Shane maneuvers around the room filled with stacks of towering cardboard boxes and lets out a deep sigh as he places the last box filled to the brim with clothes on the ground. He stands at the hub of the room, and begins the process of unpacking and organizing his stuff to be put away in his wardrobe and shelves. It just took him a little more than three hours to move the boxes into his new bedroom, now he has another task at hand, and it’s already five o’clock in the evening. Life is like this, once you overcome one obstacle, you have a long line of others waiting for you. It’s a never-ending process. He rips the cello tape off the box closest to him, opens it and takes an armful of jerseys in hues of bright red, navy blue and zesty yellow out of the box. He weaves through the towers of boxes to get to the old-fashioned dresser placed by the door and opens his arms, the jerseys fall into the chest of drawers, creating a vibrant landscape. Then he strides carefully back to the center of the towers of boxes to collect more clothes, books, and CDs to put away. Soon, the boxes are emptied out, the towers are collapsed, strewn all over the room, resulting in a state of pandemonuim. He thought he deserves to have a hearty dinner for all the labour he’s done. But then realizes there is still a box-full of jackets left untouched, waiting to be put away. Since he doesn’t feel comfortable leaving tasks unfinished before he moves on to do something else thus he returns to unpacking and organizing his brand new room right away.
He slides open the wardrobe door and inspects the interior.There is nothing much to it but the rows of cylinder wood for hangers and coats, it is quite a spacious wardrobe, it is.The walls are painted white, in some parts, paint is peeling off, and on the left side of the wall, a pair of haunting eyes stares at him intently. Her eyes are a humble shade of maroon, captivating; her complexion is the most beautiful shade of cinnamon he’s ever seen, her cheeks are rosy and seem to be glowing or maybe blushing at the sight of the human standing before her; her tiny pinched nose is cute as a button; her up-turned lips look kissable; her features are wrapped perfectly in a narrow, oblong face, and pointed chin. With her coal –black hair, think and wavy, casades down to her shoulders. Shane reels back a little and felt his heart cringe away as if trying to doge from a punch or a fatal blow of an arrow. And in his head he thinks she is a work of art, the most beautiful mural he’s ever seen, without realizing it, he utters the words aloud.
To his suprise, the beautiful girl blinks and blushes as she stammers the words “thank you”.
Shane drops the jackets he was cradling in his arms and asked the beautiful mural if she just spoke to him or if he imagined it.
The girl smiles shyly, reassures him that he’s not going crazy, that she is in fact speaking to him. And the veil of darkness her vision disappears as the wardrobe opened. He loves the way he could read her mind like an open book by looking at her eyes, he can tell that she’s nervous by the way she daren’t look him in the eyes when she speaks. He asks her for her name, and she mutters “Kaisia”. He later learns that she has a love for music, she loves to play the guitar but she doesn’t have one, her favourite scent is Sakura blossoms that grow during spring, she’s lost touch with her family as well as the outside world since she was entrapped inside this mysterious wardrobe. She claims that she feels frustrated, that she is tired of her tedious and lonely life inside this wardrobe. She longs to be free. He is awed by the sadness of her words, the way she speaks with a slight lisp and the moment he sees her smile, the walls he spent years building inside him, the barrier that set Shane apart from the rest of the world melts by the warmth of her smile, the sensation is something he never known. He feels afriad but he couldn’t help but smile back at her.
As Shane and Kaisia confabulated the night away, the room reeks stronger and stronger with the stench of budding young love.
The hours of the night tick by so hurriedly, so disgraceful yet familiar, like life in the city, the kind Shane used to know, that is the way Monday morning arrived. It occurs to Shane he forgot to eat and sleep since he met Kaisia. He promises Kaisia he’ll see her as soon as he finishes school, slips on a pair of clean trousers, a red t-shirt, brushes his teeth, grabs his school bag and rushes out the door to catch the schoolbus to school.
During his ride to sitting through lesson after lesson, inbetween lessons, lunch break and while sitting through more lessons, he thinks of Kaisia and he wonders if she’s thinking of him too. He remembers the way she spoke passionately about her family and the loneliness and pain she’s feeling since she lost touch with them. He felt a tear roll down his left cheek as he thought about her grief.The next thing he knew, he makes the decision to completely devote himself into making this beautiful girl happy, that he wants more than anything to hold her and tell her although there’s not much he can do, he’s here for her, to share her sorrow, to bring that smile upon her face. He deluges in thoughts surrounding Kaisia, paying not the slightest attention to what the teachers are saying.
The ear-splitting bell signaling the end of period five interupts Shane’s thoughts, he runs back home immediately, not bothering to wait for the school bus to arrive. He breaks into a sprint as his foot steps draws him closer onto the streets of his neighbourhood. He opens his wardrobe and finds Kaisia, motionless and serene. Her head snaps upwards upon his arrival, her eyes gleamed with anticipation for a moment then she gazes down at his feet, avoiding eye contact. He sits down, lays his homework and textbook on the wooden floor and tells her about his day as he punches the digits on his calculator and writes down the answers of his math assignment. Kaisia watches, listens and finally lets herself delve into the passionate sea of Shane’s voice as the sun sets as the night falls. He then asks her how her day was. She smiles sweetly as she answers him that today, she didn’t feel as lonely. Shane tells her he’s been waiting to see her smile all day.
On his wooden bed, Shane falls asleep to Kaisia’s smile. Tuesday morning came accompanied by the rain, trickling and tapping on the windows softly. Shane wakes up and thinks of Kaisia, he eases open the wardrobe door quietly to find her asleep. He scribbles “Don’t stress yourself, it doesn’t suit you. Keep smiling, it makes you more beautiful. I’ll see you after school today. –Shane” on a piece of Post-it and places it at the back of the wardrobe door where Kaisia can see when she wakes up later today.
He walks lesuirely to school in the light rain that day, breathing in the fresh, moist air and smell of dampened earth. The hours passed by slowly without Kaisia. He feels so happy knowing he’s the reason for her smile. He longs to see her smile again. He passes by the flower shop on his way home from school. Bursts of color reminds him of a kaleidoscope and the sweet scent of flowers holds him back, he finds a beautiful pot of sakura blossoms. He pays the florist with the few dollars he has in his pocket for the flowers and heads home.
Shane arrives home to find his mother frying garlic prawns on a skillet, the house smells wonderful, like an authentic Spanish restaurant. His mother smiles at him and informs him dinner will be ready by six. She doesn’t notice the pot of sakura blossoms in his hands, her eyes are trained and focused on the task in her own hands, making sure the prawns don’t burn, frying them into a golden, crispy along the edges, perfection. He told her he’ll be downstairs for dinner by six, that he’ll just be up in his bedroom doing his homework. He opens the wardrobe and Kaisia notices the white flowers with pink center and stems protruding out, with pecans on top of them in Shane’s hands. She says” I read your note, it’s heart warming.” Shane nods in response. He places the flowers on the floor. The aroma overwhelms the wardrobe. Kaisia’s nose twitches, she inhales the lovely fragrance. She tells Shane that no one has ever bought her flowers before. That she lost her sense of smell, and she hasn’t smelled anything, let alone something so delightful since her life in the walls began. She also smells the garlic prawns, Shane goes downstairs to the living room for supper. That night, she falls asleep to the sweet smell of flowers; he falls asleep to her smile.
The sunlight streams through the curtains of Shane’s bedroom on Wednesday morning, he awoke wondering what he can do to see her smile again. He goes to school with his chin up in the air, a confident aura luminates surrounds and everyone at school notices this. He greets his classmates hello in the corridors and smiles so much his cheeks ache because he’s thinking about Kaisia’s smile when she reicieved the flowers. At lunch, he sits with his friends Kaleom and Samantha at the cafeteria. Kaleom pulls out his guitar and strums away as he sings to Samantha her favourite song, the melody echoes throughout the room, Samantha sings along with him. Their voices compliment one another’s in perfect harmony.
When Shane gets home later that day, he picks up his old guitar from the basement and sings to Kasia the song Kaleom sang to Samantha at the cafeteria. Kaisia sings along like she’s heard the song a thousand times before. A voice so sweet it makes his heart flutter with joy. As they sing together, the entire world stops spinning to listen.
Thursday morning brings the same feelings as yesterday, he wants to see her smile but today, he also feels ambitious because he wants to impress Kaisia. On top of that, he wants to hear her laugh.Three things he is determined to accomplish. Later today, he takes a test in World Issues class, on the Rwanda genocide. He finishes the test by a quarter to two, the first person to complete it, he looks around, everyone else still has their heads down, scribbling away on their test papers, their eyebrows knitted and burrowed together intensely, Shane’s lips curls upwards in a devilish grimance. Mrs. Dallon marks his test right away, “tick, cross, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, cross, tick...” she gives him a thumbs up and writes the numbers 96 on the right hand corner of the test in bright red. He can’t wait to show this to Kaisia, he rushes straight up to his room, giddy with excitement. He opens his wardrobe with his test paper and there Kaisia is,waiting for him serenely, she sees his test score and gives him a thumbs up, she tells him he has a bright future ahead of him, he answers yes, there’s no doubt about that. He tells her he’ll inherit this house in the near future. Get a job online as an advertisement designer, create the next World of War Craft online video game and become a billionare, to renovate the boring wardrobe into an exhibition of Sakura blossoms, he can play the guitar and they can sing together everyday, they can live together happily right here for the rest of the week, the rest of their lives.
A giggle escapes Kaisia’s lips. Laughing at the absurdity, a pair of star-crossed lovers, forever cursed by the confines of these four walls. The rhythmic giggle turns into a laugh, the laugh takes form of a hysterical howl, growing louder and stronger as it echoes throughout the wardrobe. It doesn’t take long for the laughter to leak through the crevices of the wardrobe and into the bedroom. Shane remains speechless and watches as Kaisia illuminates, radiating shades of pink and blinding yellow in the dark, like he’s never seen before. He reaches out to the brilliant shafts of colors, feeling the warmth, absorbing the happiness. He closes his eyes and enjoys the moment. When he opens his eyes, the beautiful girl in the mural stands before him, her delicate hand rests on his heartbeat, accelerating a thousand million light years, a rocket soaring into space.
The next thing they knew, their bodies melt together in an embrace.
“Am I dreaming?”
“I am real.” She says in a reassuring tone.
He plucks a sakura from the pot, places it in her hair. Shane takes Kaisia’s hand and they run out of the wardrobe and into the world to search for the infinite possibilities love has in store for them.