It was right after a
massive snowstorm, the lonely buildings and blistered roads were smothered by
snow white crystals. There were no skyscrapers in sight, which was never a
wonder, as it was the city of greed’s abandoned outskirts. The handful of
people who worked there were those that chose not to beg for empty cash on the
cold, frozen streets. Why did they call it a “street” when a single vehicle was
not to be seen? Nobody knew, maybe the people of the city had a little too much
fortune to spend?
She was not the only one
sitting by the frosty sidewalk; there were at least ten other people begging on
the same deserted street, hoping for a mere penny that would allow them to buy
what? Absolutely nothing, as the nearest bakery or food store was located deep
within the city, and they cost at least a mountain of trivial pennies, or maybe
two mountains. But unlike her peers, which were mostly in their mid-fifties or
sixties, she was barely five. She didn’t wear the “luxurious” sweaters and
jackets that the others wore, but instead she had an excuse of a torn black
cloth draped over her heavily stitched short-sleeved shirt. It wouldn’t be a
weird sight if she shivered, but she
didn’t. Her cold receptors were functioning perfectly; but she just didn’t
sense the wrath of the freezing atmosphere, whereas her peers were all
shivering so hard that one may actually feel the earth moving. Her long blonde
hair was allowed to waterfall down her forehead to shield her from the
deleterious white bullets flying directly onto her heavily scarred, but still
recognizable face. She was dirtied and blemished, but her heart was not and
never will be.
Beside her was a body, a
corpse in fact, a decomposing one, one that emits such a pungent smell that it
actually chased away the flies. It was the former shell of her beloved mother,
who succumbed to an extremely contagious fatal disease. Even though the
treatment was dead cheap, they couldn’t seek medical help, as they were the
slaves of cheap meaningless cash; slaves of the rich and slaves of the
noblemen. They could do nothing, not even selling off their “home”, as it was a
frivolous wooden shelter, crafted by the vehement hands of her diligent father,
and was worth barely two pennies.
Where was her father at
that time of distress? Oh well, he went far, far away to seek medical help,
claiming to know a doctor “of the highest sagacity”, one who would work for
free; but it was fourteen days since
he took off, and there were no signs of him, not even a letter. However, his
only daughter hadn’t lose her miniscule amount of hope yet; she still believed
that one day, her father would be back, healthily and gleefully, along with the
best physician in the world. But it was too late.
It was a very dark night;
darker than all nights; darker than darkness itself. She was looking after her
infected mother in their shelter, when the people who didn’t bother to donate
or sponsor the stupidly cheap treatment became devils. They took initiative and
turned the pitiful family’s shelter into a blazing sun that scintillated the
night. The two managed to escape the scorching heat, but everything else
didn’t. They lost all of their hard-earned food supply, their protection
against the deadly frost, and everything else; nothing could be salvaged. Well,
maybe two small pieces of charcoal, but nothing else.
They ended up being
stranded in the middle of the most penniless street, living a life worse than
poverty.
She scouted the area for
a piece of broken cardboard, which didn’t take too long to find, as the area
was infested with garbage. She intended to write out a message, as she couldn’t
actually speak. Her child’s mind caused her to attempt using the soft, fluffy
snow to trace out the words, but it failed without doubt, as the white pillows
would fall off when the board was held vertically. Her heart was crying frozen
tears, as she wanted to give up; she needed someone to guide her.
She stared at her mother,
and it was a doleful sight. She tried to shake her in hoping that she would
wake up, but she couldn’t, as her soul was already in heaven. Sadly, the really
innocent young girl hadn’t grasped the definition of “death” yet; she casually
assumed that her mother was in a very, very deep sleep. She clearly saw crimson
red blood flowing out of her mother’s completely withered mouth, but how would
a juvenile girl know about the true meaning of the “red, slimy water thingy”?
She sincerely thought that her mother has left some “red ink” for her to write,
thus she dipped her extremely malnourished finger into the red pool, and wrote
a very short sentence on the sorrowful rectangular cardboard.
“Daddy, where are you?”
Minutes flew by, and it
soon became hours, but very few people passed by. Even so, all of them
apparently ignored, or simply didn’t want to even glance at her mother’s
corpse. It was etched onto the people’s minds that those with the sickness are
merely “fools that only bring harm”, and thus, the death of the infected was
actually a very positive matter that was worth celebrating. There was a bastard
with a mind of a tyrant whom appeared in the most obnoxious fashion, as he
kicked the poor girl’s face, slamming her onto the brick wall behind her. She
felt an undeniably agonizing pain, but she couldn’t scream. The bastard walked
off without looking back, but the girl was so used to it that she merely
crawled back to her mother’s side and sat down, holding her hands.
However, in the midst of
a horde of cruel monsters, there was an affable soul that stopped by after
reading the handwritten message on the cardboard. He was a rather tall man,
wearing a white robe and had brown slippers glued onto his soles. He stared at
the girl, who was very injured, but she wasn’t even shedding a single diamond
tear. She was different than most people, different than those who thought of suicide
after his or her pet dog died. He knelt down and grabbed the girl’s flaccid
arm, but he didn’t pull it with force. The girl seemingly comprehended his
purpose, even though she really didn’t, and followed the mysterious man to a
mysterious place.
It was a mysterious
river.
Well, not actually that mysterious, but it certainly did
sparked flames of curiosity inside the girl’s immature mind. How could a place
contain so much water? Yes, it was in fact ice, but in the eyes of a lovely
child, it was pure, drinkable water. It didn’t took more than five seconds
before she spotted her formerly muscular father, then reduced to a mishmash of
skin, meat and bones, “sleeping” beside the icy river. A smile was naturally
carved onto her adorable face.
With help from the man
who had a heart of gold, they lifted her father’s “sleeping” body back to the
streets, where her mother was enjoying her longest sleep ever. She then placed
her father’s body right beside that of her mother, and it was a very picturesque
sight, albeit horrifying one, since they were both just empty shells. She knew
that her job wasn’t done yet.
Somehow managing to
understand her intention, the man casually smiled and brought her into the most
soulless city in the world; a city where the people were born out of cash and
will die buried in cash. In the middle of the broken city, there was a
gigantesque structure, a Christmas tree in fact, that perforated the brilliant
night sky. There was a man dressed as Santa Claus sitting in front of it,
giving out presents to the myriad of hopeful children, lining up in what would
be an endless queue. She has never seen such magnificent lightings before, not
only those attached to the tree, but those that were flooding the city.
Although yellow and orange were the dominant colours, hints of blue, red,
green, white, purple were to be admired, giving birth to a city of iridescence.
At that very moment, all
eyes were fixated at her, as if she were an alien from the planet Mars, or some
unnamed dimension. One could easily figure out that the people were entirely
disgusted by her mere presence, as their faces expressed dissatisfaction in the
most conspicuous way. Many scowled at the sight of her, and some even unleashed
a flurry of pejorative and extremely vulgar words at her. The girl, however,
was oblivious about their feelings, and actually presumed that she was
receiving a warm welcome by the gregarious people there.
The chubby man in red saw
into her miserable spirit, and pointed at her, asking her to come forward and
meet him, skipping the rest of the snake-like queue. Without hesitation, the
crowd all booed, seemingly in sync; some even tried to stop her by grabbing
hold of her arms or hair, but she was already sprinting to his direction, and
halted right in front of him. “Santa Claus”, who was formerly a man of
laughter, instead smiled as if he understood the girl.
“I don’t need to ask you
whether or not you’ve been good throughout the year, because you are. Young lady,
what do you want for Christmas?”
She didn’t actually
listen to his words, since she was so distracted by his gorgeous crimson
costume, and the marvellous decorations stapled throughout every corner and
crevice of the city, and of course, the humongous Christmas tree. She looked at
the bearded man directly into the eye with utmost confidence, as she calmly let
out an alluring smile.
Santa turned around and
reached for a moderately-sized present box, before offering it to the girl,
simply stating that the box “is all that she needs”. It was a rather heavy
striped box for someone of her size, but she managed to carry it, albeit
consuming a little too much of her already poor stamina.
“Young lady, I wish you
all the best. No need to thank me, this is the best that I can do.” He waved
his right hand, before immediately retracting the same hand in order to rub his
eye, as if he was trying to wipe away his tears.
It wasn’t long before she
returned to the streets, and her parents’ were still the most professional
sleepers to ever exist. The fetid fragrance of decomposition was too strong for
the other beggars to handle, as they hastily left the area not long ago. She
tranquilly opened the box’s lid, and hibernating inside the box was a thick
wool dark brown blanket with some stripes of lighter brown.
She positioned herself in
between her parents’ bodies, before allowing herself to lie down. She then
covered their three bodies with the rather wide blanket, effectively repelling
the dreadful cold that was haunting them all this while. She gazed onto the
blinking stars, as their appealing shine was reflected onto her pupils. She
gradually shut her eyelids, as a single drop of illuminating tear flowed down
her face, turning into a droplet of luminous ice that shattered upon impact
with the ground.
The man in white robe
stood in front of her, with a very wide smile painted onto his chiselled face.
And she smiled for the
final time, as her family has finally found peace. Her heart muttered one last
sentence.
“Good night, daddy and
mommy. I love you.”
