A boy and a girl sat on a bench in the park. It could be seen the boy and the girl were talking and taking in the sight where they were.
The greenery and light of the sun brought calm scenery to the park; it was the very thing that gave the boy joy and calmness. As he looked at the blessed and calm scenery, he could see all the trees, the leaves that clothed the grass. He saw the wind and its unpredictable flow, the sound of whistling it brought, and the birds flying low over the lake that centered the park. He saw a few people, young and old, walking and taking in the calmness. Some birds and dogs walked and talked with them. You could hear the barking and the songs.
And there he saw a girl right beside him, her name was Aurora, she was like him she had no father or mother she was alone in the world.
She told him her story. She said my father was that of blood and ice. There was a cut he gave me. It was that of blood and it was red and dark, you could feel the coldness of ice. He left like melting ice. I could only see him for so long before vanishing never to be seen again.
My mother left me with my grandmother. She told me, she told me that, as I watched her leave before my eyes there I stood at the door of my grandmother I could still see my mother saying those words of encouragement.
"I love you"
"Don't be sad"
"I will be with you"
"Promise I will be back in seven days"
The first day was alright with my grandmother, we played and sang and talked about movies and stories of heroes. The second day was a little less fun. We just sang and talked and played only the shows on TV. On the third day I was bored and sat on the porch looking at the land there I saw nothing but grass and trees and wheat.
My grandmother lived alone in the farmland all by herself until she was with me.
On the fourth day, my grandmother taught me how to plant. It was fun but tiring. She talked and talked about the goodness of nature and why we should give back. She said, "Whatever you take from nature you must remember to give it back."
On the fifth day. I finally was able to drink soda again. That sweet and bubbly taste of it was nice. It felt like I would return to the world I once lived at home.
The sixth day, Was just conversations about how I was so excited to be with my mother and the adventures I had with my grandmother.
Maybe I didn't listen or notice my grandmother never spoke much on that day; she only nodded and gave me a lot of food and more soda. She hated soda but she gave more than ever that day.
The seventh day was slow. I packed all my stuff and waited. I wanted nothing else but to see my mother. Before I knew it I waited until I fell asleep. Only to realize that it was the next day. On the ninth day, I could not cry anymore. My body felt empty shallow and dry. All I wanted to see was my mom and friends back where I lived.
But nothing changed. For more than four years of my life since I was six I have lived with my grandmother.
One thousand four hundred sixty days. Was the day my grandmother died. I still remember that day with her gray hair and wrinkled face. Her eyes were open, the green brought light to the tears she had before she died.
The next few days were fast. But my body could not handle it. I lived from one foster house to another before I knew it I was with a new family but less than five days after they did not want me anymore I was dropped off from house to house with close relatives.
But I left it all looking to find my own way. I still remember living in the streets eating from the scraps and trash.
Then I met him. He wore black goggles, with his gray hair that reached his shoulder, and a red jacket. And his green dark pants and slippers and he carried a stick to walk. On his back were trash bags right beside his shoulder with a backpack strapping it all.
He smiled at me. As I lay flat on the ground he asked.
"Little girl do you want to live if you do get up and walk"
I was so hungry, that all I could do was move my hand to reach him asking for help.
But the man smiled and turned his back and said.
"If you want to live, then you must live for only yourself, and to do that no one can help you"
So I crawled and crawled following the man.
Reaching to him took all my strength. When I reached him, I saw him sitting and eating away on the couch in front of him was a bonfire formed from a medal bucket. On top of the metal bucket was wood and flames that lit up the slums.
The moment he saw me he through some roasted meat on the ground.
I was that of a dog eating, my instincts came to me like that of a predator eating away its prey.
The old man looked at me with disgust. He said.
"Get up, are you an animal or a dying dog ready to die."
So I did and sat next to him on the couch, truly the hunger was talking not the words as I thought eating away.
We ate the meat, all of it before I knew it I felt so refreshed calme. Then he started asking me questions.
"What's your name"
For some reason, I lied.
"My name is Star"
"Star…ok well weird name"
"Why are you out here"
"I have no one"
I told him the truth.
"Do you want to live"
I lied
"Yes"
…
"Come over," he said waking me up after the meal.
He was holding tattered blue jeans and a long black hoodie.
Finally, something warm I had only worn a white shirt and black leggings.
I put both of them on while still wearing the clothes I had.
I said "Thank you"
He said nothing back.
Soon he was walking away.
I followed him.
Then I asked him questions after questions.
His name was Vangogh.
Out of all the questions he only really answered two questions.
My last question was "What kind of meat did we eat, it was so good"
Turning his head and Smiling he said "Dog"
My face paled. I felt like I was about to barf.
…
Walking down the street the man stopped. I finally could see what he could for I was right beside him now.
I could see many who sat on stools playing a game of chess at the edge of the park.
There were many rows of them, young and old, rich and poor. Somehow it was so silent. Some people watched and some walked past only observing for more than a second.
Then he moved and I followed him. Finding a spot he sat at the back part of the area waiting for an opponent.
More than ten minutes passed before someone challenged him.
It was the first time I watched a game of chess and I had no clue about it and how it worked. The only thing I understood was it took him less than two minutes to defeat his first opponent.
After each game ended he got a dollar. That was the only thing that intrigued me.
Game after game he won by the end he had made over thirty dollars.
It only lasted three to four hours, I kept following him after he stopped.
Less than a minute after we started walking away he started talking to me.
"So where are you going"
"I don't know"
"Can you stop following me"
"I'm not following you"
"Yes you are," he said
"No, I'm not," I said
"Ok…Ok "
"Well whatever," he said, walking a little faster.
"Can you teach me?" I asked walking even faster to be right beside me.
"No"
"please "
"No"
For three days straight I followed him in the same patterns eat, follow, chess, rest over and over.
After the end of the chess game, I would ask him the same question "Can you teach me please" he would say "No."
Finally, after his first loss, he got a little mad.
He said, "Would you stop following me if I taught you?"
"Yes I would"
The first thing he did was give me three books. The first one was about the basics of chess, the second book was about history and the third was about famous chess masters and their tactics.
It was not hard for me to understand. I spent most of those years with my grandmother homeschooled. She taught me to read, write, and speak properly. The books she gave me were ten times harder in vocabulary.
Even so, it took a while for me to fully master the basics. After a week of non-stop reading and eating the worst possible food known to mankind, I began challenging others.
First I challenge Vangogh. I was defeated in less than a minute. After no more than ten games I know that it would be pointless to go up against him. So I began scouting at the park. Looking at people who I think I could defeat. It took me a month of nonstop grinding. Sometimes I had to go to the library and sometimes I had to talk to people asking and learning.
I always asked Vangogh to teach but he always tells me to.
"Read"
"Read"
Nothing more nothing less. After another three weeks, I soon could see the patterns, and my mind had mastered them. The nature of chess was beginning to take root. I read and I read soon I was able to understand why I was losing and why I was winning.
It was not a game, but life. Chess was that of reality and harshness of choices one must make and sacrifices.
After four months of sleeping and eating in the slums with Vangogh.
I finally decided to challenge him.
As I sat he smiled at me looking as if he had been waiting.
For the first time, he complimented me "You have finally mastered your mind I am impressed"
"Are you ready?" I said.
"Yes"
Just like that, the game started.
After thirty-five seconds of his fifteenth move, he started talking.
"So what is your name" he looked down at the chessboard with a straight
face.
I didn't understand my name was Star, so why would he ask for my name, I told him.
"Come on, when you first told me It was laughable to believe what you said… especially how you said it…"
Yes, my name I thought, what was it? I forgot, all those days my only thought was to survive and live a new life wanting to be free from all those challenges I had to face and being free. All those days I forgot who I was.
"My name is… Aurora" as I realized, I had taken my eyes off the game. No, I thought to myself keep calm and stay focused.
"So…Aurora, why are you out here?" he asked.
I didn't notice until the match but his goggles were off. Had an old look like he had seen all things. His eyes were gray and black his skin was old. But most of all was that smile.
The questions echoed in my mind.
"Why was I here"
Why was I here, was it for the money? No money barely fed me, was it for fun, no it was not fun but difficult and hard. Was it because I wanted to be free, no I thought, or is it?
My answer was. "I want to be free but I can't find my freedom in anything"
"You want to be free. Well sorry to tell you nothing in this world is free we are held by the very thing we see as freedom look at this game at the end of the day this game was made for those to concur the world, for kings and queens of this world and now we use this game to indulge our self with a sense of fun. But there is no fun. We are trapped by the necessities and needs, and with that money and pain come to play like dice rolling. We have no choice in the matter. We can control it as much as we can, but it will only bring you down with it."
Every word that he said brought a bang to Aurora's mind. She tried to stay focused to not lose her train of thought.
'Stay focused, stay focused…' she thought over and over.
"So Aurora, do you want to live?" he asked not looking at her this time only on the chess board. At the same time, his right hand was scratching his chin.
"...yes," she said moving her queen away from a rook as her face looked only at the chessboard too.
"The first time I saw you. I remembered clearly your face was dark and grim your eyes were dark green as they lay on the ground I kept wondering. Days went one to the next, you did not get up for more than three days straight, and you did not move only laying on the ground in the slums waiting to die"
He paused then continued while making a move "So then do you have a change of heart or something, what was the reason for your change"
Seconds passed until Aurora spoke "I thought life had no meaning to the purpose of life. Why live when we know we will die, why love something that will die? Death is the nature of life and we seem to forget it. I thought, why should I live? Why, why? Who will remember me I thought, then I saw you. That smile you had the first time I met you made me remember what my grandmother said "The very nature of your existence is connected by all things we are one and the same, are love will not go because the very laws of this universe state that energy doesn't die nor fade away, love is everlasting it is energy that is invisible, are very death gives life to new, we breed and make life and in that more are loved and more open to the kindness that of the universe. We must not lose hope or lose faith in one another we must be happy and joyful and feel like we are loved for we are all one of the same lost and empty we must remember that being alone comes from choosing to be alone. So seek the unknown and taste the fruits of this world for you must not stop moving or you will fall"