The Missing Piece

This is intended for all ages, but can be narrowed down to children, teenagers, and young adults. Its purpose is to show that people who are complete opposites can still be friends.




Wednesday February 25th, 2009

She sat at the back of the bus, a simple HB pencil entwined in her fingers as she drew strokes of graphite on the blank page resting on her lap. The crinkles of concentration marring her forehead couldn't be seen past her dangling dark brown locks, tickling the tops of her knuckles as they swayed to and fro. Dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a black hoodie, it wasn't hard to tell that Nilda Garcia was a girl of solitude. Many of the passengers entering the bus would avoid taking seats near her, opting to stand a fair distance from her frightening figure.

Nilda didn't seem to notice, so caught up in her latest masterpiece as she rotated from smudging to drawing gentle strokes along the paper. Socializing wasn't really her strongest forte, having been shunned for much of her childhood. Even when she had friends they weren't really friends because they were just playing with her, putting her down to make themselves feel better. She was weird, they would all think, what other excuse were you looking for?

Nilda hummed softly under her breath in thought as she gazed long and hard at the black and white drawing. Something was missing... only she couldn't put her finger on it. With a little shrug, Nilda fished into her pocket to bring out an inking pen, slowly replacing the sketchy pencil marks with a clear, solid black. It didn't take as long as actually drawing the picture, but even as Nilda pulled back to observe her drawing, she still couldn't escape the nagging feeling of something missing.

The bus slowly came to another stop, letting on a few more people before it continued on its predetermined route. One of the girls boarding the bus (probably of asian descent and dressed in light colours), gasped as she caught sight of the solitary girl with the drawing pad. With an excited, "Nilly?" escaping her mouth, the happy girl drew closer, her smile widening and her eyes sparkling as she confirmed the identity of the darkly dressed Nilda.

"Gwen?" Nilda asked, before surprisingly her mouth broke out into a beautiful smile. The other girl, Gwen, laughed slightly and made her way to the back of the bus, sitting beside her friend and hugging her briefly. They exchanged simple pleasantries, much like the ones often asked in small talks, only it didn't sound awkward at all. The small talk was quickly extinguished once Gwen noticed the drawing pad lying on Nilda's lap. A slow smile spread over Gwen's face as she pointed to the drawing.

"Can I see?" Gwen asked, to which Nilda replied with a shake of her head. Her face fell, obviously displaying disappointment. Nilda laughed a little.

"Maybe later, because I'm not done. It's missing something." The artist told her friend. Gwen asked if she could help in finding out what the missing thing was, only for Nilda to laugh again and smile secretly. "No, that's okay." she told her friend, looking at her with a twinkling eye. "I already figured out what it was."