I went back downstairs, full of confusion, when I found my father sprawled out on the couch, just like he was this morning.
“You were here this entire time?” I looked at him bewildered. Does he have a camouflage suit or something? I could of sworn I didn’t see him.
“Yes, of course. You ran right past me.” He looked up at me from his TV. His eyes were a pretty brownish-amber color and his hair was perfectly ruffled. I could tell why my mother had fallen for him, he was definitely handsome.
“Well what did you call me for?” I asked changing the subject back to why I had entered the house in the first place.
“Oh right, I need you to do the dishes for me.” His eyes were back on the TV once more. I stared at his back for the longest time, with a confused look on my face.
“Why don’t you just do them yourself...? You have hands don’t you?” I checked over his shoulder for a pair of hands and strangely enough, there they were.
“You need to learn to work if you want to survive living here.” He said in a strange voice. O..k..thenn... I’ll do the dishes.. o_O
I sauntered over to the kitchen and found a huge. pile. of dishes. I sighed and looked around for a dish-rag or something to wash them with. That’s when I discovered a dishwasher. Stainless steel, nice and new. Why would my dad want me to wash the dishes when we have a dishwasher? I stood there thinking for a bit and finally decided to just pop the dishes in. I’ve never used a dishwasher before, but the buttons were pretty easy to identify, so all was good.
I went back outside and spread myself out on the lawn. I stared at the blue-grey sky, full of puffy, huggable
clouds. I stared at the different shapes and sizes, wanting to live up there where the world was cheerful and light. Literally. I remember how Yujin and I used to play around when we were little: Once, we imagined we were ridding horses all over the dorms. We eventually got in trouble for the noise, but it was worth it. Another time, on a hot summer's day, we pretended we were mermaids, swimming in the sky.
“Come on! We’re going to miss the mermaid train!” yelled Yujin, squirming across the lawn. Everyone else was inside since it was so hot out, so we looked weird and out of place, squirming on the ground, trying to move forward.
“Oh no! Wait for me!” I tried to catch up to Yujin, but she was surprisingly better at squirming than I was.
“Catch me if you can!” she yelled getting up and running away from me
“Hey! That’s not fair!” I got up and ran after her, hands out in front of me. “Gotcha!~” I tackled her to the ground, flipping us over so that I fell first, to cushion her fall. She squealed as we fell and started giggling when we finally hit the ground.
“You’re funny, unnie” she giggled some more pinching my cheeks. I laughed with her. We just lay there on the clean, green grass, laughing like idiots.
I sighed, remembering that wonderful day. Yujin.. I hope you’re feeling well.. and that you don’t hate me for leaving you.. I sighed again, sending that imaginary note to her. I decided to go back inside after a few more minutes of relaxing.
As soon as I opened the door, something struck my face. Hard.