Avaline watched as Sae went looking for Ichiro. She stood in the room, silent before she gave a small wave to Junbae.
"hope you feel better," She whispered. She then exited his room and went to her own. She rummaged around in her drawer before she found her sketchpad. Avaline then went back into the hallway and started down the stairs while Sae yelled at Ichiro from outside Junbae's room. Avaline then gently opened the front door and went outside.
Avaline walked for awhile before finding a good place to draw and think. She sat down near an isolated river. It was blocked by trees, so no one could really see her, and that made her feel better. She started to draw the river, but then scraped that picture. She then remembered one of the unfinished pages in her book. She cringed. "You have to look at it," She commanded herself. She slowly opened up to the page. It was an unfinished portrait of her family based off a picture of them. She just stared at the picture. There was also a few signatures on the page from her family to encourage her to do a great job. The original picture was still there. As much as she wanted to throw it into the river, she also wanted to keep it. She sighed and put her sketch book away.
The sounds of the river helped calm her a bit, but not much. She started to hum to a song she remembered from when she was younger. She closed her eyes and let herself think about the memory.
A younger version of Avaline sat the breakfast table, eating cereal. She was silent as usual, after all, this was the time in her life when she went mute. Her sister turned on the radio. She started to hum along with the song. Avaline never recalled hearing it, but she knew all the words for some reason. She started to whisper the song. Her voice was scratchy, but it started to clear out. She started to sing louder. Her sister turned around in surprise and hugged her.
"Glad you're back," Avaline smiled and hugged her back.
Suddenly, another memory filled Avaline's mind, and it wasn't a good one.
There were all at home, just hanging out. Avaline was drawing the sketch of her family, her brother was playing his guitar, her sister was helping her mother make dinner, and her father was sitting on the couch. They could all hear yelling and screaming from outside. Her sister looked outside, expecting to see her neighbors playing, but inside, she saw the water. "HOLY-" She cried. Everyone looked outside. Avaline froze.
"We need to get upstairs!" Avaline shook her head and looked around. She pulled down the ladder to the attic. She watched as her family grabbed their stuff. Avaline just grabbed her sketch pad and ran upstairs. She watched as her family struggled to find things. She didn't want to say anything, but the water was almost in their house. Suddenly, Avaline saw the water build up outside the door. HEr family froze. Avaline wiped her face. 'No, NO!" Her family was suddenly swept away by the water. She closed the hatch and curled up. "no," She whispered.
Avaline started to sob. She hugged her knees and just let all the tears that had built up over time out. She moved away from the river, still crying. She didn't want to be anywhere near water. She looked around for a place to just sit in private. She couldn't find any place. She just sat on the sidewalk and cried.