The White Hair and Wales

~At The Beginning~

The mountains stretch up to the east, grass paths to the west. Through my window, I can see the sunset, over my town of Helix set pressed to the west coast of Wales. The dreary sunshine washes over my pure white room; carpet, furniture, even my bed is white. There, when you step out my door, you hit color. Old fashioned reds and off-white things decorate the room alongside wooden carvings of chickens and old lamps, hardwood floors polished to shine and couches made of fine red leather. The curtains are short and striped with the warm red colors of everything else as the wind, the breeze, ruffles them, open to the heavy air. My mother is watching TV in the living room with her usual glass of water and Twilight volume she's been reading for weeks. Father is cooking his best dish - teriaki chicken. Disgusting. Me? I'm sitting on my carpet, you know, back in the colorless room, reading.
Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox hangs loosely in pale hands, white hair glimmering like moon stones hanging over closed eyes. Ok, so I'm asleep. Boredom can do that to a guy. My shirt is short sleeved and has a small bird engraved in the breast pocket, jeans jet-black enough to fill most of the room and white socks almost blending with the floor.
"Emile," Father calls from the dinning room, "Wake up, it's dinner time."
Drowsily, I sit up and moan slightly. My back groans and my ankles feel weak. I bookmark my page and slide the book up onto my covers, rubbing sleep from my eyes with my knuckles under my glasses and standing up. It's a dim November day, clouds dark and overcast, heavy in the grey sky and rain unavoidably ready to drop. Mother is racing to shut the windows as I glide from my room and push my glasses up my nose, shutting the door softly behind me and wandering to the table.
"What'd you make?" I ask blandly, as if I don't already know, just don't care.
He looks at me funny, "Teriaki. Your mother's favorite."
I nod, dipping my chin a bit. He knows I hate messy, greasy, all-over-your-face kinda foods. Tell myself that inside it matters. I turn my head to gaze out the window at the grass plains stretching out over our property. Father plans to hire someone to plow a garden for Mother and plant strawberries. Man, I missed London already, and we've only been here a week.
"Bri," Mother calls from the hall. It's short for Brian, Father's name. "A picture fell. There's glass everywhere, can you help me pick it up?"
He's busy, so I get up and step towords the door -
"Sit, Emile," Father says firmly from the kitchen.
I look at him, same blank expression as usual. "But-"
"No. I'll help her. Sit down, now." He sounds so stern, like nothing he's ever demanded of me before.
I slowly sink back into my cold wooden chair obediently, wondering breifly why he's so desperate to keep my away from broken glass. Wait. My eyes follow him as he dries his hands on a towel and walks purposefully to the hallway, disappearing through the doorway. I perk my ears as Mother speaks to him in a hushed tone,
"Why are you so paniced? He's fine helping me!"
"Maria, I hate being so nervous all the time about him, but that's the reason we moved in the first place."
I feel a pang of hurt in my chest. They're talking about... My fingers unconciously trace the many fine pink lines glowing against the white skin of my wrist.
"What do you think he's going to do, huh? Take a nice big chunk of sharp glass and shove it into his pocket for later?!"
Silence.
"Brian!"
"What? I'm worried, alright?! Running away from what we should've tried to fix is either going to make things worse,"
I hang my head.
"and we need to try helping him more ourselves."
My heart aches as if it's on fire, and I fight back tears of bitterness.
"We will. Let us settle down first. We'll get him set up in school, join a few school things, and just start off slow."
"Alright. We do it for him."
"For Emile."

~Exploration~

The sun still hovers in the air as I stare out the window over the cliff our house stands on, pushing glasses up my nose to keep them from falling again as clouds take the shape of white mountains and jagged rocks, flattening and thinning into ice-crusted lakes before slipping away into the afternoon air. I turn and look over at my father washing dishes,

"Can... I go outside?" I ask in a curious voice.
Mother looked up from sweeping the rest of the glass in the hall, and I could just see her smile from behind the wall.
"Sure, sweety."
I don't aknowledge her as I get up and stride to my room, grabbing a jacket and black VANS before flinging the door open and sitting on the porch. Steadily, confidently, I tied on my shoes and zip up to my chin, the high collar good protection against the wind. Without a glance back, I slip out into the cold evening and disappear over the moor.



The sun has lowered to the horizon, but not yet set as the clouds all tint the most wonderous shade of pink and the nocturnal animals begin to move about. I curl warmly on a flat rock by the creek's edge, a waterfall over the cliff plumeting into the ocean. The view is amazing and cheers me up a little from the conversation before dinner. Maybe I can try to fit in here, I think nervously. being new isn't always easy, but it has it's up sides. I lower my gaze to the hard surface of my rock and press over the crack lines with my palms to calm myself. I can be anyone I want to now. The rocker, the punk, the nerd... My self-esteem isn't exactly very high at the moment. The sun has sunk another inch when I look back up; and something has appeared to the side. I turn my head and blink at the figure standing on the edge of another, lower edge, thinking maybe it's an animal.

It's head turns to face me then with a long flowing head of black hair flashing down around it, and I startle. A girl! Lowering my legs, I get up and clench my fists for bravado,

"Hello?"

~Her~

Her hair was a flowing jet black, billowing down narrow shoulders as she looks to me, emerald green eyes flash,
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know this house was sold..."
She's wearing a green top to match her pretty eyes, a sweater, that leaves her shoulders bare and wraps around her, weaving patterns of soft cotton down the flourish of her breasts and slim curve of her waist.
Her hands are folded in front of a short black skirt rustling in the cold breeze around smooh pale legs.
I feel my heart skip a beat as she blinks and cocks her head to the side,
"Are you all right, um...?"
My face grows hot immedietly, so I shove my hands in my pockets and look away down the rocky hill,
"Uh, yeah, just suprised is all," I hide in white locks as the wind blows it over my red face. "I, uh, I'm Emile."
She giggles, so I look up to see a warm smile and fluttering pretty eyelashes, and I grow even hotter.
"I'm Mikayla. You... sure you're ok?"
I nod quickly, stepping up onto a boulder to escape that beautiful gaze of her's,
"Yes... yeah, I'm fine. Hey... what... are you doing out here?"
Mikaya appears beside me, hands behind her back, pressing her shoulder to mine,
"I come here to get away from my house for awhile. It's really boring."
That giggle again. Man, the tips of my ears are on fire.
I look over at her, and she smiles as I stare into her eyes,
"Do you go to school here?"
She shrugs a bit, staring out over the water,
"Yeah, I guess. It's not very fun. Do you?"
I nod. She leans forward, looking at me now,
"That's really cool! I guess I'll see you around, then?"
Another nod. She turns and hops off the rock and I turn to watch her go,
"Bye, then! My parents are expecting me home soon," she waves happily and I wave back. "See you at school, bach!"
As she disappears over the cliffside, I feel my hand still waving and drop it in embarassment, taking a deep breath an letting it out slowly.
Wow, I think, blinking away my suprise. That was the prettiest girl I've ever seen! Maybe school won't be so bad, after all!