"Time Lost, Time Gained" by Jadin Wong: October 2024 Runner Up

Dahlia Black, with her dark hair that shone and dull eyes that somehow still shimmered, was turning 13 years old this October. Her mother had always called it a “Turning Point” in life, something to look forward to in the future. Dahlia was happy, I guess. At school, her 8th grade teacher had described it as “shifting from a tween to a teen “, which did not sound neither exciting, nor depriving. At home, her Nani , wearing a crocheted cardigan in bright colors dramatically told her it was the end of her childhood, which she more or less agreed with. Her father just shrugged, said “you’ll see.”

Then, came the day. “you were majestically born into our world!” exclaimed Nani, “head first.” Dahlia’s mother added.

There came a loud apparent groan from Dahlia’s bedroom.

It was dark outside, the floorboards creaked outside of her room, soft moans came from the wind whistling through the trees, it was Dahlia’s Birthday.

Dahlia had never been a night owl, but tonight was an exception, she felt that something was keeping her awake. Something that when she fell asleep, would miss the magic of. She checked her iPhone at 1:00am, hoping for some mysterious sign. She didn’t know what the sign would be, but felt something. Then, she saw the time on her iPhone, 25:00. Curiosity piqued.

Suddenly, she remembered something Nani had said,

“I remember when I turned thirteen , I wished I had one more extra hour of being twelve, to savor the moments of a bittersweet goodbye to childhood.”

“Is that why I’m here?” Dahlia thought.

“To have one last moment of being a child?”

“It’s like the flower Dahlia,” she thought.

“Even when they dry, they still have their bright glowing colors. Was Nani wrong? Is your childhood always with you, even when you grow old? “

She remembered her mother wondering about the alleyways at their local farmers market, the smells, the scents, the shouting, the laughter, she said it reminded her of when she was a child. Does that inner self never leave you? Is that mischievous dancing child always inside you?

“Then why am I here? Why is this extra hour here? If my childhood is always with me, if I never grow old, just on the outside.”

By then, the hour was over, but she knew what this hour was for, for the shimmering stars of discovery to enlighten on and open a whole new world. Dahlia knew she had witnessed something special, another miracle in this world. The stars were shimmering in the night when 13-year-old Dahlia Black closed her eyes.