Everything Until Now

"Why hello there!"

...

"How are you doing today, you adorable little child?"

...

"What's your name?"

...

....."Alex."

"Why that's a brillant name for such a brillant child like you! Come along then. Take a seat right there, please."

"Oh... Okay."

As the shy child named Alex walked towards a small table filled with small chairs, all vacant, he couldn't help but feel... nervous.

Frightened. Just a tad bit.

As he looked around, he saw all the many faces that occupied this strange room. Many children like him. But with varying degrees of similarities... and differences.

Some had their skin all muddy and black.

Some had their skin all orange.

Some had their skin bright, bright white.

Some wore hats.

Some were eating some food that their own moms and dads had brought them.

Some were speaking to each other, all with such brightness in their eyes and excitement could be heard from their voices.

But if there was one thing that seemed the same with all of them...

It would probably be their clothes that they were all wearing.

And that...

That was one of the only reasons Alex felt a little bit better when seeing his classmates like this.

He didn't feel such an outcast with this in mind.

He sat down in one of those bright blue seats that they had there for him.

For a little, he huddled up just a smidge, observing this weird environment that he was in.

Never before has he seen kids like him in a small room like this.

All filled with colors.

All filled with light.

All filled with...

Sniff. Sniff.

All filled with smells?

As he continued to observe everything all around him, from the strange patterns of red, green, and blue...

Wait...

Was it red or orange?

Alex couldn't quite grasp if it was. He tried to remember what red looked like again and the first thing that popped up is what his dad once taught him.

"Red is the color of a delicious, healthy apple." He said, as he cut some of it with something that Alex could only identify as 'shwarp'.

Immediately, after remembering this, he looked around, trying to find that big, nice apple that his pop showed him.

He wondered if there was one right here.

After quite some time, staring at all the tables around him, he then stared off into the distance, to a dark thing that was holding some paper.

And there it was.

A bright red apple.

Sitting on top of the dark stand.

Alex giggled silently.

Finally, he found it.

And after some looking, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth...

He smiled.

It was red.

After successfully completing his mission, he resumed his exploration around the room, using only his bright green eyes, and after only a few minutes, he then found another point of interest.

In the middle of the wall that faced the room was a shape, filled with black, and on it was something peculiar.

It took a while for our explorer to identify this thing but when he did, he turned his head a little to the side as he could faintly tell what it was.

Was it... a letter?

A letter, right?

It must be.

His mom showed him once a letter and she said that "...Letters are what we people use to speak with. It's what inside the words you, your daddy, and I all use."

"Let... Lettras?" Alex tried to say.

"Letters. L-e-t-t-e-r-s." His mom slowly mouthed everywhere, and with her, Alex tried to copy her exact movements and managed to say:

"L-e-t-t-e-r-a. Lettera!"

"Hahah... We'll work on it letter..."

...

"Oh no. I said a pun."

Alex immediately laughed. While he didn't know what a 'pun' was, the way that her mom said it, all while putting her hand towards her mouth in such a way...

It made him burst with such childish laughter.

Now, back in the present day, Alex tried to identify what the letter was by marking it with his hand, waving it all around in the air.

When he finished, he then grabbed one of the crayons that was around and started to draw the letter he formed in his head.

A straight line that way.

Another joining it in a familar fashion.

And a line right between the two.

After staring at the result of his experiment, Alex could almost start to mouth just what the letter was.

"Ah... Ah..."

It was tough. He couldn't quite force it all out though.

But slowly, he could start to get a hang of it, shifting his tone to get just where it needs to be.

"Ae... Ae..."

He was close. He was sure of it. He just needed to go a little bit more. But what?

....

And then it came up.

And then he started saying the phrase with more... simplicity.

And then suddenly...

"A. Ah-A."

"A."

That was it!

Eureka!

'The letter A!', Alex thought.

And right then and there, Alex felt excited.

He finally got it.

After many times that his parents had to correct him... he could now say it properly.

A!

Alex giggled a little louder now, excited and happy with this sudden development.

He felt proud of himself.

He now knew the letter A.

And all he could do at that moment was smile.

"Ahem."

Alex suddenly looked up.

For some reason....

Everyone was staring at him.

It felt weird.

He wasn't sure why everyone was looking at him like that.

It...

It made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

He wasn't liking this feeling.

"Well then. That was... a strange moment. But just like Alex put it, up here on the board is the letter A." The woman in a nice little dress said.

Everyone turned their gaze from Alex and into the black shape there.

'Board'?

Was that what it was called?

'Seemed like an odd word to call this shape.', Alex thought.

But unlike his previous journeys, he brushed it off and continued to hear the lesson.

"Psst!"

Huh?

I-- Alex turned around.

From seemingly out of nowhere, there was now someone seated to the side of him, in the same table.

What a surprise.

"What is a letter?" The kid asked.

Alex was a little hesitant to answer. He hasn't really talked to many. But his mom and dad really want to find him someone to talk to.

And frankly, this may be his only chance.

"Um.... Yes?" Alex hesitantly asked.

"So? What is it?" The kid continued to say, prompting Alex to give her an answer.

"Um... Um... It's a... It's a thing that can mak-makes up da--no, the words... The words that we say." Alex said, stopping along the way to pick up the words he was trying to say.

"The words?" The kid further asked.

"Yep."

"Oh. That's neat?"

"Neat?"

"It is a word that means "nice". Daddy told me that."

"Oh. My mom taught me what letters was."

"Cool."

This was a strange encounter, indeed, for Alex.

But it was a friendly one indeed.

He already took up a friendship with this one, who was actually a girl.

All brown-skinned and with long haar. No wait... 'Hair.', Alex remembered.

"What's your name?" The girl asked.

"My name?" Alex asked.

She nodded.

Alex breathed in.

"My name... My name is Alex." He replied.

"Cool name. I'm Abagail."

"Aba... Abagail?"

"Yeah. That's it."

The two kids snickered a little. Alex's pronunciation was hilarious. But that's what you can expect from a five-year old.

The both of them continued their time together in class, talking to each other all about their family and asking each other all sorts of questions, ranging to what words meant what to even a few other questions that the both of them couldn't even answered if they tried.

The day seemingly passed by quick, as not before long, a weird, loud sound came up.

RING! RING!

And with it, the class got up from their chairs and proceeded to grab their things.

Alex couldn't understand why did they do this, but he just brush it off, as he quickly packed up to meet up with Abagail.

"Wait for me!" Alex said.

In only a few seconds, Alex managed to catch up with Abagail, seemingly a little too excited to being able to talk to somebody.

"What-what your dad do?"

"He told me to go play outside. But the outside was all raining. So, when he saw this, he just smiled and said "I guess the weather is on your side today."

Both of them grinned. What a wacky situation that must've been.

They continued to walk down the place together, right up until they made it up the entrance. There, they could see adults lining up, waiting to receive their boys and girls.

And as Alex could see from the tiny creak that would appear from time to time...

They were big.

For a while, Alex thought that the only big ones was his father, mother, uncle, and his sister.

But apparently...

All adults were.

After waiting in line for a little bit and after an even more intense conversation with Abagail about their families, they finally heard this:

"Alex Shiro? Your parents are here."

Instinctively, Alex got up from sitting there and was about to rush to his parents until he remembered one thing.

"Bye, Abagail! See you tommorow?" He said.

Abagail grinned a little and replied: "Yep!"

Alex smiled and with it, rushed towards the door, waiting to see his parents.

He was so excited to tell them all about his day.

He...

...

Well...

I... I was excited to tell them about my day.

This memory... It sticks by me so hard.

I don't know why exactly but... I'll always treasure that moment.

My first friend.

My first day in school.

My first day... realizing something.

That life... It's so much bigger than I imagined at the time.

And that no matter what came my way...

I wanted to preserve in it and live my life the way I want to live it.

Just like my dad wanted me to.

Just like my dad wanted me to...