《Gumtree Loneliness》★ Felicia ★

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Felicia is mixed race. Her mother was German and her father was Jamaican. Her parents died in a car accident when she was only two years old. She has literally no memory of their existence. Being raised in the foster care system was terrible for Felicia. Nobody wanted to have her in their family, so she always lived in foster care centres. Felicia can't even recall the number of centres she stayed at. Knowing that she went from centre to centre left Felicia feeling unwanted in this world.

The people at these foster care centres were harsh and cruel to Felicia. Bullying, manipulation and even poverty was brought upon Felicia. Through all her hardships, she felt like she lost her own childhood and teenage years, as she never 'actually' felt happy. All she had was hope. Hope for a better world.

When Felicia turned 18, she immediately fled the foster care system and settled down in a hostel for university students. Even though, Felicia was badly treated for most of her life, she always studied. In addition she is now somehow content that she is furthering her studies and her knowledge. At times though, she wonders about what's out there in this big universe - Earth can't be the only planet with life on it, she always thinks. For thinking like this, Felicia always finds herself yearning for another world - another planet to live on.

Felicia works as a cleaner at the hostel she's staying at. Funnily enough the hostel is named 'Gumtree' hostel - probably from all the gumtrees surrounding the hostel. For Felicia's own fun she writes/reads science fiction stories, especially ones that involve different planets. This fun of hers helps Felicia to overcome her bad experiences. She always finds peace when being in her little world of sci-fi.

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"I'm heading out now," says Felicia in a quiet tone.

"Where do you always go after supper?" Questions a girl sitting across from Felicia.

"I go out for a stroll," Felicia shyly replies.

"Hey, everyone - this girl likes to walk in the dark!" The girl shouts. A frown suddenly spreads across Felicia's lips. Most students start laughing.

"Technically it's not dark, I always walk when it's near sunset," Felicia says staring the girl in the eyes.

"Yeah, whatever I still think it's weird that you walk in the dark!"

Felicia finds herself frowning again and suddenly gets up from her seat. As she leaves, she hears more students giggling. They are immature, Felicia suddenly thinks.

Like every evening, Felicia starts making her way to the biggest gumtree. When she finds it, Felicia lightly smiles. She sits down on the wooden seat under the tree and starts to let her mind wander; letting her imagination tell her a story - escaping reality for a bit.

A world where there is a diverse, caring population. Where there's many mixed people, like Felicia. Even people who have abilities; maybe ones that can appear invisible or even ones that can fly. In this diverse population, people would have extremely different colours for skin, hair and eyes. Some may even have rainbow eyes. The most important thing that Felicia imagines is that people in this world have the power of acceptance. Appearances don't matter; personalities don't matter - as long as everyone accepts each other for who they really are.

Felicia's thoughts may be over the top. There probably isn't a world like this out in the universe, even if there was - how could she travel to this world? This is simply how Felicia finds her inner peace - through thinking like this.

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All of a sudden, Felicia hears crunching sounds from the bushes in front of her. They are footsteps, she expects. She stands up and takes a look, but not trying to get too close as it could be some wild animal. But as soon as she takes a more proper look in the bushes - there is no one there. Maybe it's just her imagination, because if there were someone there than they must have ran away fast or obtained some type of magical power to vanish like that.

Felicia realizes she's tired and starts to head back to the hostel - still thinking about the footsteps she heard.

© 2014 by stars_are_MAGIC, All Rights Reserved.

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