SMILE ON OUR FACE

We all have that one special person in our lives. Be grateful if you have more than one. Please don't waste a second ignoring the special moments by worrying about the future.

The silvery drops from the anchor gray sky gave shivers down my spine as the gusty wind streaked through my chocolate brown hair. The tippity-toe strumming of D-sharp on the B-string was like Orpheus playing the harmony of the rain in these emerald lush woods. I lifted up my face to let the crystal drops of water hit my face, and slowly percolated deep enough to, hopefully, cleanse my black heart. 

“There she is!” echoed a gruesome voice from behind. “Don’t let that criminal escape!”

It was not a serendipitous encounter with the FBI, nor was it idyllic being pushed into this blood-curdling interrogation room.

“Thought justice will not surface, Ms. Lake,” the dread was feigned with facetiousness. “But one thing doesn’t add up. Why would an innocent girl take your blame and surrender herself to conviction? A death conviction. So, who are you, and what was your relationship with Piper Oliver?

Piper Oliver. Funny, I used to call her Olivia. Who am I? Even the greatest of the society can’t answer that question for themselves, and I’ve only had 18 years of life before giving a reply to those dagger-etched eyes, piercing my heart for the truth.

I closed my eyes, and let my mind wander to an ocean of seas filled with devastation. I faintly heard something through the stereo at the back of my head in this menacing room, that felt like my lungs were filled with cold water, so sharp of pain yet so cold of trauma. 

‘I’m playing a ballad on the piano, 

A few upbeat notes I hit…’

Pretty ironic. I managed a smirk. The lyrics hit me like bullets penetrating into my ghastly soul, and engulfing my body with dark strands of pain. To keep me alive, I let out a deep breath, and sooner than I could react, galoring waves battered my mind with evocative memories of Olivia and me.

‘You ask, “Don’t your cheeks ever hurt?”,

They are lifted and teeth are widened…’

One time, the two of us stood on the upper deck of a cruise ship, a moment photographed in mind. I’d put out my arm around sweet Olivia and, just before clicking our selfie, a cavernous wave, brought about by the most beautiful dolphin, drenched us in an ocean of water, and toppled my phone. We burst into laughter, and it was the happiest I had felt in days.

‘Turn the somber story into funny…’

Look, I didn’t come from a good background. My parents were murdered when I was very little. After that I was orphaned at a foster home, but there didn’t go by a second that I regretted being left alive. My childhood was messy and traumatizing. The other kids treated me with difference as they realized soon enough that I was not like them. I didn’t know what it meant to show feelings or emotions because I no longer had a real family to experience these things. I was the strange kid, and they all hated my silence. That is, until I met Olivia.

‘End it with a smile on my face...’ 

Olivia was the last one to join our foster home. Naturally, the other kids took advantage of this despite her being the oldest. They acted like they owned the place and if a new kid didn’t give the right vibes, they would dominate. But Olivia was the first person to really hear me. She saw life differently through a beautiful kaleidoscope. If one be wearing a black gown casting harrowing shadows in the empty flickering streets, her eyes will picture the figure dancing in red. Olivia always used to say that the other kids were just insecure about their lives, so they try to blame others to feel better about themselves, but we foster kids must stick together.

‘I made a best friend for life,

Annoying but pretty little face…’

We were parasailing while the air smelled of salty seaweed and the crenulation of waves of the jarring ocean made oblivious the eclectic shades of red and orange from the descending sun that flushed our cheeks in a halcyon of extravaganza. Soaring through the cotton-candied clouds, we had the charisma of audacity and fierceness like the eagle, marking our newfound freedom with a toast to friendship. The smile on Olivia’s face and her endearing voice, redefined my purpose in life to something worth living for. And for the first time in a long while, I felt what love was.

‘One look at you, and one look at me,

To see me always smiling…’

On our last trip together, we booked our way to the concert, and we drove on the highways, the moon roof letting in gleaming showers of midnight blue while we enjoyed our strawberry ice cream with cherry toppings. We were singing atop our lungs a song we recently wrote together. It was our way of letting each other know that no matter what we’ll always hold us together in our hearts. 

‘It only makes me wish the more,

Maybe ours could have been the same…’

Unanticipatedly, that night, a mad biker sped up to us and yelled threateningly at us to open the window. Behind the wheel, my hands were trembling as he jostled against the mirror, but as terror plunged into me, I turned the wheel towards him too late to realize I had killed him. Murder was on my hands, but Olivia took the blood to hers.

‘That is ended on a happy note,

With a smile on our face.’

“You’re the best part of my life,” she had whispered affectionately, just before the police arrived at the scene of murder. “ ‘Smile On Our Face’- don’t let this go. Now run away without any regret.” I panicked and stupidly did what her fierce tone commanded me to do, before she turned herself in.

“Planning on answering any time soon,” the voice shook me back to the present. “You know, no matter what you have to say, your judgment will be death. Piper Oliver took your blame, so the law will make sure her life is avenged.”

I stifled a smile in the corner of my mouth. No law could avenge her for she is already at peace. Right before they sentenced her to death, she called me aside, her face brimming with happiness. She said that giving her life for me was the greatest pleasure she could hope for, because that’s how much she cared for me. I was the joy in her life, and she wanted that joy to keep burning bright. But the world deserves to know. They ought to know who Olivia was to me. Taking a deep breath, I stared deeper into those macabre eyes, ready to speak. Even if they sentenced me to death, I would take it gladly. 

Piper Oliver was my everything.