I looked back down and we sat in silence for a couple of minutes. I looked to my right to find Looi holding the child that was being stubborn in his arms. This, in fact, reminded me of myself in his arms a long, long time ago. Oh, I’d say about 16 years ago when I was 2 and he was 11. My mom and dad had Looi when they were only 19 years old, so It took a while for them to decide to have me 9 years later when they were 28. I laughed at how old my mom was now. I know it’s nothing to laugh about, but, I couldn’t imagine my mom at Looi’s age now that she is 46.
    “So, do you want to go see what the problem is? Glorious?” I heard a voice, but, I was concentrated on something else. The world seemed to disappear as I looked out on the horizon line, and at the rising sun making splotches of purples and oranges. Mixing those two colors seemed like heaven. The normal sun was just yellow with blinding light. But, the rising sun packs so much more than that. When you look at it, you think, wow, this is amazing to look at. Then, when you stare at it longer, you see the past sunrises, and think differently. Wow, look. The last sunrise like this had red instead of orange, and it did not reach all along the sky like this one does. Just, look.
I didn’t know I spoke this out loud until I heard a soft, “Yeah, I guess so.”
    I turned my full attention back to Caden. He was looking at me with interest and great concern. He was nodding slowly and his eyes were squinted.
    “Do you quote things randomly all the time?” He asked. I giggled, yes, giggled, and then said, “Uh, no. Not really. Well, I have a very, very short attention span. Something of that sorts.” I looked back at the sun, and then at Looi, heading towards us.


When he reached our spot, he grunted, and then looked up (which made me laugh, because he did have to lookup). “You again. Are you bothering my sister? Hm?” Looi asked lethally.
    “No, no. I was just talking to her. I just wanted to learn her name. Glorious? Right? Yeah.” Caden replied innocently. “It’s OK Looi, he is just a boy from the high school. His name’s Caden. Looi, Caden. Caden, Looi.” I said, trying not to sound like an innocent little girl. Caden held out his hand. I tried not to laugh again. “Right.” Looi said, and shook his hand.
    “So . . . ,” Caden started, and then hesitated when Looi was retreating away from us. I shook my head and rolled around a rock that was in front of me with my foot. “He does that, just to let you know,” I mentioned in my embarrassment.
    “That’s OK,” Caden replied. I shook my head just to unsettle the weirdness and uncomfortableness of the conversation. I nodded in agreement and shufled towards where Looi was going, afraid I would loose him the the huge crowd.
    “Hey!” Caden called after me. I focused on Looi in front of me to make sure I knew where he was going and then turned around, my arms crossed over my stomach. “Yes?” I asked.
    “Do you want to stay here and talk with me? You know that we don’t have to follow the crowd.” he said matter-of-factly. I shrugged and then replied, “I would loose my brother if I don’t follow him. He might worry I might be lost and would wonder off of a bridge or something.” Caden stared at me when I looked behind me so i wouldn’t loose where Looi was going.
    “The thing is, your brother doesn’t know me. No one usually looks passed the spikey red hair and the freakishly tallness. Everyone thinks I’m a normal weirdo, that happens to be nice. But, people like your brother, he just sees the outside. Like, he wouldn’t know that if you planned to jump off a bridge, that I would force you not to, and if you started to wonder, that I would guide you to the right place. Uh, I would do that for anyone.” Caden looked at me, and for a split second, I saw understanding, fearless, and niceness in his eyes. I was too worried to see anymore.
When I looked behind me, I couldn’t see Looi anymore.
    “Oh, my god! I lost Looi! Help! Someone help!!” I screamed, I started to feel overly warm, my hands sweating and my head spinning. I put a hand to my head, and then my knees folded from underneath me. Pictures started to form, me, being lost and forgotten, then Looi would get lost. I thought of him getting ran over with a car, or being hustled just for asking for directions. My breathing quickened as the concrete came closer and closer to my face. Was the concrete rising or was it just the senses of my brain straining harder to think of a solution to this rising force against me? I drew in one more quick breath awaiting the impact.
If I felt the hands of a human on my waist, I must have been dreaming.