Nothing can be heard. Nothing except for Luna's labored breathing. She is brisk walking and she knows her neck might snap from the moment to moment of looking sideways just to see if someone might be watching her. It is rather unethical and illegal for someone like her to scamper in a bright day in which everyone is expected to be in their deepest slumber. She doesn't care about her violations but any witness might spot her lawlessness.
Ten more steps and she is at her destination—her haven. It was nothing compared to the big houses in their town with their big windows and cascading curtains or the spectacular chandeliers. Instead, it was just a tiny shack already crumbling to ruins set in the brightest forest many miles from the town. With a last look back, she slowly pulled the unaligned door and tiptoed inside. She was not scared of the light; she came to love it when she started visiting the shack.
She loves staring at the beautiful pictures hanging on the wall. She never knew that they were called paintings until she came across that word in one of her readings. Though as much as she loves them, she could not find the courage to feel their texture because all of the expressions they wear were unfamiliar to her and were inexistent in their town. It was the look with a sparkle in their eyes and the slight upturn in their lips—it was as if they were seeing something so great, so magical in front of them. She always tried copying their looks on her mirror but whenever she feels the moment, it always caused her great pain.
She would spend all the 12 sleeping hours staring at the paintings then she would go home for the night and witness the town go back to life. It was the usual night for them to roam, be around and be gloomy—visit the dead, hear about pleasant nightmares and watch typical movies like Saw, Wrong Turn, The Conjuring and many more. All the things done in the town must align with the word gloominess. She does not know why but it was like that ever since she could remember. It is all too dark, too lamenting and too serious that pushed her to roam to the light and discover the shack in serendipity. Tonight was no ordinary—another happiness-seeker has been caught and they were going to watch banishing from the town.
She could be the one who was sitting there, she thought, sitting at that lonesome chair but she guessed her time has not yet come and she must be one of the million eyes peering at that show tonight.
No one must know, not even the elders or the cameras around the vicinity. No one must know about the burning desire in her, not with that impeccable wooden chair and all those curious eyes boring on her. If someone will get a whiff of her uncontrollable dream, about her secretive visits to the shack, she would soon sit on that chair, which she was not yet ready for. So slowly, she just stared at that dark-haired kid who stared steadily at her, too. She quite knows him. They told her the kid's mother died when she gave birth to him. Manacled on the chair, he had a rag for a dress and nothing more yet he kept still and looked very serene. He has sinned according to their law. He had sinned by looking for happiness.
Their greatest elder came forward in her usual attire—an emerald silk dress that snugged her fats too tightly making her seem ready to burst at any moment. Well, no one except herself, she guessed, thinks that way about the old woman or maybe that kid thinks the same way, too. She poured a concoction into a cup and with brisk face and speed, she managed to open the kid's mouth and pour in the liquid.
Not a tiny sound escaped from the crowd. Not even Luna made a sound. The other elders stood from their chairs and started to leave when the kid on the chair slowly vanished, like wisp of smoke he slowly floated away. She could feel the relief of the people around her. She knew what they were thinking, and it would be, ''At last! Another happiness contaminated person has left the area.'' It was what they were tought to think.
She stood there in the silence while everyone left to resume the events of the night. She stood there and with great pain, she visited a special friend's house—his family's mansion. She felt so empty entering the bleak mahogany door, then she stared at the food mounted on the dining table and yet, there was no desire for her to sit and devour the prepared supper. She closed her eyes and felt the burning of the hot liquid form her eyes, ''Why? Why couldn't we cry for the banished? Why are we not allowed to cry nor even smile?'' She kept on screaming in the back of her mind.
Muttering the same words she walked bitterly upstairs to his friend's room, she could not control her tears for they kept on flowing. Just midway on the staircase, she saw his father coldly staring at her, just staring at her and nothing more. Luna knows he saw her tears and he did what was needed to be done. Luna was next on that chair.
What an irony! Just minutes ago she was one of those spectators. She, too, like the kid just a moment ago, was manacled in the impeccable chair. She, too, was wearing ragged cloth as pants and nothing for her upper body. It was unbearably cold. She can feel their eyes on her; She can feel their loathing and torching desire to see her vanish. The next events were like a deja vu—the greatest elder with gut wrenching dress and that concoction creeping into her mouth. It did not taste like anything but she felt its coldness flowing into the deepest part of her. She sees herself, she sees herself being blown into the wind. It was her turn.
She woke up with the sound she never heard of. They were human sounds but very macabre to her. She opened her eyes and gently rose, she feels amazingly light and energetic. The place was flooded with sunlight. There were so many people around. People in their bright clothes, which seemed to be a swarm of different colors. They are all wearing the expressions she haŃ‹ only seen on the paintings. It was awkward staring at their faces with their open mouths emitting the sounds she kept on hearing—the sounds that make her feel light and heavenly. She stood there with shock. She just froze.
Amidst the flood of people, she can see the kid from the night before approaching her. The kid looked different. He was wearing a shirt with the color like the brightness of the sun and wearing open-toed sandals and he... he was smiling at her. He looked purely heavenly and said, ''come, join us'' with that, he pulled her hand and they started to jog then the pace started and they were running.
They ran so fast. Amazingly, the flood of sunlight grew more intense and the smell of lemon filled the place so they kept on running. The wind was against her face and she felt her lips curve with ease and make the smile she always wanted. ''Am I smiling? Am I smiling?! I cannot believe it!'' She halted forcefully. The dusted rose around her and lingered but she kept on smiling like she feared that it would soon fade away. The kid froze too but he still held her hand and saw her trying to plaster her smile on her lip. With lips apart and eyes sparkling, the kid was producing that pleasant sound, the sound she cannot define nor give a name to. She just uttered, ''You are... you are.'' He intervened immediately and said, ''I am laughing, I am laughing because I am happy that you are learning to be happy.'' Like a toddler, Luna repeated his words, ''laughing, and laughing'' as she held the kid's hand tightly and looked at his sparkling eyes. She felt her heartbeat drum very fast and loudly as she held his gaze and with a smile she repeated, ''laughing because I am happy.'' It is like a bursting of hypnotizing emotions in her chest, she couldn't help it. She kept on smiling and half-laughing as she looked into the swirl of the mesmerizing twirl and shine of the kid's dark brown eyes.
Her happiness was born. Her happiness now lingers.
