Cherry Blossom

It was snowing as hard as throwing pebbles in the water. The girl with long black hair, polka-dotted dress, blue eyes crystal clear, and high heels packed her bags. She was packing to leave. She was packing to leave her grief behind. She was packing to leave her problems, and she was packing because she didn’t have the courage to face her problems. One lonely 16-year-old child left her home in the cold that made her feel frozen ice. She felt herself in the cold as an unbearable child without any support to hold her up like a building. Her building broke apart fully. Yes! Her family is no longer alive. First, her parents and then her grandmother who died in a car accident. Now the only one person left out of her family was her grandfather. He was able to be saved from the accident. At this point, she had no hope. Russell lost her inner self. Russell's thoughts no longer were able to process. She was clueless.

Her grandfather was her constructor who had to build her up every time. What motivated her to stay alive was him and what motivated her to live was only because of him. Her grandfather William taught her the necessities of daily living skills. For example, cooking, working and most importantly educating herself. Russell got her bags set and started marching towards the door, closing it shut behind her. She glistened in the snow storm until she reached near one of the stop signs leading to the bus that will be going from here in Washington D.C to New York City.

It was April, in the middle of the spring season, where the festivals in DC were going to start. She remembered how it has been 2 days since her grandfather had died. Despite the fact that he died in DC, where also her other family members had died as well. Knowing this fact, she couldn’t accept to live in a place where her loved ones were gone. She worked at McDonald's on weekends to earn money. Her grandfather and Russell found out a few days later that he had cancer. His cancer was so severe that he didn’t even last a day. She recalled all the happy memories of her life. She recalled her celebrating her birthday at the shorelines of a beach, she remembered her flying away balloons with him during the Color Festival, she remembered her holding her grandfather's hand while walking across the roads, or like even skydiving on her birthday every year. The last thing she recalled was her grandfather's favorite festival. She read it across the board, with Cherry Blossoms printed everywhere. She read “The Cherry Blossom Festival.” She dropped her stuff and ran back home to get her house keys from the manager who owns the house. She was going to stay for her grandfather.

The Cherry Blossom festival was organized by her grandfather every year. He sponsored and ran the festival from time to time and year to year. This was his last sign of existence, except for his recalled memories she had captured and remembered inside deeply. She decided to sponsor every year from now on and take over the business. She took an oath on taking care of his business from this day till her last breath. The last thing before she prepared for tomorrow's day was recalled his last words. “ The trees of darkness falls only between dawn. When a new day appears, the sun comes out. Then the elephant will rise. She will come out from the darkness walking forward to hope, to a new life, and to a new beginning. Her trunk will go up with the strength of faith and the power to see things occur. Let go! Let go! Russell my granddaughter, always arise and look forward to the future and not the past.”

December 21th 2013, Fall ended and time passed quickly as winter was here. A year didn’t take her long to forget her Grandfather. She sobbed in tears, but worked with brave, she handled things the way he did. Every step was done after using the method of her grandfather. She worked like he used to do. He wore caps and she had also worn caps printing the words “ Work to the future.” She will never forget the last words of her grandfathers, telling her to arise and look forward to life, but not back.