I DON'T WANT TO BE INSIGNIFICANT!

I don't want to leave as if I had never lived!

She rushed into the street as if nothing was hindering her while paying no attention to the pedestrians and cars coming and going.

In spite of everything, I believe life is beautiful. Nothing I have lived through are pecks of dust to be swept away. They all matter so much to me.

Sometimes I felt happy.

I still vividly remember the carefree lights listening to summer bugs humming. The tranquil blue colors found in my hometown. The majestic city lights of Laurel City's evenings. The instant I saw Jules wearing that matching outfit for the annual Laurel runway competition. The awe I felt from viewing all the entries for the competition. The afternoons I wandered around shops and boutiques with Simone. The surprise I had when recognizing Bianca.

Other times I felt blue.

With my greatest joys came my greatest sadnesses. I couldn't help feeling helpless about the leaving of Ms. Green in middle school. I couldn't help thinking about the last time I hugged Bianca before she left Laurel City. And I often wondered why Jules behaves the way she does. My happiness and sadness were like two sides of a coin, often coming hand-in-hand. All these unforgettable memories gave me power and humility. It was them that I became who I am now.

Who am I if I can't face my feelings, portray them, and let them live on!

Who am I if I fail to live up to myself?

Eventually, she stopped at a bench around the river. She sat down and buried her face in her hands.

Why...why are those feelings so painful? Why couldn't those damn tears stop wetting my face?

She looked up and immediately saw a plethora of fuzzy light circles blending into one another. She wiped her misty eyes and watched the quiet reflections of buildings dancing in the river. One day I will say goodbye to my friends. I know that I will be sad, but it's better to have them once here than to never have met them at all. Jules, Simmy, Felicity, and Bianca...will you feel the same way as me too? One year ago, she imagined suddenly feeling grown-up after her middle school graduation ceremony. By the end of the ceremony, she realized that she was still the same self as one day before.

But she felt a little grown-up today.

For it was at this moment that she realized that all her emotions, the good or the ugly, were embodiments of her individuality. The way to let go of magic was to turn her emotions into a creative, powerful force of life.

✨

That night, Beth was tired and wanted to sleep earlier.

After she finished her homework, she turned off the lights, climbed straight onto her bed, and rolled into her blanket. In a few minutes, she would be submerged in a floating sea of nothingness; her tangled emotions would dissipate; by the time morning comes, she would rise and shine like a new person. Yet she was having trouble falling asleep in the first place. Her eyes were fixated on the blocks of night lights that extend into thin stripes of colors and fade away.

It had been a while since Beth was in touch with her magic. She knew that it was weakening. There was a fade of color on the surface of her bracelet, which was placed right beside her homework. When she examined the bracelet closely, she spotted cracks on the edge of it.

Beth sat up in the dark, quietly savoring the day when she first faced her magic. At that moment, she wished to become creative and capable like her friends. She stood in front of an image of her grown-up self, beautiful, charming, and confident. But as soon as she reached out to that person, they dispersed into filaments of light and were never seen again. Beth started to realize the reason behind their disappearance. That person was, after all, a creation woven together by threads of her own imagination, in a specific space and time. Beth, however, had changed, and so was the way she synthesized ideas.

She wanted to find happiness within herself by loving and being loved. She wanted to live her life with a brave mind and a warm heart. Somehow, over the time she spent with her magic, Beth had grown to develop a soft spot for her magic, as well as her bracelet. Sometimes, she would wear her bracelet when she goes out, as a statement that she took pride in the troubled side of herself, which became unique emotional monsters. The existence of the bracelet had become intertwined as part of her being. That image of a person which she imagined herself once becoming dissolved into its original state of a thousand small threads, which some of them transformed into the journal entries she wrote, the drawings she produced, the fresh wind she breathed, the blue sky she looked up upon, and the ordinary every day she lived. She wasn't ready to let everything go yet — it would feel like a part of her was taken away and died.

A sudden desire came to Beth — a desire to retain her memories of being once magical. She wanted to recreate her original dress design piece that ultimately became her magical transformation dress. She threw away her blanket and grabbed the chair in front of her desk, setting a giant piece of paper and a couple of pencils.

As she worked her way to sketch lines and curves, she felt a strong spirit pushing the pencil in her hand. She was not consciously creating a complete form by stitching up scattered parts and small details. Instead, she sat in her chair, fully immersed in another space and time. The young, 14-year-old Beth and the older, 16-year-old Beth became one. The pencil moved across the paper elegantly, making light scratching sounds. A new, detailed drawing of a girl in a lacey, ruffled white dress, decorated with flowers, diamonds, as well as a light blue waistband, was born. And with that, the shiny golden bracelet hung just right on the wrist of the girl's right hand.

As soon as Beth put down the pencil, she noticed a new message popping up on her phone. From Julianna.

'Beth, I have something to tell you!!'

Why is Jules sending me a message this late at night? What is this going to be about? Beth quickly swiped on the message and typed across her keyboard on the phone.

'What happened, Jules? Is everything alright?'

Julianna's message came up again. 'I took your advice and talked with my mom. The conversation went unexpectedly well. She did acknowledge that I was like her previous daughter, but she turned around and loved me for me. What she said was much better than I expected.'

Beth wanted to type a happy message to Julianna, but her fingertips stopped moving when a new speech bubble appeared on Julianna's side.

'...and I found out what I wanted to do for now. I'm going to visit my birth parents during the winter holiday, and I will start learning to dive next year!'

'You are going to do great, Jules! Look at you and Simmy — she's probably starting band practices soon. Both of you found where your heart belongs.'

'Is there anything you want to do, Beth? Simone and I both thought you were the most passionate among us three.'

Beth looked down at the floor for a moment and took a deep breath. Both Julianna and Simone suggested she start her own project. Her drawing was just in front of her on the table. Her instinct was to tell Julianna about the drawing, which could potentially become a project, but somehow she worded it in a different way.

'Jules, I want to be someone!'

'I do too!' Julianna agreed. 'I want my efforts in life to mount up to something important, something transformative.'

'Same!' Beth said. 'I remembered you telling me at one point that everyone was fighting a hard battle. They were trying to get away from their own insecurities, their flawed past, and the wrong choices that made long-term effects on their life. Now I understand your words better. Each person in the street was like one another, struggling through the pains, anger, and joys in life. Maybe life isn't an easy journey for everyone after all. But just as you said, we developed ideals. We stood against opposition and obstacles. The person I want to be is someone honest with themselves, and able to transform their experiences into powerful messages.'

She then slowly typed the rest of her words.

'And with that, I had an idea for a piece of creative work. Do you want to see it?'

'Go ahead, and show me!'

Beth took a picture of her drawing and sent it to Julianna. Then, she stared at the drawing again. What will happen if she makes the drawing into a concrete dress piece? Right in front of her eyes, she envisioned a solo fashion design runway show based on the prompt the place you came from. The narrative of this show will be focused on her going through trials of family, friendship, and self-realization. Each fashion piece will be representing a stage of her life or an important person in her life. She thought everyone's talents can be made use of in this play: Jules could help her with the background narrative; Simone could help make the fashion pieces. When everything is finished, Beth will keep the pieces in the school storage and the basement of her host family. She will then open up a social media account, send out online advertisements across high schools in Laurel, and find out if anyone's interested in being a model or sponsoring the show at a venue.

She told all of these to Julianna.

'When do you plan on starting this project? We should get Simone informed about this.'

'When I have a rough plan of how to put my show together, I guess. But I hope I can start soon!'

'That's great. Nonetheless, what will you name the project?'

'Let's call it Dreamchasers.'