literature

Maya's Room

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Literature Text

Sylo opens the tarnished door of Maya's room.  Her door made that familiar rotten creak when he entered.  The sifting daylight from the tattered white curtains gave the small room a melancholy appearance.  He walks to the curtains across the room and begins to sneeze from the lingering dust in the air.  Struggling for air, he pushes the window open to shine whatever daylight he could get from the city.  Thanks to the large buildings across the street, the sunlight made little progress to the room, but it was bright enough to see all the dust resting on the pieces of furniture.  A glint came across his right eye.  He turns to see a metal picture frame with a photo of all the neighborhood kids huddled together.  Sammy and Jiani were on the left squishing their cheeks together like a blowfish.  Nikki stood in the back with both hands making bunny ears behind Jerri and Andy's heads.  Mao leaned in from the right corner with a wide smile across her face.  Sylo finds himself standing next to his closest friend Mugen and his favorite baseball bat.  In the center of this ragtag was Maya.  Unlike the other cheerful faces, she looked away from the camera to hide her tears.  Mugen laughed next to Maya as if trying to comfort her.  Next to the group photo was a smaller picture frame lying face down on the table.  He picks up the frame to find the backing open and without a picture.  There was a second picture taken that day.  After the group photo, Mugen tried to cheer Maya up by taking another picture with just the two of them.

Sylo sets the empty frame on the table and walks around the pale blue room with the fluorescent ceiling lamp.  The cracked interior resembled his neighboring room.  His foot bumps against a plastic toy capsule lying on the floor mat.  There used to be a small convenience store nearby with a dispenser full of little plastic toy surprises for a few cents, but none of his friends could afford the luxury of a new toy every day.  He picks up the piece of plastic to find nothing inside and puts it in his pocket.  Next to the open window was Maya's bed.  It was a tired metal frame with a ragged mattress.  Her sheets and pillow were gone, but the tattered stuffed animal she carried for a while was left sitting in the corner collecting more dust on its fur.  It was missing its left eye and the stomach needed stitching to keep the stuffing from spilling out.  The condition was no better than when she found it in the junkyard.  Sylo's eyes move to the small table and chair Maya used as her kitchen furniture.  The only things on the table were a tea cup with a missing handle and a thin porcelain vase with a withered flower hanging over the rim.  Sylo was not familiar with the names of flowers, but no one could tell from its lack of color.  The tiny wooden cupboard held dust where the food should have been.  All the food everyone gathered was divided equally amongst their group.  Maya would always save some of her share to store in her cupboard for later.

On the other side of the room was a three foot dresser with a battered clock sitting on top.  The face on the clock still shows the accurate time, but the bells were missing from its alarm.  There was some resistance when opening the wooden drawers.  He provides a quick jolt to find nothing but airborne dust escaping from its captivity.  Next to the small dresser stood a two foot bookshelf with nothing but a tattered children's picture book and some crumpled magazines scattered around.  He flips through the magazines and notices most of the pages with the articles are torn out.  All that remained were the advertisements for traveling or beverages.  They all contained pictures of sights like tropical beaches, snowy hills, ocean floors, erupting volcanoes, hot savannas, and luscious jungles.  One magazine contained photographs of foreign countries like South America, Japan, and North America.  After gathering the magazines, he picks up the children's book sitting alone on the top shelf.  Although the texture of the book was ruined from saturation, he could still read the discolored title cover, "The Earth Prince and Star Princess".  It told the story of a young prince who travels through the stars to rescue his princess from an evil monster.  The last page was missing from the book, but Sylo could guess how it ended.  It only took a few minutes for him to stack the books and magazines together on the shelf.  He returns to the group photo and withdraws a sharp sting in his eyes.  With a deep sigh, Sylo grabs the group picture, takes another look at the empty room, and leaves with the door slightly opened.
A young man recollects precious memories of his childhood friend while emptying her room left behind.
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