Zanni
Today, I break all the rules.
I am ready. But... I shouldn’t be doing this. No! I can’t think that. Too much time has been wasted thinking about broken nails and frizzy hair.
I have to escape, like a deer liberating herself from a cage! I am soon to be as free as a deer roaming the sidewalks and eating petals of cherry blossoms. However, I can’t be doing this. What will happen? They all depend on me: my friends, my family, even my GPA. And what about homework? How will I turn it in on time? This is gonna wreck everything, it’s gonna ruin my life!
Kora
She races back to the trailer, maneuvering carefully so as not to knock over stacked piles of magazines, take-out dinners, and old clothes.
“Bye, Danny, I love you! Sunday night — I’ll be back.”
“Promise?”
“Promise…. You know I’m not like Dad, right?”
“Okay.” He hesitates.
And then she leaves.
The car barely functions, screeching and sputtering along. The moon only just illuminates the dark road in front of her.
Nothingness, she reminds herself. She hears a voice, a voice embedded deep in a memory. A voice. A memory. “Your camera should be used for nothing but what you see,” it says. Those words once inspired something within her, but that inspiration is now hard to believe, considering her state of life. Living in a trailer is not a luxury, and she has no role models to look up to or follow. With her son Danny to take care of, she has been driven to become a role model for him, giving him something she never had for herself. She often sacrifices things here and there, sometimes small, always for him. But that’s life, isn’t it? So bittersweet at times.
Travis
A fiery red poppy.
Of course, I’m describing a Tuesday. This particular Tuesday is full of surprises, like frogs leaping from lily pads to lotuses.
My parents have always been like bamboo: strong and sturdy, and always taking over the garden. By the garden, I mean everything.
I’ve never been alone like this. But they say it’s the only way — the only way for me to become the independent person that they decided they want me to become. But it confuses me; I’m at a loss without them. I feel like a plant without its roots, a flower without petals, a garden without soil.
Zanni
This is how it started.
I really am a tough person, but no one understands that. Everyone sees this perfect girl who is just like everyone else, with a little boring added in. But I am tough. Really, I am.
“You’re such a goody two-shoes,” my friends’ voices echo back in my head.
“Yeah, you’ll never be fun! You’re no fun.”
“Lighten up a bit!”
But they’re wrong, Crystal and Lily and Amber. All of them.... I’ll prove it.
So now I’m on a plane headed towards… I don’t even know where.... Some town in Canada.
Travis
People are like ants crawling on the ground: they’re just there to be stepped on. If ants lived in the cherry blossoms, they’d be safe. I’d take care of them.
I decide that fancy machines are not for me. They take over everything for you, and why not do it yourself? Everything takes time, and if it’s not your time, whose is it, anyway?
My garden is always full of life this time of year. The flowers are blossoming and the bees are beginning to realize what they’re meant for. Everything in life has a purpose. People don’t realize that they are suited for one job, and one job only. I’ve wondered who decides such things. It’s just like the way the warblers know exactly where to go and exactly where to come back, across the wide expanse of countries.
Kora
Kora pulls up in a dusty, gray motel driveway. In the distance, the sun is just poking its head over the mountains. She decides to take a walk with her camera. Photos of nothing, she reminds herself. It requires more thought than her previous projects. More wondering, more abstract thinking. But walking around to take in her surroundings always helps when she has nothing to work with. Making up her mind, she opens the car door and begins to take a few steps down the dusty road.
Zanni
I'm in an airport. It’s small compared to the one in Portland: there are only two boarding zones. I look for the sign that is supposed to tell me where I am, but there isn't one. I walk into a small kiosk, up to the counter, and I tell the man working there that I need something to eat, and I need it fast. The grumpy cashier smirks at me and hands me a lollipop. He shouldn’t be looking at me like that! I’m a free deer, not a five-year-old! Just you wait, grumpy old man. You’ll see. So I take my lollipop and slam it on the table next to me. Suddenly everyone’s attention is on me — I have proven I am the free deer. The rebel.
Travis
A rusty car is now parked in the lot. It is still, like a cherry tree in the absence of wind. The sign to my right says to tow away any car that doesn’t belong to a customer. But this car is different — it’s a tree that has not yet bloomed. I know that I need to help it bloom, that it needs to be nurtured and watered like the flowers in my garden. I will find the owner, and they will bloom. I lock up the motel, as my parents had instructed, and I head down the dirt road in search of the car’s owner.
Zanni
I walk out of the airport and tell a taxi driver to drive me to a cheap motel.
“There are many motels in this area. Which one would you like to go to, Miss?” asks the taxi driver. I’ve decided I like him: he’s treating me like an adult. He understands that I am independent, a defier of the expected. After a few minutes on the road, he drops me off at the Lotus Motel. I try to go in, but the door is locked. I run back outside, but the taxi is already gone. Now what do I do? I’m stuck in the middle of Canada...
I’ve been walking for way too long. My feet are tired, and it feels like I haven’t seen anyone for miles. I need to sit. I see a bench in the distance and start heading towards it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash coming from the middle of the street. I whirl around, startled, like a deer in the headlights.
But there’s already one there, looking just as surprised as me.
We look at each other, and I know that this is where I’m supposed to be. This deer understands me, that it needs to be free. As the deer runs, I chase it. I know it would make me the rebel I’m supposed to be, the darkness hidden inside me that no one sees. So I run, and the deer is my only focus, the only way I can be me. Then it’s gone. And so am I.
Travis
I’ve finally caught up to her. She doesn’t see me yet, but I can see her. Right now I am like a rabbit hiding in the leaves, with only its eyes visible to the rest of the world. I creep closer, only suddenly a girl and deer rush past me. I have a burst of hope — they’re leading me to the car owner! I race after them. I can’t keep this pace for long. All of a sudden, I’m compressed until everything is gone. I am a tree engulfed in ashes.
Kora
The day brightens with every step. The early morning sounds of birds and lone cars are familiar to her. After all, the time she works best is when there are just a few people around. The light this morning is especially beautiful. Nothing, nothing, nothing, she reminds herself. She needs to find something symbolic. An empty bench appears in her line of vision. There is something present between her and the emptiness, pulling her toward the bench across the street. Suddenly a boy, a deer, a girl, and a car fly into her field of vision, coming together like paint splattered on a canvas. The camera flashes and then there is nothing.
Today, I break all the rules.
I am ready. But... I shouldn’t be doing this. No! I can’t think that. Too much time has been wasted thinking about broken nails and frizzy hair.
I have to escape, like a deer liberating herself from a cage! I am soon to be as free as a deer roaming the sidewalks and eating petals of cherry blossoms. However, I can’t be doing this. What will happen? They all depend on me: my friends, my family, even my GPA. And what about homework? How will I turn it in on time? This is gonna wreck everything, it’s gonna ruin my life!
Kora
She races back to the trailer, maneuvering carefully so as not to knock over stacked piles of magazines, take-out dinners, and old clothes.
“Bye, Danny, I love you! Sunday night — I’ll be back.”
“Promise?”
“Promise…. You know I’m not like Dad, right?”
“Okay.” He hesitates.
And then she leaves.
The car barely functions, screeching and sputtering along. The moon only just illuminates the dark road in front of her.
Nothingness, she reminds herself. She hears a voice, a voice embedded deep in a memory. A voice. A memory. “Your camera should be used for nothing but what you see,” it says. Those words once inspired something within her, but that inspiration is now hard to believe, considering her state of life. Living in a trailer is not a luxury, and she has no role models to look up to or follow. With her son Danny to take care of, she has been driven to become a role model for him, giving him something she never had for herself. She often sacrifices things here and there, sometimes small, always for him. But that’s life, isn’t it? So bittersweet at times.
Travis
A fiery red poppy.
Of course, I’m describing a Tuesday. This particular Tuesday is full of surprises, like frogs leaping from lily pads to lotuses.
My parents have always been like bamboo: strong and sturdy, and always taking over the garden. By the garden, I mean everything.
I’ve never been alone like this. But they say it’s the only way — the only way for me to become the independent person that they decided they want me to become. But it confuses me; I’m at a loss without them. I feel like a plant without its roots, a flower without petals, a garden without soil.
Zanni
This is how it started.
I really am a tough person, but no one understands that. Everyone sees this perfect girl who is just like everyone else, with a little boring added in. But I am tough. Really, I am.
“You’re such a goody two-shoes,” my friends’ voices echo back in my head.
“Yeah, you’ll never be fun! You’re no fun.”
“Lighten up a bit!”
But they’re wrong, Crystal and Lily and Amber. All of them.... I’ll prove it.
So now I’m on a plane headed towards… I don’t even know where.... Some town in Canada.
Travis
People are like ants crawling on the ground: they’re just there to be stepped on. If ants lived in the cherry blossoms, they’d be safe. I’d take care of them.
I decide that fancy machines are not for me. They take over everything for you, and why not do it yourself? Everything takes time, and if it’s not your time, whose is it, anyway?
My garden is always full of life this time of year. The flowers are blossoming and the bees are beginning to realize what they’re meant for. Everything in life has a purpose. People don’t realize that they are suited for one job, and one job only. I’ve wondered who decides such things. It’s just like the way the warblers know exactly where to go and exactly where to come back, across the wide expanse of countries.
Kora
Kora pulls up in a dusty, gray motel driveway. In the distance, the sun is just poking its head over the mountains. She decides to take a walk with her camera. Photos of nothing, she reminds herself. It requires more thought than her previous projects. More wondering, more abstract thinking. But walking around to take in her surroundings always helps when she has nothing to work with. Making up her mind, she opens the car door and begins to take a few steps down the dusty road.
Zanni
I'm in an airport. It’s small compared to the one in Portland: there are only two boarding zones. I look for the sign that is supposed to tell me where I am, but there isn't one. I walk into a small kiosk, up to the counter, and I tell the man working there that I need something to eat, and I need it fast. The grumpy cashier smirks at me and hands me a lollipop. He shouldn’t be looking at me like that! I’m a free deer, not a five-year-old! Just you wait, grumpy old man. You’ll see. So I take my lollipop and slam it on the table next to me. Suddenly everyone’s attention is on me — I have proven I am the free deer. The rebel.
Travis
A rusty car is now parked in the lot. It is still, like a cherry tree in the absence of wind. The sign to my right says to tow away any car that doesn’t belong to a customer. But this car is different — it’s a tree that has not yet bloomed. I know that I need to help it bloom, that it needs to be nurtured and watered like the flowers in my garden. I will find the owner, and they will bloom. I lock up the motel, as my parents had instructed, and I head down the dirt road in search of the car’s owner.
Zanni
I walk out of the airport and tell a taxi driver to drive me to a cheap motel.
“There are many motels in this area. Which one would you like to go to, Miss?” asks the taxi driver. I’ve decided I like him: he’s treating me like an adult. He understands that I am independent, a defier of the expected. After a few minutes on the road, he drops me off at the Lotus Motel. I try to go in, but the door is locked. I run back outside, but the taxi is already gone. Now what do I do? I’m stuck in the middle of Canada...
I’ve been walking for way too long. My feet are tired, and it feels like I haven’t seen anyone for miles. I need to sit. I see a bench in the distance and start heading towards it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash coming from the middle of the street. I whirl around, startled, like a deer in the headlights.
But there’s already one there, looking just as surprised as me.
We look at each other, and I know that this is where I’m supposed to be. This deer understands me, that it needs to be free. As the deer runs, I chase it. I know it would make me the rebel I’m supposed to be, the darkness hidden inside me that no one sees. So I run, and the deer is my only focus, the only way I can be me. Then it’s gone. And so am I.
Travis
I’ve finally caught up to her. She doesn’t see me yet, but I can see her. Right now I am like a rabbit hiding in the leaves, with only its eyes visible to the rest of the world. I creep closer, only suddenly a girl and deer rush past me. I have a burst of hope — they’re leading me to the car owner! I race after them. I can’t keep this pace for long. All of a sudden, I’m compressed until everything is gone. I am a tree engulfed in ashes.
Kora
The day brightens with every step. The early morning sounds of birds and lone cars are familiar to her. After all, the time she works best is when there are just a few people around. The light this morning is especially beautiful. Nothing, nothing, nothing, she reminds herself. She needs to find something symbolic. An empty bench appears in her line of vision. There is something present between her and the emptiness, pulling her toward the bench across the street. Suddenly a boy, a deer, a girl, and a car fly into her field of vision, coming together like paint splattered on a canvas. The camera flashes and then there is nothing.