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[b][code]Thompson Lumber Mill Inc.[/code][/b]
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"Crack..."

The sound of twigs and dry leaves crack under Lee's shoe as he advanced toward the Grand Ridge Students' Party. Surrounding the trail was various trees that he had only read in books. Their branches were high above the ground, provided more shadow in the orange skies. Their leaves were also different. Some have a mixed color between red and yellow-brown, and others have pure green. He had read about these trees.  That its leaves will not change color during fall, calling as "Evergreen." For Lee, seeing these so-called "evergreens" had excited him a little bit. He could imagine all the mysteries the forest is hiding, waiting to be discovered by someone in someday. But the forest quickly loses Lee's interest due to him being unable to name all these trees and wildlife he had encountered. 

Shifting his attention to the trail beneath him, Lee started thinking about the U.S., the nation that he will call home until his biological grandfather died. The first thing that he learned was people here does not like those in China. They lived while they could, spending their youth while they still can. Some regret their actions and wish they could change it. Others preserved it like good memories. Besides that, the people here are abnormally nice to strangers. Unlike China, where people are too bustle with their work and only greets other if they have to, then he is welcomed by these strange people. They have different skins color, speaking in different tongues, and saying words that he could not fully understand. They brought various foods with various tastes from regions that he had barely remember of learning from…

And then, Lee started to hear the sound from the speakers and people chattering. And he saw his fear. Groups of people coming in and out from a certain direction, passing the metal fence and into the old lumber mill. They dressed in different clothes, some in fancy suits and others with clothes that are too short to hide their secret places. And they were laughing, drinking beers, and chatting with their friends. There were too many of them, too many for a small town. And that scared Lee, for he remembered how others used to tease on his appearance and origin. The thing had made him fear before the public. And he stood there, watching the gate, watching boys and girl the same age as he enters the place, and there were too many of them. And it seems, the voices surround him suddenly became to a halt and people starting to turn their faces with smiles on it, laughing at him. Suddenly, there isn't any light around him. He was in the dark. And surrounding him was those yellow eyes. They are watching him like prey. They were waiting for him to make a mistake, so they could tear him, feed on his flesh and dances on his corpse.

Lee's breathing became shallow and rapid, his heart racing, eyes searching for a place to hide from this party. And handshaking without control. Lee knew that he should not have come here in the first place, that he afraid of seeing people. Now, just the thought of seeing people scared him like cats hearing the thunder. He felt cold, even though he is wearing a leather jacket and long trousers. He started imagining voices that are not there. He heard something cracked, and his head went blank, temporarily lose all senses. For others, it was a brief second. But for Lee, he had visited the day his mother died. For him, she felt relieved the day she died, knowing she was finally liberated from her pain. And the thought of her felt relief when she died pained him. It hurt him for how weak he was. It hurt because he was so insignificant. And it hurt because of her smile. It makes him believe that his Mother was relieved when leaving this world with him behind. So making her proud was his purpose. It was the thing that kept him studying at midnight when others had slept. It was the thing that kept him to continue in this harsh world without breaking. Because of his childish vow that seems so simple to say yet so difficult to maintain, that he signed that stupid contract. 

Lee's heart and breath began slowing down, with his eyes looking forward. He still felt uncomfortable when passing through various people, scanning through the stranger that just recently enter the abandoned mill. He could not back down not, withdrawing from this. Not when his vow is still lurking at the back of his mind, reminding him of what he needs to do.

Lee's whispered to himself. The voice of him saying something is quickly oppressed by the nearby techno music that is blasting in all directions. But it was enough for Lee, for he knew what he was saying. 

[color=FFD700] "Of course Mama, I will make you proud." [/color]