Summer Colors

It was a lovely summer day. The sun was shining a bright yellow and the world was calm as the moist grass waved in the wind. The clothes on the lines were drying faster that day. Susie went outside to pull the whites off the line. She folded each one carefully into small squares and laid them in her specially woven basket. She had a smile like an angel and eyes that glowed a beautiful midnight blue. The sky was even a little less blue than Susie's eyes that day. The world was quiet, which made Susie happy. It seemed like the world had accomplished world peace. Susie knew she only lived on an island and that she was alone, but she still liked to think that world peace could actually be accomplished. She carried her basket of warm, dry clothes into the house and put the sheets on her bed. She had nobody to talk to on her island, and she never learned to talk. She only knew one word. That word was, "Please."1

Knowing only one word was hard, but in her case, she was the nicest girl in the entire world. The colors of the beautiful earth reflected in her. Had anyone seen her eyes, they'd fall deeply in love with peace and happiness too. Her eyes had a magical power, being the deep blue they were. They could make something feel better. She had a unique taste for happiness, and anything she looked at would be happy, so she loved her eyes. If anyone were to try and take her eyes, she'd be sad, but she wouldn't fight back. So on her lonely island she would live, peacefully, and forever she'd be.2

The summer wasn't always beautiful on her island. She had to sit on a tree during high tide and sometimes she feared that a natural disaster would occur and she wouldn't be able to escape. But then she would think about heaven and how wonderful it would be to go there. She decided dying wouldn't be too bad after all. She was a natural lover of everything. Anything that happened, she couldn't be mad at. She was alone.3

The problem with her... Was that she never learned to care for anyone else in the world. And that would make her a horrible person in the social world. And that is why... She saw her first enemy.4

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It was a summer morning. The colors of the sun mixed together into a bright yellow again. Susie sat on her bed, sewing materials together to make a new dress. A boat horn sounded in the distance, but not too far out. Susie hid in her closet, afraid to be found by someone. She wasn't sure how to react to civilization. Then the boat horn sounded again. It was closer. There was one person on it. The others had died of cold and seasickness. This person was a man named Thomas. He jumped down from the boat and onto the sandy beaches of the island. He held a brass telescope and a beautiful picture of his daughter, Kimberly. 6

He smiled a sweet smile that everyone would love. He thought he was alone at last. But then he wept, for his daughter had been one of the people on the ship. He sat down on the beach and continued to cry for his dear daughter Kimberly. Thomas was still unaware of Susie.7

Susie crept outside and along the trees to get behind Thomas. She didn't know what to say. "Please."8

Thomas turned, "Please what?"9

Susie made motions with her hands to show what she was saying. After Thomas figured out what she was saying, it turned out horrible. She had told him to stop crying. Her first words weren't even asking him what was wrong. All she said was to stop crying. Well, the only reason that happened, is because Susie only liked happiness. She was spoiled with happiness, so she stared deeply into Thomas's eyes. He closed his eyes and said, "Stop staring at me."10

Susie frowned. She didn't like Thomas at all. He was another person on HER island. She kept wanting him to leave. That was all she wanted, for Thomas to leave. He held his brass telescope and beautiful picture tightly and kept his eyes closed tightly. Susie signed with her hands again. She had cuts and scrapes all over her hands, which made it hard for her to move them, but she was easy to interpret. First she poked Thomas, and then she started her signs. "You should leave. Only happy people are allowed here."11

Thomas frowned this time. His frown was deep and forbidding. His eyes were puzzled. "I said that only happy people can stay! Leave!"12

"Do you only know how to SAY please?"13

Susie didn't know how to answer. She tried harder than ever to speak. Nothing would come out. Her brain just didn't work like other human beings. She had lived alone all her life... There was not a human soul that would ever understand her. She was happy. Everybody was happy. NOBODY was sad.14

At the end of the day, Thomas had learned to act happy. He never was happy, but he decided he would act so he could stay. He learned that Susie could sew, cook, clean, and fight if she really wanted to. He took out a long, silver sword and taught her how to defend herself in case of pirates coming to the island. She smiled. His battling style was that of a pirate himself. 15

Thomas also taught Susie how to speak. This took him many days and nights. The days were warm and the nights were nice, but they stayed inside because of the mosquitoes. It was malaria season.16

Susie asked repeatedly about what Kimberly was like, who her mother was, and how Kimberly looked when she smiled. Thomas's replies were nice and happy to Susie.17

"Well, Kimberly was a wonderful girl. She would always smile and laugh. It seemed like she had no trouble at all. Kimberly listened to people she trusted and defend herself. When she was eleven though... She stopped smiling altogether. I forgot what her smile looked like. Her mother came to visit her more often. I disliked her mother very much. Her mother didn't care about Kimberly. It was horrible to hear what she said to Kimberly."18

Susie gasped. She thought that everyone in the world was happy around her. She didn't know about emotions. All she felt was happiness... Until that moment, when she stared into Thomas's sad, cold eyes. She found out what sadness and hatred were, and she cried... She cried all that windy night and all the dusty day. Thomas worried about her. She ran outside covered in tear water and sat down in the middle of the sand. She was so sad that she forgot about the mosquitoes... And she was given malaria.19

In a week she died. It happened all so quickly that Thomas cried at her bed. He thought that her sadness was his fault. It was just the way it had to be though. Susie wanted to die that day. She didn't know how she wanted to die, but she wanted to die. She had broken her promise to her parents. She said she would never be sad or angry. She said that she would always smile, forever and ever. But she broke her promise to her forgotten parents, and remembered that she had made the promise. So she died.20

Thomas was so depressed. He would sit at her grave that he dug himself and cry into the soil. He thought that only his tears could bring Susie back to life. But he was wrong. He ran into the house. "I don't deserve to live anymore."21

He died that night... By the table... Holding his sword in his heart. And nobody saw Thomas again.22

Until that day...23

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"Lenna! Come on!"25

Lenna was fifteen. She knew Kimberly when Kimberly was alive. They went to junior high together. When Lenna heard in the news two years ago that none of the people on the ship ever came back, she cried. She decided that for Kimberly, she would live and take place of always being happy from then on. Then she graduated and went to high school. She loved high school. All of the teachers seemed nicer to her because she loved it so. Her grades stayed up in the A average. She was a perfect student. Most children would tease, but she would smile and laugh along. She was never hurt.26

"Lenna! Hurry up!"27

Her mother kept shouting at her to get in the car to get to school. Hannah was a wonderful mother, but she always ended up late for something. Lenna would still smile, even if she was late for high school. Hannah kept wondering why her daughter was so happy all of the time, but Lenna would keep that a secret.28

Lenna had her very own power. She was like Susie, but instead of being able to make someone happy, she was able to speak to spirits. She loved the spirits and would speak to them often. "Hello Lee."29

Her pen-pal from Japan had died five years ago, when she was ten. He would follow her around in America as the spirit, Lee.30

Lenna was happy. She loved Lee following her around. But then another voice sounded. "Have you seen Kimberly, Lenna?"31

Lenna stopped moving or talking altogether. She couldn't stop herself from crying. She turned to see if Thomas was really there... It was a spirit... "Thomas. You are dead."32

Thomas smiled, "I know I am dead. I am looking for Kimberly. Have you seen her?"33

Lenna kept crying, "She's dead!"34

Thomas frowned, "Don't cry. I know she's dead. I was driving the boat when the captain died of the cold."35

Lenna wouldn't stop the tear flow. Thomas said, "Don't cry. You'll be able to always see Kimberly again. Don't cry... Don't cry..."36

-----37

Don't cry.. Don't cry...38

THE END