Leave Before It’s Too Late

• Aerrylle Alea, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2017

I could feel the light cold breeze coming through the open windows of my Dad’s penthouse. It was then that I felt a peculiar essence from the painting’s image. I saw the simplest amount of particles coming out from the paintings and before I knew it, I was somewhere else, not the old world nor the present. I arrived in a vintage sea-side town where I saw anonymous shadows walking past me. For once in my life, I felt alone, unwanted and depressed.
As I was walking through the alleyways of the city streets, a boy around my age approached me with a smirk on his face. I tried to ignore the sweet aroma coming from him but I couldn’t. “Hello, my name is Alfie. How are you going?” he said. He had the most beautiful hazel brown eyes, coconut coloured hair, tanned skin and he is tall as well. I probably looked like a total nonsense girl since I couldn’t even lay my eyes on him. As I tried to talk, he grabbed my hand and we ran across the enchanting City of Brickston. He brought me to the most romantic places I’ve ever been in my life.
Alfie led me to a place where fields of flowers bloomed, as if most of them were growing by the second. The natural scent of freshly planted roses covered the whole field with the most beautiful smell. We talked, this time I wasn’t stuttering as I got to know him better as a person. A thought in my head keeps popping up though, how did I get to this place in the first place and how will I get out?
As we took off from the fields, I thought that we were done and that it would be time for me to go. But no, he told me, “Follow me, I’ll lead you to a place where worries don’t come your way.” It was a beach, not some old boring, usual beach. It was a place where I could just lay on the soft, light sand forever. I could even taste the salty waves of water from the ocean, even from a long distance away.
A moment in this new world felt like a dream that I never thought would ever come true in my life. As we left the beach, I said goodbye to the sounds of carousels going round, the smell of freshly cooked donuts from the pier and the ocean where thousands of thriving creatures are born. Alfie had a sad expression on his face though, I wondered if he was sad that I was leaving or unhappy that I was there in the first place. Then, he whispered, “Leave, before it’s too late,” and kissed me on my cheek. I could feel an aura of sadness. I was back in my old world. The paintings changed and now, I see Alfie's smiling face, looking at the clear blue sky.