The Light of Gary

Darkness. Complete darkness. That’s all Emma Brown saw during her life. No, she wasn’t blind in any way. There just wasn’t anything special about her life. She was just Emma Brown. However, her birthday was rolling around the corner. This year, she wished for something special. Emma had wished for a family. Everyday, she passed houses full of children running up to their moms. Warmth. Happiness. Emma wasn’t sure how a family worked at this point. She didn’t have one. Emma had wanted the warmth of a hug from a mom. She wanted love and a home. Just a home with loving people. She couldn’t express that enough. 

Walking. That’s all Emma could do at this point. It was in the darkness of the night and she was walking. Cars passed. Street lights flickered about. Emma had found herself at her happy place, the woods. People always said the woods are no place for a child, but she wasn’t a child; she was going to be eighteen. To her, eighteen was adult enough. Taking her first steps into the woods, she saw a path of light, of which she followed. The light lead her to a small cabin. She wasn’t an idiot, she wasn’t going to enter it. Although that was the case, she was still going to look around at it. It interested her; it had only been in the books she read from the library. After some time passed, Emma was in the cabin. She found a hole in the roof, which she was now upside down from. While she hung down, the light had disappeared from above her and she only shrugged. There wasn’t anything in the cabin; it was dusty and full of cobwebs, so she just sat on the roof. Emma ended up drifting off on the roof, not giving a care about anything at the moment. 

Emma woke up in a completely different area. It had been a beach. She was on a beach towel. After sitting up, she rubbed her head and looked around. A family had been around her. A boy, about seven, had pointed at her. A watchful eye, who Emma assumed was the mom, got up and went to her, giving her a hug. Emma was wondering why these people weren’t actually speaking, but nothing came out of her mouth when she asked. What was this reality? Something blocked her voice, so she decided to just sit there and take her hug. The mom had held out her hand and stood up, signalling for Emma to take it and get up. After she got up, still holding the hand, she saw more children run towards her, waving. Emma slowly waved back and smiled softly at them. The older woman held out her other hand and one by one, the other children grabbed hands. They began walking towards a van. Emma didn’t think much of it, because she realized this is a potential family she could keep, and the van didn’t say ‘free candy’ on it. And that made her beyond happy. 

After a long drive, they had arrived at a large house. It was no mansion, but it was certainly amazing. Emma stared at it an awe as the children stepped out and ran towards it, playing tag. Rosa, which Emma found out was the mother’s name through some mind guessing. She had been staring at the kids with a warm grin. No one spoke in this family. Emma assumed they were mute, along with herself, who couldn’t get a word out either.

As the day went on, Emma got a room with a girl named Tina. Tina was your typical book reader. Very sweet. Smart. Emma would keep this in mind. As she was thinking about who these people are, the children were signalled down to dinner. Rosa cooked a turkey and mashed potatoes. Emma had never had an actual meal like this before; she didn’t know how to feel. They prayed, she had never done this either, and they ate. Emma picked up the fork and stabbed it into a piece of turkey, ripping it off the rest. As she put it in her mouth, she looked over at the other kids, who were smiling and eating. This must be how it feels to have a home. 

After dinner, Tina and Emma were back in their room; Tina reading. Emma was staring at the ceiling as Rosa came in to kiss them goodnight. Emma didn’t know how to feel; she didn’t know these people and they, somehow, knew her. It was a weird coincidence, she thought. She decided to let it go and let herself hit the pillow. Tina was still reading at this point, with the lamp beside herself on. Emma, slowly, started to drift off to sleep with a smile. Before she went to sleep, she felt Tina give her a small kiss on the forehead before turning the light off. 

Warmth. Happiness. That’s all Emma felt. On mother instincts, Rosa came in and gave Emma a morning hug with a small kiss on the cheek. Once Rosa left, Emma stood up and looked over Tina’s bed to see that it was empty. She walked downstairs to the kitchen where stacks of pancakes and bacon lay on a plate in the center of the counter. A few of the kids, including Tina, were already down there, grabbing a plate. Emma, when she had actually gotten to the table, also grabbed a plate and a fork. Rosa had shown Emma a smile and then turned back to her pan that contained eggs. Rosa brought the eggs towards the family and put it on a large plate, next to the pancakes. 

After breakfast, Emma was stuffed with food. She went to her room as the rest of the kids played outside. Tina was also outside, but reading a novel she found at a store. Warmth. Happiness. Emma never felt so much joy to her life. She had never had a family, and that’s what she fell asleep to. Once she woke up, she gasped. She was no longer in the warmth and happiness of her bedroom that she shared with her sister Tina. Emma was back at the cabin. She didn’t have a long-lost family. It had all been a dream. None of those people were real. Nothing felt real anymore. She was back to walking.

Walking. That’s all Emma could do at this point. She didn’t have any thoughts. She just continued her walk along the road as she came across this green speck in the distance. Shaking her head, she kept her head down for the few steps. She blinked and saw a turtle in front of herself on the road. Emma bent down and looked at the turtle. Where would a turtle come from? There wasn’t a beach nearby. Her thoughts of her dream family swarmed her head. How could this be? Emma looked down at the turtle’s shell and on that was a little outline of all the kids and Rosa with a thumbs up. This couldn’t be real.

What Emma didn’t know was that it was real. The turtle was real. She ended up taking the turtle with her back the woods and smiled as that made the turtle’s shell outlines glow. Emma wasn’t special. She was just Emma Brown. But Emma had something. She had the light of Gary with her. And he was just a little, green turtle.