Um...here's another story titled 'Clouds' that Rishi wrote over a year ago...so Rishi isn't too confident in this one...Rishi will do her best!!

CLOUDS

I sit here, gazing at my white ceiling. My short story, RAIN, printed and ready, sits beside me. Three and a half pages of writing.

I can still remember everything from back then. The laughs, the tears, the annoying types of things you wish you could forget...

My thoughts drift back to way-back-when. The sky was a bright blue, with a ton of clouds in the sky. I was outside the school with one of my best friends--Mary. We were sitting on a blue bench at a blue picnic table. We were sitting there idly, not bothering to run around like everyone else at the after school program. I think it was May or June, the last months of school.

I was looking up at the clouds, while Mary was sitting next to me, pondering on something. She seemed to do a lot of that.

We had been silent for a few moments, when I broke the silence. “It looks like a pig.” I said abruptly.

It was so random, Mary had to laugh. “What?” she asked, perking up.

I pointed at a cloud. “It looks like a pig.” I said, smiling. “That cloud.”

Mary looked up to where I was pointing. “It looks like Kenney.” She said, grinning. Kenney was the boy she liked.

I smiled. “Exactly.”

We laughed for a few moments, then Mary pointed up again. “That one looks like Kenney too!”

“Nah! It’s a cow.” I argued.

After a few rounds of 'What’s it look like?', Mary and I were silenced again.

Mary was the first one to speak up. “I’m gonna miss you.” She said quietly, fiddling with a piece of grass.

I nodded a little. “Ditto.”

............

I wipe away a few tears. I don’t know why that memory hit me. Maybe it was because Mary and I were talking about it last night.

I glance outside. The clouds covered the sky, not leaving a hint of blue. I can’t make them out from each other. I sigh.

I want to make pictures out of the clouds, though. But nowadays I never seem to spend anytime gazing idly at clouds, since my new school doesn’t have recess...or Mary.

So I gaze outside the window again, where its silent, but not silent. Do you know what I mean?

This place is never quiet.
This place is almost always cloudy when I look outside.
This place is nerve-racking.
This place isn’t my home.

Someday, I’ll go back home. Forever, though. Not some weekend visit once a month. Someday I’ll go home and spend my idle hours staring at the sky with Mary, maybe even Gina or Mini-me. I’ll just point to the sky, say what I see, and they’d disagree and reply, laughing.

Because clouds calm your mind, and help you relax.

I wonder if anyone else is awake, staring at the clouds and thinking of me.

FIN-------------------