Warm glittering rays of golden light, crept their way through baby blue curtains, to dance along the farthest walls. There was nothing like an early morning sunrise. There was also nothing as nice as spending a few more minutes asleep. This luxury was quickly swept away by the chorus of racing paws down a narrow hallway.
A pink wet nose was pressed against the cheek of a beautiful girl, and when she refused to stir, ice cold water was thrown. In an instant her emerald green eyes opened and she sat up straight. She first spotted her golden retriever, Max, and lifted a hand to run it along his beautiful blond coat.
"Good morning, boy" her voice lightly leadened with sleep as she continued to look around. In the doorway, she came across the culprit for her suddenly awakened state, already dressed and ready for the day, in his usual, brown work boots, fading blue jeans, old brown belt, and a tucked in white t-shirt with one breast pocket. She watched him for a moment or two before he sat the water pail outside her door. He still held that familiar triumphant grin, even though it had stopped reaching his crystal blue eyes years ago. She continued to watch him as he took a few steps into her room and instinctively she wrapped her frail arms around herself.
He glanced around for a few seconds before turning to leave allowing the young girl to sigh in relief. Her fear began to lessen with each heavy step taken down the stairwell. Her eyes never stray from the balding man as he descends, until she hears him step into another room. There is never much communication between them because neither speaks the same language.
The young woman wearily climbs out from beneath warm sheets and makes her decent down the handcrafted mahogany stairwell. She glances from the main living room, toward a blocked off formal dinning, where unlike the rest of the home, this room remains unchanged. Tears begin to well in her eyes as she tries to quickly turn away from the sapphire wallpaper, untouched ebony china, and Victorian seating. Except her feet move slowly causing her to fall, knocking her back into reality.
A low hum escapes as she awakens to yet another gust of ice cold wind from a passing vehicle. Her desire to move remains at unwavering denial even as her stomach loudly growls from beneath four old, dirty, and heavy comforters. As she shifts to search for whatever she managed to stash away before falling asleep a large shadow rests itself inside her only light. Without glancing away from her searching she manages in a hushed tone to ask the stranger, "Would you please move?"
The shadow still does not move so she decides to stop and turn around. As soon as she does her eyes travel upwards from, two worn out black boots and dark stained jeans, toward deep set chocolate brown eyes. The gentleman nods his head in her direction and says something in a language she doesn't understand. Although it's a language she immediately recognizes nobody has ever made an effort to teach her. Eventually the gentleman grows impatient and attempts to take a few of her gathered items at which the girl responds by swiftly striking his hand. They stare at each other for what feels like an eternity until the man seems to come up with an idea; he holds up his hand and points toward an old cart of gathered items and motions for her to stay where she is. Without hesitation she remains seated underneath her blankets and watches as he rummages through the items before making his way back to her.
He sits on cold concrete, directly facing the woman, with a small piece of fruit in his hands, and motions for her to take it. The woman hesitates for a moment, not quite understanding. The man motions again and attempts to smile. Her emerald eyes wearily shift from from the man to the fruit; he notices her hesitation but remains calm as he sees no other option.
Eventually she catches onto what he's attempting and reaches into her own belongings for something deem able of equal value. After a few tries she decides on a small plastic container of food that has now grown cold. She offers it to the man with what she hopes is a heartwarming smile, "Here, take it."
Now it is her turn to watch the man hesitate before reaching out his hands. They share a smile before he turns to go his separate way and she tries in vain to drift back into her memories.