Snowflake: Frozen Child

"I always thought I was the loneliest, then I found you."

-Haji Rigel Schiller

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AFTER nine years, Haji would finally get to know Jhay in person!

"Hey Ji! We'll be having a party tonight, don't miss out or I'm gonna miss you!" Damian wrapped his arms around Haji's neck and shuffled his hair. Damian was Haji's best friend since they were kids, they were already sixteen. They were inseparable and telepathic.

They didn't found each other

Damian found Haji.

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Nine years ago...

He didn't have a name. No family, no food nor home. He didn't remember anything.

One day he woke up there. The quiet and peaceful pond nourished with wild flowers and animals welcomed him. He sat near the pond and washed his face, his smell stinked and his body felt sticky. He looked at his own reflection on the water.

"Who are you?"

The anonymous boy asked himself as he stared at it for a long time. He looked around as the tiny cricket landed on his left foot and he realized he was barefooted. What he only had was a black hoodie that served as his cold body's blanket and a pair of basketball shorts. He started walking towards the forest, not minding the growls and the tremor of the leaves created by the howling wind. The sun was about to set and the darkness was swallowing up the shadows made by the woods. He didn't know how was he supposed to deal with the situation. How would he die tonight? To be eaten by the wild animals? Fall from a cliff? Or, die from hunger?

He gave up the idea to be scared and decided to look for something to eat. He found some fruits that seemed to be tasty. If only he could plant trees that bears fruit someday, he wished the government would let him do it in the city so that the homeless will have something to eat for free the whole season. After the long walk he ended up in front of a Narra tree. He spent the cold night alone as he stared at the night sky. Whenever he looked at the sky at night, he felt like someone or something was looking back at him.

Starry starry night...

A familiar piece of song suddenly played inside the lonely boy's head. Was it a memory? As he tried harder to remember, his head would start to ache. He thought he better take a little rest. He could feel the cold embrace of the wind and the itching scratches from the insects as he let the darkness consumed his consciousness.

It was almost two weeks and he had never seen any signs of humanity. He survived from hunger and thirst. He tamed the wild animals and made them his family.

He thought, "Will a hunter ever find me? If that happens, will they rescue me; or treat me like the wild?"

He kept running and playing with the wolves around the forest when he suddenly heard a boy screaming. He followed the painful scream together with his playmates and he saw a boy who seemed to be as young as him. The boy who screamed injured his right foot.

"Arf?!" the nameless boy barked. He was supposed to say 'Are you okay?' but his mouth reacted instinctively.

"I.. I mean, are you okay?" The nameless boy asked the injured one as he moved closer to his spot. The injured boy flinched and the nameless boy could picture out what he was thinking. If the boy could run away he would have done it already but right at the moment, he couldn't. The nameless boy saw the boy trembled as his playmates growled, revealing their canines.

"It's okay, they're not going to hurt you. I'm not going to hurt you" The nameless boy said as he picked a leaf from a plant.

"It will help close the wound in you arm" the nameless boy said as he started chewing the leaf and grinded it inside his mouth before spitting it out and offered the medicine he made to the injured boy.

"Are you trying to poison me?!" the injured boy asked sarcastically, the nameless boy shook his head.

He thought, "I could kill you easily in any other way if I wanted to, arrogant boy"

"I'll just leave you here then" the nameless boy said as he turned his back on him. The birds were chirping and his playmates were cuddling with each other as they watched their family member walked away, the place was getting cold.

"Hey Tarzan! give me that!" the injured boy hissed as he tried to stand on his own but he failed and fell unto the ground. Luckily the forest was too rich that it created a very large futton on the ground made up of dried leaves; so he wasn't badly hurt from the fall. The nameless boy hurriedly gave him the medicine he had in his hand and the boy accepted it. The boy applied it into his wound as he scrunched up his nose.

"What's your name, wolfboy?" the injured boy asked and gave him a smile. The injured boy looked like a tiger trying to smile at a rabbit. A debris entered the nameless boy's nose and he was about to sneeze so he quickly turned around.

"Ha-"

"What?" the injured boy asked. The nameless boy wanted to scold the boy for not giving him time to sneeze.

"-Chi!" the nameless boy sneezed.

"Hachi? You're name is Hachi?" the injured boy asked half laughing. Hachi wasn't his name, he just sneezed. He shook his head as the boy repeatedly asked his name.

"I don't have a name" the nameless boy said.

"Okay?... I understand. How about I'll call you Haji?" the injured boy said and smiled at him as he patted his head. Haji nodded.

"I got a name." Haji whispered as he smiled, his smile was genuine.

"Haji" Haji repeated as he looked at the boy who gave him his name.

"Yes Haji, I'm Damian. Can you be my friend?" Damian asked as he offered his fine arm and Haji gladly accepted it.

Damian became Haji's friend for three sunsets but Damian's family had to leave the forest and go back home. Haji thought that their friendship ended there.

The sun had set many times. Days passed and Haji never saw Damian again. He went back to his old life with the wild and forgot about Damian.

"HAAAJIII?!!" a familiar voice echoed throughout the peaceful forest. Haji climbed the trees to find the owner of that familiar voice. It was Damian. Haji released a big smile as he ran towards him.

"Damian!" Haji called his name, so Damian would call him back by his name too.

"Hey Haji! Do you want to come with me? We'll go to school together. Play together and live in a beautiful house together. We could be even brothers!" Damian said cheerfully as he wrapped his arms around Haji's neck like what he always do. Haji nodded several times.

"We will become family! I brought my parents with me so you can meet them." Damian said. He grabbed Haji's wrist an dragged him towards his parents outside the forest. Damian's parents both smiled and hugged Haji as they arrived.

"Hello there, will you come home with us?" the woman asked Haji

"Damian said you are a smart boy, Haji. Is that true?" the man with a white beard laughed and patted Haji's head.

"We should send you to school too. That would be a waste if you won't be able to." the man said and smiled again.

Damian made Haji his family, and he had kind parents. Haji could never ask for more. They went to school, played video games and watched epic movies at night in the same room. Damian became Haji's bestfriend.

"Hey Haji! look what I've got for you!" Damian said happily as he handed Haji a box. A shoe box.

"Is it our birthday?" Haji asked laughing. Damian demanded that they should have the same birthdays. His name was Haji Rigel Schiller, Damian Franz Schiller's adopted brother.

"No! It's a gift from somebody. It's called 'happiness in a shoe box'." Damian said as he handed the regular size box to Haji.

"Remember when you found me at the forest? We were having a charity work with my father. Children like me help to give the shoe boxes to the kids living near the forest. I forgot to give it to you back then. You should open it" Damian said. Haji shrugged his shoulders and went straight to bed.

"I'll just open it tommorrow" Haji said and they both decided to go to sleep. In Haji's heart, there was nothing more precious than to have a family as a gift.

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The clock read 10:57 in the evening and Haji's eyes were wide open. He saw Damian sleeping peacefully on the other bed, his eyes landed on the shoe box being placed on his side table. Haji stared at it and decided to open it. A jumping rope, coloring materials inside a pencil case, puzzle cube, money bills inside a small bottle, key chains, a small comic book and a lot of cute stuffs. Haji was about to throw the box when a piece of photograph fell on the floor. He picked it up and looked at the girl in the photo.

She was beautiful, like an angel.

Haji stared at the picture and flipped it over. There was a message! Haji sat on his bed and read the letter.

"To you,

Are you lonely? These things make me happy, can you keep them for me?

I don't have a friend and I've been in a lonely place for the whole time. Nobody wants to play with me. I don't know where my real parents are.

If you will keep the jumping rope, we will jump together inside it. I will teach you how to assemble the cube. I will draw for you. Use the money for now but when we meet, you must treat me gummy bears.

If you feel lonely, remember you are not the loneliest.

I wonder if we will find each other. That would be great, then I will have my very first friend.

Waiting,

...."

Haji gulped as he returned all the things inside the box.

You are not the loneliest...

Haji felt a sudden pain inside his c.h.e.s.t but he smiled.

He murmured, "I'm not the loneliest."

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Present day...

"So that's it! I've been looking for you for nine years" no matter how much Haji raised his voice, Jhay's facial expression never changed. They were sitting at the veranda of Jhay's house. The neighbors lived from afar and Haji could only see the streets filled with dusty cars and vehicles.

"Hey Jhay, aren't you happy to see me? The one who received your shoe box?" Haji asked and pouted in front of her. Jhay looked at Haji with a disgusted face.

"What do you want?" she asked directly. Jhay labeled herself as the most unwanted woman on earth long time ago.

Ahh. Haji thought that maybe Jhay was still lonely until now. He showed her the picture he got from her when she was a kid. Haji saw her face flushed red and then she bowed her head. He decided to give it back to her.

"Do you know why I chose photography? It's because of that photograph. You looked so happy in the picture." Haji said, honestly.

"And I want to take more pictures of you smiling" Haji said more honestly. Jhay sighed and looked at Haji directly.

"Look kid, I never thought that you would come for me. So don't expect me to be glad." she said. Haji admired her the way she lies, she would look to you directly in the eyes.

"Are you happy, being lonely alone?" Haji asked and then she looked away. Being lonely alone is more depressing than being lonely with a friend, Haji believed.

"Why photography?" she asked, her eyes were gazing somewhere deeply.

"I love nature. One never knows, the pictures that I have captured will be the last natural ones. The world is slowly being covered with artificials, I am afraid I cannot preserved them just by taking photos." Haji sighed dramatically. She started talking again as she stared at the sky, more likely staring at the moon in the daytime.

"Photography is too random, why not try to become more professional" she said as a matter of factly.

"You don't get it. The more I try to become professional the lesser friends I got and the lesser I got to know myself. Like for example when I was a kid-" Haji said and looked up at the sky.

"You wonder why the sky is blue, or why the moon is following you?" she asked. Haji nodded, she remained silent.

"I used to look up at the sky and thought the sky was blue because: the Ozone layer serves as the ocean's mirror, or the clouds were usually small particles of ice and that they melted and turned into water. Or sometimes I thought it was the whole universe, that if only the people in the world agree to at least turn off all the lights for an hour at night to reduce light pollution, we can see the universe above us." Haji said briefly.

"But then there's education, I was thought that the sky was blue because of the quantum effects involving Rayleigh scattering combined with a lack of violet photon receptors in our retinae. Or Blue is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. When I started to believe it, I felt my whole fantasied and childhood memories were corrupted. Plus! Photography is a profession, okay?" Haji said.

"Wait, Photography?" Jhay asked with the slightest change in her expression. Haji nodded proudly.

"Then how will you supposed to teach me Art? And how old are you?" now, Haji felt being interrogated. He gulped as she looked at him with suspicious eyes.

"I'm sorry... I... I lied to Mrs. Pherein." Haji bowed his head as he felt her gaze darting towards him.

"I searched everything about you. And I want you to come out from your cage. Let's go to school together, Jhay" Haji said as he avoided her eyes. Haji waited for her to ignore or reject him but she just sighed and said, "Let's play Mortal Combat, defeat me for 100 times and I will go to school with you."

His whole body got excited and he smiled at her.

"Sure!" Haji exclaimed.

Haji thought "I'll just have to win 100 times"

"I think I don't need to defeat you a hundred times, it would be a waste of time. Just come with me. You only live once you know." Haji said. Plus! Haji was a pro gamer so the result was already obvious.

"Big mistake, We live everyday but we only die once." Jhay said and left Haji outside the veranda. 

Haji thought, "I think I can't win any argument against her."