What Do They Love The Most: Her sister, and her stories and eventually her world Valeria had grown up in a poor family, living with only her sister and mother in the outskirts of a large city. The area was dirty and grey, with the lack of any colour, the clothes people wore washed out and bland, the houses were stained with smoke beyond any recognition, even the people themselves seemed to be grey and grim. But her sister, her sister brought colour into her world. She painted with vivid colours a place with no houses or sludge, filled instead to violet flowers, ruby berries and blue skies. It was unlike anything that Valeria had ever heard of or even dreamed of and she loved it.
Her sister would spin tales out of the grey smothering air into crystal lakes that acted like mirrors – not the smudged cracked ones in her house, but complete ones that reflected wholly - where rainbow fish swam. There would be emerald frogs that leaped from lily pad to lily pad and ever watchful silver herons that silently watched them. The air would be filled with the scent of flowers and fresh rain and it would be so vibrant free and ALIVE. These stories filled Valeria with something that she could not explain, a feeling so strong that she felt as if she could be one of the hawks from the stories and with a simple flick of its – her wings she could soar above and away from the grey world she lived in.
Valeria loved her sister stories, but that was not all, her sister would sometimes bring back trinkets from her dream like tales, taking them from dream like fantasies into actual fact. And oh how she marvelled over each piece. A tuft of fur from a rabbit that was so soft it had to be softer than the most expensive of silks and cottons, a red mulberry that was so vibrant in colour, it rivalled the crimson blood that flowed through her and possible even overcame it; or even a hawk feather, with patterns so intricate that they could not have been painted with the finest artistry and brush. Valeria treasured each and every one of these precious gifts that were given to her from her sister, and it felt as though her sister were giver a small part of the world that only she knew to her. And that was immeasurable. But her favourite gift from her sister was the crown. A crown that put the royal crowns – from the small tatty newspaper clippings – to shame, it was woven with silver branches and decorated with their leaves. Then braided in as embroidery were fresh flowers whose colours and smells were something that Valeria had never before experienced. She kept the crown in a crown of her section of the shared room, where it lay and eventually started to dry. But even when it was dry and almost faded that crown had more life then her previous years spent in the slums had put all together.
And so Valeria loved her sister for her stories and trinkets and the life she brought. But she also envied her; with her courage she had braved the world outside of the barbed wire wall that surrounded the city and its slums, to keep out the wild beasts of the unknown with slashing claws and biting jaws. And for her bravery she had found her new world and escaped from this dull and dreary confinement. And so one evening she pretended to sleep and when her sister started to sneak out once more to visit her world. And when her sister let herself out, she lay still to muster her courage before quietly standing up and pulled on her over-clothes over her nightclothes. She tiptoed out the door, which her sister had slipped out off, and crept along the streets towards the edge of the slums. She watched her sister continue ahead of her, leaving behind the outskirts of the ruined slums and slip gracefully between a tear in the wire wall before disappearing into the looming woods.
Valeria stood there frozen, fearing these looming towers that seemed more like nightmarish shadows than the vibrant pillars of her sister’s stories. But Valeria would not turn back now; she had to see for herself this world, even if it meant being terrified while doing it. And so Valeria continued towards the fence. And then she slipped through the tear in the wire wall. She struggled upright and towards the forest she moved. She stumbled over roots and tripped through briars whose thorns hooked and tore into her clothing. But onwards she went. Valeria saw the fading shadow of her sister, and now uncaring for her discovery raced after her in fear of being left behind. Valeria caught up to her sister just as she entered the clearing, and immediately she recognised this clearing from the many tales of her sister, it was where her sister first fell in love with this world. And so clutching her sister’s clothes she peered around.
The clearing was fringed with soft, drooping ferns and the silver trees that were blanketed with vibrant green moss. There were closed up blue flowers that pocked their bell shaped heads out of the dew-speckled grass that shone with the stars’ reflected light. The branches of the trees no longer seemed like clawing hands but rather like the prongs of crowns, and the briars no longer seemed so viscous with there plump berries and small leaves that softened them. Then sudden movement in the trees and she startled as the owl hooted and ruffled its feathers, as liquid-gold eyes stared, unblinking, down at her before taking off with only the softest ruffling of feathers and whisper of wind. And Valeria could not help but smile, and distantly she recognised her sister calling to her, trying to catch her attention. But Valeria’s senses were trapped in the throes of first love, for she too had fallen victim to this worlds bewitching vitality.
[1000/1000]