The Footsteps of my Father

The Footsteps of my Father

Chapter One

-The Tower-

Sindaria, Ari for short, Olsen was your average kid and didn't expect much to come from her life. She was very bright for her age, but in her school, it didn't really matter. The teachers knew that she was smart, but if they treated her better, the other kids would resent it. She lived in New York City, and not in the better part, for her family was very poor, and they barely had enough money to send her and her siblings to school. After awhile, Sindaria had grown accustomed to hearing gunshots being fired off in the alleys near their apartment and the many gang fights that would occur daily. She was only nine years old, but she worked at a nearby grocery mart, bagging groceries. Her meager income helped her parents keep food on the table since her father wasn't paid very much, and her mother didn't work. Her mother couldn't work, since she had to take care of Sindaria's four-year old twin brother and sister: Maria and Terrance. Sindaria did what she could around the house, but between school, homework, and work, she had very little time to herself. When she did have some time alone, however, she could be found sitting up in the small loft above their apartment, looking out over the city; the Tower, she called it, because it was her special place.

Sindaria sat in the Tower, looking out the dirty window at the tall skyscrapers of New York. She hugged her knees for warmth, since the Tower didn't have heat. Her paper-thin coat could barely be expected to give her much warmth. The sleeves barely reached past her elbows, and the bottom was just at her waist. Her thin sweater and jeans helped a little, but her jeans had holes in the knees, so it was a little drafty. Although her family was poor, they were very clean. That was one thing her mother was adamant about. So, though her clothes were raggedy, they were clean, and for that Sindaria was grateful.

Piles of books filled the little space that she had borrowed from the school library. She would read them endlessly, and she especially liked the ones about magic and dragons; basically anything fantasy related. Sometimes she would read one of the scarier stories, but not many.

Sindaria glanced at a piece of broken mirror that was sitting over in a corner. The Tower just barely fit her inside of it and when she had first found it, it had been piled with clutter. She had cleaned it out but she had left the piece of mirror. That was the only way she knew what she looked like, since there were no mirrors in the apartment. They were too expensive, her father had said, and they didn't need them. That's what you had other people for.

Sindaria picked up the piece of mirror and looked at it. All she saw was a pale-faced girl with white-blond hair pulled back in a pony-tail, a few wisps framing her face. Gray eyes looked back at her with no expression visible. Sindaria sighed, setting down the piece of mirror, looking back outside. The sun had begun to set and the Tower began to grow darker. Sindaria tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and exited the Tower, climbing down the rickety ladder to the room that she shared with her brother and sister.

She could hear pots banging in the kitchen and decided to investigate. A delicious aroma filled her senses as she walked into the living room/kitchen. "Maria, you know better. Terrance, please, not while I'm cooking. No, no, don't touch that!" Sindaria walked into the small kitchen to see her mother standing at the stove, Maria and Terrance pulling at her skirts. Her mother, a woman in her mid-forties, had graying hair tied back in a bun, and wore long skirts. The apron she wore had a few patches, but like the rest of the apartment, it was clean. Maria and Terrance both had jet-black hair and matching eyes. At present, they were wearing baggy T-shirts and pants that only reached to their shins. They were barefooted. Her mother turned and sighed in relief. "Oh, good, Ari, you're here. Could you please watch your brother and sister while I attempt to cook?" she asked with a smile.

Sindaria nodded. "Sure." She looked at Maria and Terrance, who were now reaching for a plate of cookies on the table. "Come on, you two. Mom's cooking. You want to me to tell you a story?" They both looked at her, their eyes lighting up, and grins spreading across their near-identical faces. One thing the twins loved were stories, since they didn't have books to read and Sindaria had such a vivid imagination, she would always tell them stories. That was the only thing that could distract them from whatever they were doing. Sindaria saw her mother mouth "thank you" and Sindaria smiled. She held out her hands and Maria and Terrance placed their hands in hers. She led them into their bedroom and sat down on her bed. They sat in front of her, eager expressions on their faces.

"Story!" Terrance cried.

Sindaria smiled. "Yes, Terrance."

"Magic one Ari!" Maria declared.

"Yes, magic!" Terrance echoed.

Sindaria nodded. "Magic it shall be. Now let's see, where should I begin," Sindaria said thoughtfully.

"Once upon a time!" Maria said.

"Okay. Once upon a time, there was a prince and princess. The prince was set to marry the princess, but an evil wizard wanted the princess for himself. So he cast a spell on her. He turned her into a swan and only in the light of a full moon could she turn back to her human state, but just while the moonlight lasted. An ugly witch wanted the prince for herself and so she cast a spell on herself to make her look exactly like the princess, whom the prince loved deeply. Well, the princess' friends, a turtle and a frog, wanted to help the princess. The only way to break the spell was if the prince confessed his love to her. One night, the princess found out that her prince was going to confess his love to the witch, whom he thought was his love. The princess and her friends tried to reach the castle, but the evil wizard locked them up. She managed to find a hole and fly out. She rushed towards the castle, trying to reach her prince in time."

"Children! Dinner!" Sindaria heard her mother call from the kitchen.

"No, no! Finish!" Terrance cried.

Sindaria smiled. "We'll finish after dinner, but you have to promise me one thing."

"What?" they asked in unison.

"You have to be very good during dinner and I want you to help mom with anything she asks after dinner, alright?" They nodded and jumped off the bed, running into the kitchen. Sindaria slid off of her bed and walked into the kitchen. Her father had just come home and was sitting at the small, round, table that sat in the middle of the kitchen. Clean counters filled one wall with cupboards above, one was missing a door, revealing the dishes that sat on the shelves. The wallpaper was a faded yellow with small blue flowers. The sink was filled with dishes, which Sindaria knew that she would have to wash later that evening. Her mother looked at her, smiling, as she placed the pot of stew in the middle of the table.

"Thank you so much, Ari. I don't know what I'd do without you," her mother said.

Sindaria shrugged. "No problem, mom," she said. She sat down next to her father, Maria and Terrance sitting on her other side. "How was work, dad?"

Her father looked at her, tired and worn as always. "Well, today was a little more interesting, if interesting is the word you'd use. There was another riot outside the factory; this time they actually broke some of the windows."

Sindaria's eyes widened and her mother shook her head. "Those rioters; don't they have anything better to do than make trouble for the factory?" she asked as she sat down. She began filling their dishes with stew.

"Freedom of speech, dearest; unfortunately," her father said, shrugging. "There's not much we can really do. The police stay away from this part of the city because of all the trouble that arises."

"I don't think that's right," her mother said. Sindaria took a bit of her stew, savoring the flavor. That was something that she always looked forward to, for her mother was a great cook and there was always food on the table, no matter what. "You work very hard at what you do and they just cause trouble, which could eventually lead to the closure of the factory. And that's not what we need at the moment."

Her father nodded. "Exactly, but there's no getting through to them; they just wave their signs and throw stones and other things. It's a mess and it's a struggle just to leave to come home. We have to exit out a back entrance, sneaking away. It's pitiful, but it's what we have to do."

"Can't you stand up to them?" Sindaria asked.

Her father looked at her. "Ari, we've tried. It doesn't work. Jerod nearly got shot the other day when he tried to get them to leave." He sighed and took a bite of his stew.

"Well, let's turn to happier subjects, shall we? I don't want your blood pressure rising any more than it already is," her mother said. She looked at her kids. "How was school?"

"We colored!" Terrance said through a mouthful of stew.

"Now Terrance, you remember what I told you about speaking with your mouth full?" her mother scolded.

Terrance swallowed. "Sorry."

Her mother smiled. "It's okay. So you colored today? That's great."

Terrance and Maria nodded vigorously. "Yep! We drew pictures too! I'll show you!" Maria exclaimed. She moved to get up from the table, but her mother put a hand on her shoulder.

"Not now Maria. You can show us your pictures later." Maria nodded and her mother looked at Sindaria. "How did your math test go?"

Sindaria shrugged. "As well as a math test can go, I guess. I think I did alright."

Her mother nodded. "That's good."

"Did Bobby give you any more trouble today?" her father asked. Bobby was the school bully and he especially liked to pick on Sindaria because she was poor.

"I hid from him."

Her father shook his head. "You should stand up to him."

"Then why don't you stand up to the rioters?" Sindaria asked.

Her father looked uncomfortable. "Those are two completely different things." Sindaria opened her mouth to speak, but her mother shook her head, so Sindaria began eating her stew, focusing her attention on a very interesting piece of meat.

Dinner finished rather smoothly and after, Sindaria helped her mother clean up the kitchen, and then went into her bedroom to work on homework. Maria and Terrance had to get to bed, so Sindaria had shut off the light. She had a small lamp on her desk and that was what she worked by. "Ari?"

"Yes, Maria?"

"Can you finish the story tomorrow?"

"Yes, Maria."

"Good."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Sindaria stared at the piece of paper in front of her full of math equations. They were working on long division and it was proving quite a challenge. It just took so long to do! Once she understood it, she knew it would be simple, but she didn't understand. She stared at the numbers, wishing that the answers would just magically appear, but she knew that wasn't possible. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. She was getting tired. She quickly wrote down answers and hoped that they were right. Then she shut off the light and climbed into bed, falling into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

In the morning, she awoke to snow falling outside. She bundled up as best she could, heaved her book-bag over her shoulder. She pulled on her boots and began the long walk to school. Two weeks until Christmas, one week until break began. Though she knew that there wouldn't be many presents under the tree, she was just glad to spend time with her family. Also, her birthday was coming up and she would be turning ten on December 20^th. She grinned, thinking about her upcoming birthday; the best time of the year in her mind.

Suddenly, something wet and cold hit her in the back of the head. She clenched her fists and turned to see Bobby and his gang of teenagers. They were in sixth grade and they thought that since they were the oldest in the school that gave them the right to pick on the rest of them. Bobby was laughing, but he stopped when a snowball hit him squarely in the face. "You'll pay for that, Olsen," he growled. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the principal walking nearby. She just gave him a smirk and headed up the stairs to school, knowing perfectly well that Bobby wouldn't do anything when the principal was around. He was thick, but not that thick.

As she walked down the hall, she heard the usual round of comments, "Where'd you pick that up, Olsen? The junkyard?" She just ignored them as always and focused on getting her books for her first class.

During math, she was listening to the teacher go over their homework, when a fight broke out in the back of the classroom. Mrs. Carlin just sighed and pushed a red button on the wall. Sindaria knew that the principal would be there soon, and Principal Mason was not someone to mess with. The students called him Maniac Mason because he was a very strict principal and students that were out of line were severely punished. Unfortunately, this didn't make the students respect the teachers any more than before and Sindaria thought that the principal was too easy on the disorderly students. In the slums, kids didn't have any respect for the adults, and it was evident in school. Sindaria wished more than anything that she could be let free of this prison, but she knew that was about as likely as a snowball in hell.

* * *

Before lunch, Sindaria hurried to the school library. Mrs. Wallaby, the librarian, was stamping some books when Sindaria came in. Mrs. Wallaby looked up and smiled. "Back again, Ari?" she asked.

"You bet," Sindaria said, grinning.

"I have a stack of books I thought that you'd like." Mrs. Wallaby reached down under the desk and put a tall tower of books on the desk.

Sindaria gave her already-read books to Mrs. Wallaby. "Thanks! Can I pick them up after school?"

"Of course," Mrs. Wallaby said, smiling.

* * *

Sindaria was eating her lunch when her only friend, Teresa, a fifth-grader, sat down across from her. Teresa's family was not as poor as Sindaria's family, and so she had slightly newer clothes. "This food is so gross," Teresa commented, holding up with her fork what she supposed passed for a salsbury steak. To Sindaria, it just looked like a lump of brown glop. She poked her own, expecting it to move or speak up anytime. She didn't know what the school put in what they called food, and she didn't want to know.

"I wouldn't touch it if I were you," Sindaria said. "It's probably not even edible."

Teresa nodded, shaking off the brown lump onto her tray. She picked up her roll and bit into it. "How'd you do on your math test?"

Sindaria shrugged. "I passed."

Teresa nodded. "That's good." She smiled. "Did you hear about Vicki and Matt?"

"What's up with them now?"

"Well -" Teresa got cut off as Bobby and his gang walked up to their table.

"What do you want?" Sindaria asked.

"Just a friendly chat," Bobby said, smirking.

"Nothing's friendly with you."

Bobby sneered. "Maybe this will go better with that trash you call clothes," he said and promptly took her tray and shoved it onto her shirt. She stood up, brown goop dribbling down her once-white blouse, the best shirt that she owned. Her grandparents had sent it to her on her last birthday and it was a very nice shirt; or had been. She could feel the rage building up inside of her. Suddenly an ear-splitting noise filled the cafeteria as every single window shattered, the glass flying everywhere. Bobby looked around, his sneer disappearing. Taking this chance, Sindaria picked up her milk carton and dumped its contents on the front of Bobby's pants. He looked down at the milk covering his pants and then glared at her murderously.

"You really should try to hold it. There is a thing called a bathroom," Sindaria said, smirking as the kids around them began laughing, forgetting for a moment about the shattered windows. Then the teachers rushed in, one of them pulling Sindaria and Bobby apart.

"Go to your class," one teacher said to Bobby, who, after one final glare at Sindaria, stalked away. The teacher, who Sindaria recognized as Mr. Young, their gym teacher, looked at Sindaria. "What happened here? Why are all the windows shattered?"

Sindaria shrugged, trying to act nonchalant, but inside she was very nervous. What had happened? Why did they all of a sudden shatter like that? It was just like one of those stories that she read with those polter-things. "I don't know. They just did." Mr. Young looked around, shaking his head.

"I don't know where the money is going to come from to fix this," he sighed. He walked away to join the principal, who had just walked in.

"Everyone, please exit the cafeteria and be careful of the glass. Please go to your classes," Mr. Young said over the hush that had overcome the cafeteria. One by one, the students stood and left.

"That was so weird!" Teresa exclaimed as she and Sindaria walked to their history class.

"Yeah," Sindaria said softly. "Weird."