As it kept getting harder in that sweltering and warm environment, I was reminded of the morning of home, of New York or NYC as its mostly referred to. The cold breeze of dawn, the afternoon drizzle, and the lush green grasses surrounding everywhere. But now, I'd just been tangled up in a parade of both light and dark. I didn't have much of a choice, and I didn't know how to play by the rules. I just depended myself on the morals of nature. After leaving the cafeteria, Evie and I took a walk on the Broadway just like pedestrians. We could be victims of an accident where a car would slid off the road and almost or actually hit us, or we would witness one. It was very much possible in the city. A wave of nostalgia swept over me when I saw a couple kissing and cuddling under the roof of a theatre: His breath warm against mine, his fingers running over my shoulders and curling up a string of my hair whenever he'd kiss me, and when he pretended to like a movie even when he was bored only because I'd liked it, and he would watch me instead of the movie. I felt him staring at me and I let him because I'd liked it. It was the only attention that made me feel special, and when I could feel narcissistic. But that was all ancient history. I averted my eyes away when Evie noticed. ''I thought you were over him. Are you crying right now? I'm so sorry beansy!.'' She reached out over my right shoulder and pulled me along hers. I realized I was actually crying. I wiped a tear off of my left cheek. ''Do you miss him?'' Evie asked. I nodded so as to prevent from crying. If i let out another word, I was going to weep like a child. ''Aww! I'm sorry! He was a jerk!'' Evie pointed out. She was right. He was. ''Do you want to share mine with you?'' Evie asked me, giggling. I pulled away from her, hitting her on the shoulder and wiping my nose with my sleeve. She giggled harder and burst into laughter looking at my swollen crying face. She says I look funny when crying. We kept walking ahead. I poked Evie on the stomach, she shrieked and poked me back. We reached the deserted and empty mountain land over the city and climbed one of the plateaus. My feet tripped and I fell back but Evie got hold of me so tight and said, ''Careful, Partner!.'' I let out a sigh of relief and smiled at her adoringly. She does not have much of a muscle but her grip was tight and strong. I loved her for having my back. We sat on the edge of the mountain. "This is awesome'' I said looking across the wide range of rocks and mountains. The ground carried onto an isolated space that could not be seen from afar. A deep valley with cliffs on both sides. It gave birth to two mountain ranges and they looked beautiful and a little peak of rivers flooding between them. I swallowed. I was thirsty. I could tell Evie was thirsty too, the way her lips were dried and her eyes sunken. She laid down pulling my shirt for me to do the same. We both laid down and looked at the empty sky for thirty minutes or so. My thirst was gone. Then she got back up, her lips not dry anymore. She used to say that lying down silently in thirst would make it disappear and it worked. It always did. It was my first and one of her many times to prove the theory correct. She observed the surroundings for a minute sighing proudly and said, ''Remember when we came here first? I told you it'd be good and you wouldn't agree. Look at this now, this is the happiest place of my life.'' She kept on saying. I felt like I didn't need to answer nor say something. I was just there to listen. I sat up leaning in closer. ''Dad used to come here. He said it's just as pretty as me. I loved him!'' Evie said, almost sobbing. I leaned in closer and tuck her in to keep her warm and safe. Ever since, she lost her father she's been this broken and empty girl. Her dad brought us to that plateau when we were kids. I was 9 and she was 11, I think. I thanked him for bringing us to that wondrous place. Evie started to cry because her mom couldn't come there with us. He tucked her closer and said, ''It's okay. Mommy and I always come down here and after today, this is your place too and yours.'' He clarified, pointing at me. I smiled approvingly. ''Darling,'' He told Evie ''Look far beyond this and tell me what you see.'' She store ahead and at the high end to the two mountain range with snow flakes dispersed all over them and the cleanse atmosphere cleared up the sky letting in the sun which glowed on the valley forming a rainbow after a very calm and serene rain. A sempiternal monsoon. The rainbow appeared perfectly. Her dad looked at Evie and said, ''Oh my god. You see that, It's beautiful. Beautiful like you and your mom.'' He smiled, and turned towards me and mouthed, ''and you'' I felt happy and proud. Tears trickled down Evie's eyes, but she started to feel happy. We both sat there reminiscing about how great her dad was. She sees my father just as close and feels mostly the same as she felt with hers because she's always taken care of. I considered her as a sister at that day of climbing that plateau with her dad. We felt just as privileged of each other for such small and little things. After all, It's the little things that keep a relationship going. It's what a relationship holds on to when people stay apart. We speculate on these small things. We stayed on the plateau for five more minutes until climbing down and walking back to the same road to that theatre, group of people still entering it, the cafeteria, the two different bakery shops next to each other, and took a slight turn which led to Chris's home. He lived with his parents. Evie and I arrived there at dusk. It was nearly dark. The sky was the color of scattered red color. The kitchen lights of Chris's house were on so they must have been getting ready for dinner which we surely didn't want to interrupt. Evie almost ringed the doorbell. And then, we departed back immediately to our home. We ran some errands on the way just as I said to mother and father. I bought chicken wings, some corn flakes and milks we ran out of and last but not least, spaghetti for mother. Evie was amused by a T-shirt with yellow sparkly hearts on it which I insisted on buying it for her. She let me. We bought strawberry smoothies that we drank on the way back for being so thirsty from all of the massive climbing, walking and mostly talking. We shared a warm hug at the door of my house and she left off quickly on the way to her house which was only few meters away. I stood there until I couldn't see her. My phone beeped. It was Evie. ''Go inside. I'm home. P.S love you from my head to my toes..!'' I went inside carrying a smile i couldn't break till I fell asleep.
Mother still devoured spaghetti while father chewed on beans as if they were laborious and me, I counted my steps back and forth and up the stairs. Exactly what a peculiar, odd-teethed 11 year-old girl would do in boredom, she'd rather yell at her siblings or close-by neighbors but I had none of that. It took me an exact 32 steps to climb down in a 16 climb staircase. 64 steps approximate of climbing down and getting back up once. When going to elementary school at 6 o'clock sharp, I had to climb down to get ready it was a huge effort and when returning from school, I had to climb up to exhaustively fall onto my bed. All of this effort because my legs were short or I thought they were. If my front foot reached for the next step on the stairs, the one behind could not support it and stay there at its pace, therefore, I'd be falling face first down the rest of the stairs and I'd have another scar on the delicate area of my face which mostly marked the nose and the chin, save for my eyes and cheeks. Mainly, the stairs were too humungous. I couldn't reach for one at a time. Therefore, I found an easiest way of climbing down with both of my feet on one stair. I leapt, I leapt and I leapt. Just as a kangaroo. For the first in my entire childhood of learning to walk, I made it down the stairs by myself. Father nor Mother helped me down. As I jumped from the last stair paddle, I smiled so heavily in the air with my eyes wide open. I screamed with the euphoria of success and yelled all over the house saying, "I made it! I made it! I did it, mother. I did it, father!''. Both of them clapped with harmony watching me run around with joy. That's how i came to know the term 'Stealth', somehow.