I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

canter with their arms interlaced and school bags bouncing on their
backs.
Just behind them, a couple holds hands, the two leaning on each
other, whispering affections, and smiling all the while. The girl spins
in her dress, the boy twirling her by the hand. They don’t pay any
mind to the park or the world around them. The path is merely a dirt
road, and the civilians around them are merely background in their
play.
The wind blows, leaves rustling overhead. The boy takes the girl’s
face in his hands. Their noses brush. She presses a kiss to his lips.
Pink dusts the boy’s cheeks.
It makes me smile that the girl gives him color.
I wonder if Sam feels the same way. Only Sam isn’t smiling at the
sight. His mask conceals his mouth, but his eyes are lightless.
The woman throwing bread crumbs glances at him, leering at the
mask and gloves. She shivers, quickly turning back to her flock. The
old man holds his grandson’s hand. He picks up the pace passing
Sam, leaving more room than he would with any other stranger. The
running school girls pause, their canter slowed to a trot as they
whisper to each other and stare.
Sam quickly turns away from the path. He hooks his elbows around
his knees, hiding his face, making fists to conceal the gloves behind
his pant leg.
After a second’s fidgeting, he grabs me by the wrist and pulls me
upright, dragging me into a hiding place behind the bushes.
“Sam?” I call. “What’s wrong?”
“People are looking at me,” he whispers. His thumb slips over the
scar on his wrist, the one he was given years ago in the dim corner
of a closet. “They all think I’m different.”