My Publication- First Day

Dressed up in our best outfits, my sister and I glanced at each other and then immediately stared back down the sleepy street.  The September wind swept through the misty main street awaking its quite houses and trees.  Seated in between us, a woman in a bathrobe whom we once knew so well held our little arms closer to her body.  It was only after an exchange of a nod that my sister and I drew ourselves with our empty Chinese backpacks closer to the woman for warmth.  Yet her lifeless body feeling like the icy rock underneath made me shiver despite of my sweaty hands.  “Mom, I don’t want to go,” I finally murmured in my native language after what seemed a lifetime of building up my courage.  My sister immediately looked into my eyes.  “You have to take the first step,” she whispered in a soft voice.  Gazing at the cement ground, my sister and I hung our heads low while we indulged ourselves in the pictures of yesterday.  

Year-like minutes passed, until eventually, we saw a yellow box that grew bigger, finally turning into a monster bus that was approach to hunt us down.  We reluctantly straightened our legs and waited for the yellow creature to open its rectangular mouth.  As my sister and I emptied our lungs as we took deep breaths, our sweaty hands grasped our backpacks as if they were lifesavers.  When our foreign mother gave us a gentle push, with much effort, we step onto the monster’s black teeth.  Turning around one last time with a wish that the woman would save our lives, I looked deeply into her twinkling eyes, but only saw there the reflection of her hand waving us off.  Once my sister and I dragged our heavy legs up the dark steps and stood paralyzed next to the foreign bus driver, all the fair skin bodies flashed their blond heads to inspect us.  Although my sister and I were fixed on the spot, our wondering eyes met every blue eye until we spotted an empty seat.  When we reached the distant seat, gripping each other’s wet hands all the while, we sat and stared at the unfamiliar woman outside.  As the monster whisked us off to our unknown destiny, our eyes remained on the fading woman until she vanished.  My sister and I glanced at each other, and then we stared straight out the forever street ahead of us.