A Big Step

A peaceful silence was dominating the entire house during that night, a clock was running endlessly, for hours and hours, every second was followed by another one and it kept repeating incessantly. Her room was invaded by that creepy darkness, but there was only one window which could bring some white and clear light to the room. Even though it was not enough, it could illuminate her messy closet and some random clothes scattered on the wooden floor. The light was also reflected on the rectangular mirror, and through it you could see that shiny window and the trees that abounded outside, next to it, there were tons papers and books spread on her desk. Suddenly a sharp sound howls every corner of her room, and there she was, Candace, waking up, starting a new day, different from any other.


Goodbye everybody. She took that plane from Argentina to US, that plane that broke the bubble where she was locked, where she couldn’t grow and she let herself be influenced by the others. That flight left so much behind and opened big doors, opened her mind. It came for a purpose, to let her grow. But to accomplish it she had to forget about things that were not going to help her do it. She forgot about how much she had in Buenos Aires. She forgot about those routine week days, going to school by car with her lovely grandma and her cousins. Those extremely freezing or hot morning in school having so much fun with her classmates while they were in class, or the happiness that awaked her after the bell rang, the first break on Monday mornings, and going out of class with her friends, to some breakfast and talk about stories of that Saturday or Sunday night. She forgot about those awesome girls that made her happy everyday and helped her every time she asked for it. She forgot about those crazy evenings where she had laugh with them for so much time and couldn’t find anything that stop them. She didn’t remember about that great summer in the country side with them, sleeping in that huge tent next to the river and staying awake until they could see the beautiful sunrise. Or that habitual Sundays, having barbecue or empanadas with her family and cousins after mass.


Those were things that she had forget, while she was in Washington, so that she could go out of that big bubble, and have a great opportunity to change herself and appreciate everything that she was going to have. But she kept some memories, memories that make her be how she is, she does remember those Sundays mornings that smelled of fresh grass and the wind of those summers days that shacked thins and giant trees, the sound of the water that run through the river, she does remember getting up, and having breakfast with her family and a sweet voice that told her every morning “Today is going to be a great day”.


The alarm clock was going to ring for the second time when she woke up. 7.45, fifteen minutes to do everything, her dad was going to pick her up at 8 to go to school. First day of school and being nervous was making her sick, she didn’t really know what she was going to find in there. Was she going to be the only one from another country? Was there somebody who can speak Spanish with her? Was she going to understand every single English word? She didn’t know if all that was going to happened, but she was very sure about one thing, this experience was really going to make her change in so many ways that she was going to be a different person, but still with the same qualities that make her be Candace.

c.j.