The Kid Who Stares at The Sky

We all have a dream. To have something, be someone, or do something. Somewhere along our journey, we are taught that our dream is just that–a dream. Follow the path of the Kid and the trip to the end of the rainbow.

The Slum

There's this garden full of lilies and flowers, where the great tree stands beside the lake. The sound of crickets pulsates through the evening sky, and the moon shines on the small hut with a smoky chimney. Inside, next to the fireplace are two comfy chairs with marks of wear & tear.

The Kid wakes up from his nap, back to reality: the middle of a garbage slum, a place called home. A pile of trash awaits with all its treasures. From broken toys to unwanted jewelry, each holds an unspoken story from its previous owner.

The Infinite Arrow

On one fine day, as dusk begins to settle and clouds are blown to the east by the wind, the Kid stares at the sky. Among the people rushing back to their homes, each seems frustrated by the traffic they themselves create. The Kid wonders if there's more to life than everything he sees.

A rainbow sets in the sky, with the end out of reach from the Kid's eyes. The Kid remembers a story about a treasure at the foot of the rainbow. He wonders if it's true, as in all other tales with happy endings.

The world beyond what we can see poses a question, seemingly close to a philosophical one: if we were to fire an arrow into the sky beyond our world, where would it stop? What's out there? So many questions waiting to be solved.

The Hope

The Kid would very much hope that there's something at the end of the rainbow. But is it really there? What if it’s not? After all, a story is just a story, and real life is vastly different from it. There's no such thing as dreamy as a story. Life is hard, and the Universe is harsh, cold, and indifferent.

"Some stupid story," the Kid said. "Everything has its place, and my place is to scrap from others. At best, I can only dream of collecting money to get out of this place. I can never be equal to those people", the Kid pointed at them. The Kid believes that the Kid's place is at the bottom of the so-called society.

The Wish

Kid goes back home to his shack, only to find the image of the rainbow inside Kid’s mind. The story of a treasure at the end of the rainbow. Is it there though? What if it is? What if everyone thinks it's just a story, but in fact, it's there? Curiosity overcomes the Kid.

"I would trade anything for that treasure," Kid says. The kid wished so hard that night, that the thought enshrouds Kid's mind. Lying down on the bed with eyes open, staring blankly at the wooden ceiling marked with water spots.

"Anything?" A gentle voice asks from the darkness.

Startled, Kid sees the shadow of a lady in the corner of Kid’s shack. Without hesitation, The Kid says, "Anything. I would give anything. I want to be like others! Who are you?"

"I am the Enchantress, and I can help you get that treasure. It will take a cost to get it, but I assume that you would be willing to pay anything for it?”

“Yes, anything. I don’t want to end up in this slum!” The kid said, boldly.

“Let's go to the end of the rainbow right now." Enchantress said.

The kid gets up from the bed, with an eye full of resolution, and walks outside. Out in the open, the Kid once again stares at the starry sky with full hope.

The Great Reset

The kid packs only a handful of items, all tucked neatly in the kid's green Nike backpack from the slum. Alongside the Enchantress, the kid begins the journey together. To the land where the rainbow ends. "What is that keychain attached to your bag?" The enchantress asks, looking at the kid's backpack while traversing the road.

"It's a memento. I found it in the trash. It's from a circus, I guess"

"I see. I supposed you kept that because you wanted to go to a circus?"

The kid holds the keychain dearly, looking at it briefly, and says, "No. I keep it because it reminds me to go through this life. It's a reminder that perhaps someday I can be like them."

"Like them how?" Asked the Enchantress.

"You know, having a happy life. Going to the circus with my family. Being accepted by everyone. Enjoying the circus with a hotdog in my hand".

When the Kid says that, the Enchantress sees a deep sadness in the Kid's eye. A sadness with a depth The Enchantress had never seen before. One that can only be achieved through great pain.

"I can see that you're unhappy. Am I right?"

The kid's face turns swollen red, as if the kid wants to say something but holds it back. After a while though, the kid says to the Enchantress:

"Of course, I am not happy, I live in a place that is nowhere near like others. That's the reason I want to go to the end of the rainbow. I want to change everything so that I can be happy like others."

The Enchantress stares at the kid, slightly smiling.

"Let's get to the end of the rainbow, so you can have that kind of happiness".

The Journey

And so they begin their journey, across the mountains and the four seas. Through the bare, harsh plains, guided by the rainbow. Alongside their journey, their bond grows stronger.

And like any good story out there, the kid meets some friends and says goodbye to some friends as well.

One of the friends that the kid meets is a sparrow. A talking sparrow in fact. The sparrow sits on the kid's shoulder, helping the kid navigate the road with its perfect sense of direction. The sparrow has this internal compass in its head, you know.

The kid went to the land of the giants, where the kid gets help from the giants. Not all giants are good, but that's okay. Most of the giants eat too much, swallowing more than they can chew. Sometimes a giant gives the kid some food, but oftentimes the giant hoards the food for themselves.

The kid also went to the Shiny Valley, where the Kid felt very thrilled. Everything is shiny in Shiny Valley. Not everything shiny is gold, they say, but indeed they're right because gems and diamonds also shine. Shiny Valley is the final destination before the summit where the rainbow ends.

They met Veda, a carpenter who helped them build a boat to cross the great lake. "I built this for you!" said Veda. The Enchantress and the sparrow warned the Kid that they had a bad feeling about this, but the Kid, being naïve, accepted the boat. Just to make sure, the Kid asked Veda how much it cost.

"Ah, it's just a small boat. Let's talk about it later when you come back from the top of the mountain,"Veda replied. What a lovely person, the kid thought, while hopping into the boat, ready to cross the great lake.

The Abyss

Shiny Valley is surely a nice place. “A place I can live forever,” the Kid said.

"Why won't you then?" The Enchantress asked with curiosity.

"I'll come back there for sure after I get the treasures." The kid paddled the boat slowly on the great lake. "I want to be part of them, but without the treasures, I won't be able to be accepted by them."

"Why do you need that to be accepted? I don't get it," the Enchantress said."I've seen it before in my hometown. Nobody accepts me because I have nothing," the Kid replied.

The enchantress sat quietly, thinking about the world that the kid lived in. A cruel one, of course, where one needs to prove their existence only if one has something. The more you have, the more you are valid.

The more you detach from the so-called game of life, the less you are valid and visible in the eyes of society. Without the shiny things, one would not have worth. Everyone chases the shiny thing in life. Some say it's for security, while others say it's their guarantee of the future. But isn't the future unwritten? Or perhaps everyone believes that the future is a permanent state, immutable in its very foundation. In that case, there is no hope.

It would be sad to live in that world, The enchantress asked herself.

"I can see the end of the lake," The kid said. The final leg of the journey, where all they need to do is summit the mountain.

The Summit

"We're here!" The kid said, with eyes gleaming with hope and excitement. The kid realizes all his hardship will be paid off. The kid can see the end of the rainbow is close.

"I'm afraid I can't follow you into the summit," The Enchantress said, surprising the kid and the sparrow. The Enchantress wanted to say this earlier but decided to keep it to herself.

The reason she cannot come is that the kid must go through the final test alone. The kid must understand that this is, after all, about the journey itself, and the treasure is just a bonus. The enchantress wishes the kid would understand that.

"Why can't you? Didn’t you say that you would accompany me? Don't you want to see what's on the summit?" The kid asked, confused as to why the Enchantress would give up at the foot of the mountain.

"I've been to the summit once, and I know what's on it. It's your turn now to see what's on the summit" The enchantress answered. "Be sure to remember that there's a cost to everything in this world" The Enchantress added.

The kid doesn't understand what the Enchantress is saying, but the kid looks up to the summit, convinced that the kid must finish the journey.

"Very well, if that is your decision," said the Kid. "I'll be missing you after all this journey, but I have to go through it".

"Don't worry, I will always watch over you" Said the enchantress.

After all, the enchantress has accompanied the kid for quite some time. Through thick and thin, they have built a bond like no other. But the kid must continue the journey.

The enchantress smiles at the Kid and the sparrow as they walk toward the summit, wishing them nothing but a blessing from the Universe, hoping they will find what they're looking for at the summit.

The End of the Rainbow

Taking one step every five breaths, The kid and the sparrow march slowly to the summit. The oxygen becomes so thin that the sparrow starts struggling.

"We can't go to the summit," The Sparrow said. "It's too much. We are not ready for this yet".

"Hold on just a bit longer," The kid said. "These last few steps are surely the hardest, but once we pass that, we'll be settled for life! We will get everything that we want."

The sparrow, having such intuition, is not really convinced by the kid. But the Sparrow put high trust into the Kid. The sparrow believes the kid can do it.

One step at a time, carefully not confusing left foot and right foot, they finally reach the summit. And there it was, the treasure at the foot of the rainbow. It's true, as sure as the sun shines from the east. Gold and gems and diamonds–all the shiny stuff that the kid can get.

Among all the treasure lies three vials of time. These vials grant one wish: the ability to change one particular past, present, or future.

The kid wants to take the vial of the Past but then wonders– what a waste if the past is changed, but the present is not. The kid considers taking the vial of the Future but hesitates– what if the kid dies in the not-so-far future?

The Kid takes the vial of the Presents. To change what we can now, the very present itself.

The Hidden Cost

The kid took all the gold and shiny treasures, along with the vial of the Presents. The kid walks happily, knowing that The kid is right, there is a treasure at the end of the rainbow. The kid couldn't wait to tell everyone how the kid is right. Everyone would then praise the kid. Everyone would accept the kid, and the kid would be valid, alive, and exist.

But nothing in this world comes for free, especially happiness. As happy as the kid could be, the Kid made way to the great lake, ready to go back home, only to find that Veda would not allow the kid to leave. “There's a price,” Veda said to the kid. And the price of the boat would be the treasure itself.

The kid erupted in rage, saying it was unfair. The Kid made all the journey, why would Veda get the treasure? the Kid thought. But then, what Veda said was true: there's always a cost for everything. It was the kid's naivety that blinded the Kid.

Not to mention that the sparrow is in critical condition. The sparrow was dying from the lack of oxygen and in dire need of reaching lower altitudes as soon as possible. Looking at the sparrow, the kid decides to give Veda all of the kid's fortune, with one exception: the vial of Present.

With the boat in hand, the Kid rushed to paddle down the slope, taking a shortcut to save the Sparrow from suffocating.

The thing about the kid is, this was the kid's first time navigating a boat. Lacking skill in navigating, the kid ramped the boat up here and there. Navigating the stream as best as the Kid can.

“I wish the Sparrow is okay, it's impossible to navigate this water, but I'll make it,” said the Kid.

Reaching a massive waterfall, the Kid faced the leap of faith.  With the vial of Present in hand, praying that the Sparrow would be fine.

The boat flew through the waterfall, diving down beside all the water that turned to steam, merging with the sun's beam into a kaleidoscope, producing rainbows. In that moment, a thought came to the kid's mind:

"Is this the end of everything?"

But no, nothing in this world truly ends.

The boat breaks into pieces, but the kid survives, holding the vial of Present and the sparrow. The kid swims to the shore, happy to have faced the trial of the waterfall.

"Look, we made it!" the kid said to the sparrow. But the sparrow does not reply. It stays still on the kid's hand, peacefully closing its eyes. The warmth of the sparrow slowly fades away in the kid's grasp.

The Sparrow

The eerie sound of the waterfall and crickets.
The nothingness that comes despite everything,
The tears drip slowly from the Kid's eyes.
The motionless sparrow in the hand of the Kid.
Minutes felt like decades.

The kid cries silently, and yet it is so loud that the forest becomes still. The water stops falling, and the sky turns dark, mourning the sparrow.

From silence, a sudden raging thunderstorm comes. Lightning violently strikes the tree, as if it understands the rage inside the kid.

The kid would trade anything for the Sparrow to be alive. All those journeys,all that distance–they mean nothing without the sparrow. The treasures no longer matter. 

Except...

The kid remembers the vial of the Present, the one wish to change the present. The kid was supposed to use it to change the Kid's Present. To be a wealthy person, or famous one. But none of it matters if the Kid still feels alone.

And so, the Kid takes the vial, drinks it, and makes one wish: for the sparrow to come back to life.

And like a sunny day after the storm, the Sparrow is alive once more.

Days passed by, and the kid took time to repair the boat. They would need it to go back home. The sparrow had been helping the Kid with the repairs, providing wood here and there.

One night, after finishing the repairs, they set a fire by the shore. The kid told the sparrow everything about the kid's hometown. From the kid's family to the struggle the kid is having.

The kid asked what one thing the sparrow would like to do once back in the kid's town. The sparrow stared at the sky and told the kid of a journey the sparrow has been dreaming about since the sparrow was a hatchling. A journey to build a nest egg on top of a tree with its companion, far away in the depths of the forest.

The sparrow would trade anything to have that.

The kid, having done with his journey, realized that it was now the kid's turn to support the sparrow's journey. To let the sparrow go on its own journey.

The night was long, filled with chatter and laughter. They both thanked each other for the amazing journey. Come the morning, the sparrow says its goodbye, wishing the Kid the best of luck. The sparrow parted away on its own journey, with a promise of not- so-far-future where they both once again will go on a brand new adventure. The one journey that will change everything.

The Lake

All those journeys has changed the kid, teaching the kid the meaning of everything. The journey itself  was the most important thing, more important than the reward itself.

The wish to impress everyone back home, the craving to be accepted by others, and the very definition of being alive changed that day.

Now, it seemed that coming back home was no longer necessary. The kid no longer searches for a home, for the Kid found the home in the kid's self. As the wind blew, the Kid decided  to rest for a while at the nearby lake. A lake with a great tree standing strong beside the lake. The kid rested the boat under the great tree, thinking of a garden.

The wind blew after the rain, revealing a rainbow. The kid stared and smiled at the rainbow.