shatters to see her soft kind face break so sorrowfully and misspoken. All this because she has to leave family behind for more than seven hundred thirty days.

I rubbed my small hand against my mothers palm while athai and I said comforting words. As we walked inside a single tear ran down my callused cheeks like a morning dew drop on the petals of a flower. The salty liquid traveled down my chin and dangled there like a rain drop clinging on to a crumbling leaf. The single drop that secreted from my wet eyes reached the floor, dividing into smaller versions of itself. I wiped the tears away from my moms eyes, trying my best to hide my own. We washed our faces and our clammy, sweaty hands. When we walked back out my mom seemed to be a bit better, considering the fact that SHE LITERALLY JUST SAID GOODBYE TO HER OWN LITTLE BROTHER BECAUSE SHE WON’T BE ABLE TO SEE HIM IN PERSON FOR LIKE TWO OR THREE MORE YEARS.

We sat at the gate until it was boarding time. We talked, and talked. And we explored the airport. My brother got a little box full of Angry Birds gummy candies, that came with a little key chain as well. We hung out at this beautiful fish pond where there were many different colored koi fish that swam along and under these wooden planks that we stood on. Deepak and I were in the middle of talking about the mechanism of a robot that can pump blood in a human’s heart when my brother walked up to us saying that he needed water. Just a few moments before he had been running around the perimeter of the little area we occupied. So we understood why he was so tired out. Deepak and I retrieved the water( while legitimately spilling twenty five percent of it). My dad had just gone to the Customs Department so we can receive the taxes for the jewelry we had gotten.

Soon enough, it was time to board the plane to India. I jumped up from my seat. My hand that was clutching Madhavan’s wrist jerked his little body up with a jolt. We walked to where we would board the plane. I always love walking through that wide tunnel connected to the plane and the building. It overlooked the other planes and showed the Singapore’s skyline. Half of me wanted to curl up into a ball and think. I absolutely dread goodbyes. I don’t care if it’s a person, or a city, or even a single house for all I care. Home is where family is. But what if family is in more than one place? I saw from the corner of my eye, a little slip of paper that fell out of my back pocket. I looked back at it, fluttering slowly to the ground. I remember writing on it and ripping it out of my notebook when we first landed. In the messiest cursive ever, I wrote, Hello Singapore. I smiled before I climbed into the plane. Maybe saying goodbye isn’t so bad as to saying a simple hello.

This time we all sat in the middle row while Ganesan Mama, Sumathi Athai, and Deepak sat in front of us. My mom to the left, my brother and me next to her, and then my father sitting next to me. We were taking off. We were slowing descending from the runway and into the welcoming sea of blue that awaited us above. I looked at the window that was to my right, the city soon become farther and farther from my straining eyes reach. I leaned my head back on the cushions of the seat, I loved the feeling of taking of in a plane. And the fact that this feeling was rare for me made it more worthwhile. My hands were pressed against the arm rests. Shaking from the plane’s movement. My eyes were trained on the window, then to the ceiling, then the window again. I sat there in complete bliss. After all, traveling can make anyone a storyteller.

 

• Part 9 Day 5

“Kaaaaaaanmani. Wake uuuuuuuuuup.” Sang my mother.

“No.” I said in a voice that sounded like a child’s.

“Kanmani.” My mom sighed.

“I’m sweepy.” I said.( I tried to say it in my normal tone but instead of saying “sleepy” I said “sweepy.”)

I then stuck my hand out in a signal to my mom so she could pull my body up. She successfully got me out of the bed, with me groaning and on my feet. I walked into the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush with my hand that was sticky and clammy from the sweat that secreted under my clothing. I took a shower and threw on some clothes.  Once I was done I sat on the bed and pulled out my Kindle from my backpack. I started reading the A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens when suddenly I heard a howl so loud that I jumped, dropping the little tablet. It crashed to the floor, clattering against the varnished wooden floor boards.  I scrambled to the floor and grabbed it, checking it to see if there were any scratches. I then looked up and saw that my brother was standing there, a grin plastered across his face. I scowled at him as he ran away.

I was currently in a very odd position. The top half of my body on the floor, my hands caressing the Kindle. My legs were sprawled against the bed sheets in a V shape, my toes smushed against the wall. It seemed my dad needed something from the suitcase so he walked in on me. When he saw me he had the look of a man who just saw a Styracosaruas playing a fiddle while wearing a pink tutu, glittery pink lip gloss, and a leotard.

“Wha….?” He said in disbelief.

“Ehe.” I mustered with a smile plastered on my face.

“What in the-how did you…? Huh…?” He exclaimed not finishing his incomplete sentences.

“IwasjusttryingtogetmyKindlebecauseMadhavanscaredmebyscreechingreallyloudlyandIgotscaredandsothat’showIendedupinthispositi-onpleasedon’thurtme.” I said quickly catching my breath.

We then had a heated conversation by blinking.

*Blink blink: WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING.

*Blink Blinkity Blink Blink: Did I not just explain to you without breathing father?

*Blink Blink: The End

Anyway, I settled into the bed, my right shoulder leaning against the windowsill. But then the hurricane hit:

“Kanmani.”  My little brother asked.

“Hmm?”

“Kanmani.”

“Uh huh.”

“Kanmani!”

“Yes.” I said nodding towards the spot next to me so he could sit.

“KANMANI!”

 I leaped, rolling onto the floor and jumped up onto my feet. I did a battle cry. “MADHAVAN TELL ME WHERE THE TITAN IS AND I’LL BEAT HIM UP FOR YOU.” A sharp pencil was in my hand and I was in a fighting stance.

“Kanmani I just want a story, my god.” He said.

“Oh.” I said in shame, I was blushing furiously. I have a tendency to read a lot of books including things like titans, giants, monsters, hellhounds, beasts, manticores, revenants, venomous flying snakes with fangs as sharp as a knife and have poison oozing out of there eye sockets… You know the usual.

My little brother settled down beside me and he pointed to the text that I was currently reading in the Kindle. I didn’t think he would understand any of Charles Dickens’s work but I read it anyway. He seemed so eager and I couldn’t resist. So I read:

“It was the best of times;
It was the worst of times.
It was the age of wisdom;
It was the age of madness.”

“It was the era of belief;
It was the era of doubt.
We had everything to gain;
We had nothing to gain.”

“It was the season of Light;
It was the season of Darkness.
It was the Spring of hope;
It was the Winter of despair.”

“We had everything before us;
We had nothing before us.
We were all going direct to heaven;
We were all going direct to the opposite of heaven”( I altered it so it was appropriate.)

“Do you like it?
Yes we do
Are you happy?
We’re so happy now.
Recalled to life?
Yes it’s true!”

“You had time to change your mind, now there’s no turning back.”

“Red wine has stained,
the blood of men.
Hunger and pain,
and their time will come.
The grindstone turns,
once again.”

“Why should we be blamed for this, our forefathers’ bliss.”

“Footsteps echo on the path below.
As people watch their new cross put on its show.
And the Rings of Saturn roll along the street.”

I looked at my dumbstruck little brother. About four and one half of a minute later he simply muttered. “Wha…?” I totally understood though. I bet he was expecting something a little less…. Explicit.

Anyway, as my brother and I were just sitting around in the bed, my mom was moving a mile a minute like, I would see her in one place and then I would just turn away for like two seconds and then POOF. She’s gone. And then there was my father scrolling through his phone, not responding to physical contact or speech. “Okay ready.” My mom FINALLY said. We walked out the door and I strained myself when we opened it, expecting harsh heated weather hitting my skin like a comet hurtling towards it’s next victim. But instead I stepped out, all of our expressions changing. The sky was filled with dark hale navy clouds. The sky felt extremely dense( now here’s a short science lesson:

People tend to think that when the weather is legitimately “dense” we have a tendency to assume that, that specific identification for that claim of climate and weather defines it all. That claim is very much, false. Cold air is quite dense, unlike warm heated air where it is quite thin. People think the complete opposite though. The molecular structure binding this process has multiple molecules that are very close to each other, the bonds are absorbing much less energy and therefore lead for the climate to be this way.) Yes you heard me right. Singapore weather was actually manageable.  I THANK YOU O’ MIGHTY BALL OF LIGHT AND HEAT WHO HAS APOLOGIZED FOR BARBECUING US IN THE PAST 96 HOURS OF OUR LIVING HERE. YOU HAVE PLEASED ME AND MY FELLOW TRAVELERS ON OUR JOURNEY THROUGH THE TERRAINS OF THE EASTERN REGIONS OF THE WORLD.

We continued walking, we then halted to a stop in front of a beautifully built temple. I saw groups of students walking in different directions. Groups wore shirts that indicated what school they were from, name tags were sported around their necks. There were different schools with different types of students. Some seemed no younger than a first grader. Some seemed so tall that they couldn’t even see the small children below. I became self conscious about my physical appearance.  I mean my pediatrician told me before the trip that I wasn’t going to grow that much. He said that I would only increase a few inches before high school. He literally told me that I would have to expect to look up at people a lot.  Right then and there I stood squished between high school students that were taller than my own father. I felt like an ant in a colony of giants.

We walked inside and I instantly fell in love with the intricate designs carved into the stone ceiling. It reminded me so much of the temples in India. As if a crane lifted a solid structure and then dropped it into this specific spot in the eastern regions of the world. The architecture of the building was incredible. I’ve seen videos of how the configurations and formatting was done but I am always shocked by the finished product. We sat down on the cold( but quite soothing) stone floor. I was sitting smack on the center of a painted flower trifecta. The petals burst with a rosy pink, the leaves looked so ripe and lively. We soon walked out into the open, the sun peaking out from behind a cloud. The rays would soon start penetrating the floating glob made up of water droplets and dust( also known as a cloud;)

We then went to Komala Vilas, an Indian restaurant that seemed to be nearby. The food was pretty good, and I was stuffed were the rest of the day. We went to a jewelry shop, we walked in and looked at earrings and rings for my mom. We found this solid ring and these really pretty earrings for her. My mom then started looking for a pair of small earrings for me. I sat on an abnormally high stool that stood right in front of a huge glass case filled with a lot of different jewelry. My mom(FINALLY) found a pair of small gold earring with little spheres that dangled a millimeter underneath attached to a thick strand of gold.

We then went to a big shopping center, it seemed to be like the cornucopia for people obsessed with anything that glinted under the sun. I got blinded by shiny watches in glass cases displayed in the entrance. We went to the second floor where the clothing department was to get sari’s to give to our relatives in India. I touched all the different fabrics and silks. One was so soft that a baby could sleep soundly on it. One was so rough and covered in sequins and glitters that I was left with faint red marks on the tips of my fingers.

I noticed that every place we had gone to so far was in Little India, almost every place we had went to was either on the same street or really close by to the location we had been in. We soon left to go back to the hotel room, my dad, Ganesan Mama, and Deepak all went to this tech store, while my mom, Sumathi Athai, and I were all left in the hotel with nothing else to do. Basically all I did was read, and read some more. Once they came back from that technology store we wall went to Bala Thatha’s home for dinner.

I watched as the day came to a close and the night flooded in. Faint stars dotted the sky  like drops of white paint on an extremely dark navy blue canvas. We parked in front of rows and rows of small box like apartments, the windows glowing with light. We walked to one of the floors that seemed to overlook the parking lot, we knocked on the door. We were greeted with smiles, hugs, and pats on the back. I loved the interior design of the space. I met my two uncles and my aunt( my mom’s cousins) Divya Auntie, Naveen Uncle, and Dhivan Uncle. My parents ate the dinner that was prepared, while my brother ate pizza. I felt terrible afterward because Parvathi Aachi prepared an entire meal and yet I nibbled on a piece of cheese and bread, but I sucked it up and enjoyed the rest of the night. We all took one group picture with us all standing in the living room. We said our brief goodbyes and walked back into the car.

We then went to Amirtham Aachi’s house next, when we got there I was instantly brought into a bone crushing hug, I felt like I was being suffocated by a cloud shaped like a bear. We walked inside and were offered homemade jello, cake, and noodles. It was all really good and I had a fun time. It turned out that my other aunt, Jaya auntie made the cake and jello. And aachi and Jaya auntie made the noodles together. Before we left, my brother and I were given little goodie bags. The goodies were adorable, and I thanked them for everything before we had gone of to the car.

Bala Thatha pointed out these beautiful festival lights. We had decided to take one drive around Singapore, and the lighting’s were incredible. But my favorite was still though festival strobe lights. I became more and more drowsy, my head dropped on the edge of the glass of the window with a little Thump.

• Pictured below is the temple from Little India. Veera Kaliammam

Now before I continue on I should probably explain one thing. On my last post one of the main words in my title was the word “starfire.” Don’t try to look it up because the word that I embedded into my speech is not an actual phrase used by people. It’s merely a word that I wholeheartedly made up. I realized that there wasn’t a word in the written dictionary that represented domesticated creatures as savage or uncontrollable. In my dream there was the shadow man. I could tell that in his eyes he used to be a kind soul. His eyes looked out of place with his chilling grin. He turned from sweet to savage. So the word starfire was born. I know you’re probably wondering why I named it specifically in that form of speech. Well I think of stars. Before they pass they are just a glowing ball of heat and light, they give people joy and revival. But when they die, it happens so suddenly. The spot where they once radiated is now empty. Just like the hole that is penetrated into a kind souls heart. Turning them into a whole different person. I like to think that after a star dies it turns into a different form thus forming a starfire. It lives on by spreading a fire through a persons heart. But if the person who is gifted with that entrancement and use it unwisely they will change completely. I know all of this sounds silly, but it’s what I want to believe.

• Part 8 Day 4

I woke up to the sound of Madhavan’s voice.

“Kanmani, Kanmani, Kanmani, Kanmani, Kanmani, hey Kanmani, wake up, wake up, wake up, wa-” I stopped him by whispering.

“MADHAVAN YOU ARE GETTING ON MY LAST NERVE AND YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW THAT WAKING UP A RAVENCLAW THIS WAY IS HORRIBLE AND WILL GET YOU IN A LOT OF TROUBLE.” (Ravenclaw is a Hogwarts House from Harry Potter that house students into that membership, they represent wit, knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, individuality, acceptance, and originality.)

“I need to tell you something Kanmani!” He said. holding in a laugh.

“Well what is so important that you need to wake me up when it’s 3 am?” I said in annoyance.

“Hi.” He said.

“Hi?!” I exclaimed.

“HI?!” I cried.

“SO WHAT YOU’RE TELLING ME IS THAT YOU WOKE ME UP JUST TO SAY A CONTRADICTION ?!” I half yelled, and half whispered.

“Well mom and dad are awake and they were going to wake you anywa-” I punched him lightly on the shoulder causing him to land on the cold wooden floorboards. Just as I was about to close my eye’s again, my torso felt as if something really heavy was bouncing up and down on it. Madhavan was not only trying to wake me up but he was also mindlessly destroying my rib cage and cutting of my circulation. “AND I’M UP!” I cried, my hands were thrown up in the air showing my annoyance towards my Hufflepuff of a brother. (Hufflepuff is another Hogwarts House that houses students representing dedication, patience, loyalty, and fairness.)

So much for a few extra hours of sleep. I thought. The night before I was just laying on the bed thinking about my dreams and trying to figure it out. I didn’t want to tell my mother or father either. In fact I told my mom when I was writing the dream for the blog. Here’s how our conversation went:

“So yeah, more than two years ago I fought a maniac circus trainer that was abusing a baby elephant. I even have a scar to prove it. I also fell into a hole that’s the equivalent of a trillion hellhounds and I also didn’t come ba-” My mother was looking at me with a face that said what did I raise?

“We should take you to a doctor.” She finally said.

“I’M NOT MENTAL!” I cried. My arms flailing.

“No I meant the blood you were talking about.” She said.

“NO WAY!” I said.

Then I started lecturing her to the point where I disgusted her with my very descriptive allocation about how the heart pumps the blood and that cut up tomatoes look like the internal organs(that is my way of annoying my mother.)

I started to explain that I probably got the little wounds from cutting myself. Though I didn’t believe my own words as much as my mother did. My mother finds it hard to believe that I have such vivid dreams and actually remember them for more than two or three years. So that night I was just staring at the hotel ceiling and thinking about everything. Sleep did come but not in the way I thought. My mind was just like “I guess I could withstand a night without sleeping.” But then 2 minutes later: “Zzzzzzzzzzz.” Anyway, I walked to the bathroom rubbing my sleepy eyes. “Good morning Kanmani.” “Mhm.” I moaned. “Sleep well?” My dad asked with a ridiculously annoying but funny smirk plastered on his scruffy face. “Oh how ironic that our little conversation became so close to my current fundamentals in night composure.” I sticked my tongue out when he wasn’t looking as my mother giggled. I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when suddenly I heard a bloody scream that made all the blood in my body go south. I did a little sound that was a cross between a scream and a squeal.

I turned around to see my brother with a funny grin on his face. I started screaming “I TOLD YOU TO NEVER DO THAT BUT NOOOOO YOU JUST HAD TO SCARE THE BRAIN TISSUE OUT OF ME.” But with my toothbrush still in my mouth it sounded like “HI HOLD HUE HU HEVER HO HAT HUT HOOOOOO HUE HUST HAD HU HARE HUH HAIN HISSHU HOWT HUF HE.” He laughed and ran away to my dad. I rolled my eyes, Sometimes I think I have a Slytherin for a brother. (Slytherin is a House in Hogwarts that represents being cunning, having resourcefulness, and being ambitious. This house is also where evil is known to roam and rise.) I know it sounds mean but thats what I sometimes tend think. I took a shower and wore a really comfortable teal dress that had black designs in the fabric. Underneath the dress I wore a soft light blue shirt. Sure it was a dress but at least it was flexible and absorbent. I brushed out my hair and cleared out the fog that dominated my glasses.

We were going to Sentosa Island to just tour around. We all met up with Deepak, Ganesan mama, and Sumathi Athai, at the hotel lobby room. I saw through the big glass double doors that the sun was blazing down the streets like a lamp beaming down on a desk. I felt like my blood was boiling and my brain would soon start seeping through my body like a lava lamp. We walked out into the baking heat as my brother asked me a legion of questions.

“Kanmani, what color is the sun?”

“Madhavan in outer space it looks orange, but since we can’t look directly at it from here it appears to have no color it’s radiation cause’s it to look like a neon yellow.”

“Uh, okay. Why is the sky blue?” He asked

“Because of the ultraviolet rays the sun gives off, there are multiple atoms that make up different parts of light, one of the main ones are the color blue, thus making the sky having the tint it has.”

Madhavan had a blank look on his face. So I improvised.

“There is an invisible painter in the sky who paints the sky the colors it comes to be everyday. The painter loves the people on the planet so much that he decided to add multiple colors to the sky in the afternoons everyday so people could marvel over his masterpieces.” I said, satisfied with myself.

“OOH.” He exclaimed as he glanced happily at the sky. I smiled and took is hand and we walked along…

• Later

We just walked into an Indian restaurant with a sign that read: Komala Vilas on it. Inside, it was packed with people. We had to snake around people that were packed around tables, until we finally were able to have found two empty tables. I sat next to my mother, my dad and brother in front of us. We ordered and our food came a little while afterwards. I looked around the, the walls were a pale greenish bluish color, ceiling fans mounted above. The food was pretty good actually and we all left with full stomachs.

• A long while later…

Bala Thatha dropped us of at the railway station. My dad and Ganesan Mama went out and bought Subway sandwiches we could eat on the island while Deepak, Madhavan, my mom, Jagan Mama, Sumathi Athai, and I went to a nearby MacDonalds and had pancakes. I’m not really into sweet breakfast foods so I handed my plate to Jagan Mama. We were sitting in the train, and I loved the ride. Since we were going to stop at the Sky Train building we decided to go on railway. The ride was much faster and fun. We sat on these bright plastic, purple seats. I tried my best not to slide down every time we moved. I mean the plastic was so smooth that I had to strain myself from accelerating to the floor. The movement of the train was quite fast and more enjoyable than the slow one that I had went on once before in San Fransisco. We stopped at our station. My legs fell asleep so I felt like I was impaired from my feet for a little while. Anyway we left the station and started walking to the Sky Train building. The building was very refined and simple but the architecture and the design was very admirable. We were finally escorted to the area where the colorful box-like cars were lined up in a row like an assembly line. The woman who had taken us here to us all the directions of how to get in and out safely. I was extremely excited. If you couldn’t tell already, I love looking at places from such a high perspective. I stepped inside, I claimed the part of the seat that was beside the door( Wow, letting a 10 year old girl sit right smack dab next to a door in a cable car that is hanging from a metal wire that is connected to a whole different island that is more than 21.7 miles away. Yeah. Sooooo smart). As soon as we all got in the door closed and we started slowly going through the assembly line of other cable cars until I finally felt the compression from the ground release into what seemed like nothing. I looked down below and saw the sea. It’s brilliant mix of green and blue hues shone brightly in the sun.

I looked at my dad, and Jagan Mama. They were taking a bunch of hilarious pictures, my mom and I watched the view. I absolutely loved being able to see everything from such a high area. To everyone else, I seemed to look calm. But really my mind was just like: WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!! WOW LOOK AT THE SEA. OH MY GOD IS THAT THE ISLAND?! IT LOOKS SO COOL FROM HERE! WOW EVERYTHING IS SO SMALL! I LOVE IT! IT’S SO COOOOL!!!! YEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!! We moved steadily but we were able to see a lot. At one point as we were coming close to the other building to stop, we were above a vast forest of various kinds of tree’s. I wanted the ride to last longer but unfortunately we had stopped at the area where we were supposed to get off. I stepped down carefully and landed softly on the cement. I trailed behind my father, Jagan Mama, and Ganesan Mama. We looked around for a while and came to a stop in an aquarium.

In the brochure it showed pictures advertising their show with these pink dolphins, I flipped through as we walked through to where they were holding the show. We sat on the long row of benches( or do you call them bleachers? I don’t know.) As I sat down on the metal sectional, the heat from the metal reached my skin. I felt like a cookie baking inside the rack of an industrial oven. The show soon started and all our heads turned, our eyes trained on the creatures in the water before us. As the dolphins moved I noticed that on the sides it looked as if the pink was rubbing away, it reminded me of paint chipping away from a well worn wall. I looked at each one of their eyes, they looked tired and almost… Depressed. I couldn’t bear myself to look into there dismal eyes. I continued watching as they turned and flipped, splashed and swished, jumped and leaped. The show was good, but I wasn’t able to withdraw the image of those dolphin’s eyes from my head. Anyway, we walked along into the main building where they had the tanks and aquariums. I looked at the flurry of fish that swam before us in one of the cylindrical tanks that seemed to be the epicenter of the entire building that held the aquariums. We continued examining each tank and looked at each of the inscriptions talking about the fish. I even saw one plaque that had actual shark sacs with baby sharks actually moving inside. It creeped me out a bit because there was literally no liquid substances that were inside that would keep them alive. THEY NEED WATER TO SURVIVE PEOPLE. DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THE DANGER YOU PUT THEM IN?! HOW DO YOU EVEN STAND WATCHING THOSE POOR CREATURES STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE IN A SLAB OF GLASS AND WOOD?! I wanted to scream.

We continued walking, marveling at the fish that roamed through the colorful corals like snakes in a jungle. I was able to buy a few key chains for my friend, and my brother snagged a toy bubble gun in the shape of a( very unlucky) fish for himself. We sat down for a bit in this little sitting area and talked. As we left, I saw a few signs advertising that visitors could now get massaged by tiny fish in a tub( I know that I make it sound less appealing but it is literally what they were saying on the signs. I found it quite odd that people would want to get massaged by teeny tiny creatures that are probably regretting there life’s choices. Couldn’t you just massage yourself from the comforts of your home?( All of the things in this post regarding my opinionated contradictions are like I said, just my opinions, I am not trying to tell others that my opinion is what they should believe and my opinion only. In fact it would make me more than happy to know that your are comfortable with branching out you’re opinions to others, such as myself.) Anyway we left and ate the sandwiches we had brought.My brother begged my dad to get him this little LEGO watch. That was probably the most annoying part of the day.

Once we were done we went to a nearby exhibition showcasing bugs and a butterfly park. We walked inside and I instantly cringed, goosebumps creeped up my arms. Everywhere I looked, there were poor insects and butterflies in these big glass cases. They seemed to be taped or strung down. As we walked along the graveyard of insects and spiders( spiders are not insects, they are bugs by the way.) We walked into a brightly lit room. I gasped under my breath. There was a colossal amount of butterflies in glass cases. There sizes increasing with each one I looked at. One looked as if it could cover my entire head without struggle. One was so small that it was tinier than my pinkie finger’s fingernail. We then walked into what seemed to be the butterfly park. Butterflies fluttered by as we watched. There were a few benches nearby, my mom, dad, Ganesan Mama, and Sumathi Athai sat down. We just stayed there for a while and then we left.

We then stopped by the beach. My brother played in the sand, my mom, Sumathi Athai, my dad, Jagan Mama, and Ganesan Mama talking. Deepak, and I sat there, I played with my brother, I helped him dig deep into the mounds of sand so he could reach his little hands into the damp, packed sand. At one point we all waded in the water. The cool water lapped against our feet. Excess water trickling through the crevices of our toes. I absolutely love the feeling of cool, crisp, fresh water on my feet. I despise pool water. We stayed there for a while, taking pictures and wading in the water. My brother and I built this big arena( my idea) and in the middle I made an intricate cornucopia. We soon had to leave back to the hotel through the train. But sand was still in my hair, the scent of the sea still on me like perfume.

• Part 7 Day 3

I was inside a large circus tent. On the side’s were large rips, the fabric drooping down on either side. Sunlight cascaded into the gashes, bringing light into the musty darkness. I was lying in the middle of the solid dirt floor. I didn’t know how I got there but I knew it was for a reason. Suddenly I heard a large sound like a trumpet in the distance. I got up and ran as fast as I could without looking back. “Hello?” I cried. I gulped as I saw a trainer beating a baby elephant with an elongated black whip. I stepped closer my voice capturing the shadow like figure’s attention. “HEY, you have NO right to do what you are doing.” I screamed my voice getting bolder and even more edgy with every word. The trainer didn’t say anything as he turned around, I saw his face was as pale as a white rose, his eyes looked like the pit to an endless hole. He turned back around and continued beating the baby elephant like it was nothing. I saw something glinting just a few feet behind me. I slinked to the area it radiated and grabbed what seemed to be a handle. It was a large bronze dagger. I realized that since I was in a circus tent, these were equipment from shows. They were abandoned and coated with dust.  I cringed each time I heard the cries of the unknowing elephant. Then an idea struck me like a sword through my head. Just as the man had his whip in the air, I brought the sword down, the bronze hitting the leather. About 3/4 of the leather was chopped off, only leaving a floppy stub. The man turned, his useless trinket turned into what seemed to be a lethal weapon. The fabric turned into what seemed to be a full length sword. “Bring it.” He said in a raspy tone. We dueled until my dagger unfortunately gave in to the twisting and stabbing the man’s sword brought. I was cornered the elephant was able to get away. I sliced at his leg, his motion was like lightning. “How do you find satisfaction in seeing a soul tortured?” A malevolent grin creeped up his face, “Well I don’t have time to answer that because I am busy enjoying you fall to your death.” He retorted harshly as he pushed me, I thought I would land on hard flooring. Instead I landed in a hole . I was falling, into a large pit. It had jagged stalagmites running down the walls of the seemingly endless walls. I was falling into a pit that was the lethal equivalent of more than trillions of hellhounds. I was falling into a place that inhaled fire and exhaled ashes.

“NO!” I screeched. My body was bolt upright in bed. Beads of sweat traveled down my temples, and down my neck. My hair looked like jet black waves mixed with curls flowed down my sticky, sweaty back. My breath hitched as I looked around. It was just a dream. I told myself. It was so peculiar though. I sword fought with an unknown but abusive animal trailer in a circus tent, while trying to protect an elephant that was being abused. And then I failed. I plunged into a pit of darkness with a baby elephant that thanked me though I unsuccessfully tried to save it. And then I noticed something as I brushed my teeth. A scar, a fresh one actually. It was right on my wrist. I remember when I sword fought with the shadow man( lets just call him that) I seemed to be shredding him down. He became weaker and anemic. He seemed desperate and out of ideas, so he then swung his sword like a desperate heinous maniac. It sliced through my skin like a knife cutting through soft butter. The small wound was bleeding, warm red liquid trickled down my arm and drops of my blood every time I brought my hand up to slash up my dagger. I noticed in the mirror that there was a faint red stain behind the shell of my ear. I touched it gently with my callused thumb. I stifled a scream, the signal of pain reached the patch of skin that caressed my bloody wound. I looked at my thumb, now covered in my blood. I took a hand mirror and examined the wound. It was a long gash that went from the top of my ear and ends behind my earlobe. It wasn’t very deep but even the slightest sense of touch, such as a single hair falling behind it feels like being stabbed by a thousand swords.

I tried my best to wipe out all of the blood that undulated out of the scar until it only left a mere cicatrix. One part of my mind was telling me I bet this happened when you we battled the shadow man! But then my logical side dominated my whole head. I was trying to push away the thoughts that preponderated my head. But it was to peculiar to push away though. My dream affected my ways of life to. For example when I got ready that morning for our next destination I was moving the way I did when I was dodging the shadow man’s sword . And when I first met( my best friend) Emily at the start of the school year the first thing she ever told me was “You move like you’re in a battle.” I still move like that, my feet sliding against the floor, I twirl to a stop. I still remember the combat moves I did. It comes in handy at P.E. a lot actually. But what really changed me two years ago was that dream, everything that happened. It reminds me of a manga I like to read now called Blue Exorcist. The manga contains a story line that is action and thriller. My dream was like that story, almost… Supernatural.

I looked at myself in the mirror one more time before we left to Anand Bhavan. My eyes are actually an extremely dark brown. So dark that you can’t even see my pupils. My best friend Jayden always says that in the dark, my eyes look like orbs of glowing black fire with the specks and blotches of black in my eyes. In the light, he  says my eyes look like a storm with the mix of different brown colors surrounding my pupil. A lot of my friends( specifically Jayden) thinks that when I look at them it’s extremely intimidating for them to look at my eyes directly, especially with my long eyelashes and midnight black strands of loose bangs that twist like black brambles, framing my face. But that day they looked wild and vicious. I combed out my ink colored hair. The waves merging into little princess curls. We were going to Jurong Bird Park to, well, see birds. I was wearing these really baggy pants that had these really cool patterns on them, and I was wearing this loose top. I was really happy that I wasn’t encased inside a floral massacre.

We walked down the sidewalk and picked up some food. And as usual the same woman was there serving us. She was so nice and loving. I loved her. As usual the sun’s rays radiated down upon us. But I was grateful that the stratosphere protects us from it’s lethal rays. IF YOU WERE A PERSON I WOULD JUDO-FLIP YOU RIGHT ABOUT NOW. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO ME. SEE THIS IS WHY AUTUMN IS MY FAVORITE SEASON. I scowled at the sun for being it’s intolerable self. In the car I watched the hustle of the people around us, walking, one there phones, wiping the sweat that dripped down there faces like rain. What really surprised me for the past few days was that Bala Thatha stuck with us everywhere, dropping us off and picking us up from our destinations. Just the night before we went to Rajendran thatha and Vany aachi’s house. Last night we had to drive to there apartment. Each one was aligned with others and there were multiple stories. This was the first time I had met them. But I really liked them though. They were nice, thoughtful, and sweet. They served us traditional south Indian food that was very good. They even bought us ice cream.

We all walked out of the car Deepak and Madhavan were by my side  as we walked into the entrance of the bird park. It reminded me so much of the botanic garden we went to, with the twisting willow tree’s and orchids. I found one orchid that looked like there was actual blood splattered on it. That one was probably my favorite. We walked along, passing by tree’s that twisted and passed by ponds with swans and ducklings and mother ducks. We went to a spot where birds flew everywhere, some nonchalantly land on our arms and fingers if we stick them out. There were cerulean warblers, song sparrows, robins, rainbow lorikeets, gold and blue macaws, quetzals, and so many more. I loved the way the song sparrow fluttered gracefully, zipping through the tree’s. We walked to another area where there were large groups of birds in these huge cages. They squealed and made so many sounds. Some fought with one another, some stayed secluded in a corner. We walked quickly away, though I wanted to stay and study the birds. Deepak must of had the same idea because he walked beside me slowly, watching the magnificent white birds. We all snaked through the entire park watching and commenting about the birds at one point we all stopped in front of this man made waterfall. We took pictures in front of it. Jagan mama and my mom took a photo together but they couldn’t keep a straight face, smiling to much or to little. Finally they took a good picture. Soon enough, we left.

Thatha then took us to a place where there were these amazing 3 dimensional pieces of artwork that represented the Chinese Dynasties, the legends, and they each told a story. They were all different and the details shocked me. Each one told a clear story. Especially the one about Confusicous. We inspected each area thoroughly, taking some pictures. We came across a large wheel. It was of the Chinese zodiac calendar. Each section had an animal and a list of years on them. I was born in 2005 so I was represented as a rooster. My brother was a crow, and thatha was a dragon(Lucky!) I found out that my mom and I had the same animals. We soon drove back to our hotel and Jagan Mama and Thatha both went home. Throughout the day I snuck in some thoughts about my dream. That night I struggled to sleep with those thoughts in my head. In fact, as i write this I still wonder of the shadow man who lurks through my thoughts.

The entrance to Jurong Bird Park.