As soon as my mom pulled up to our house, I made my way to the lights again. I needed to know what they were and what caused them. As I inched closer and closer to her house, I saw the mysterious glow reveal itself and then quickly disappear. I walked around the corner and peered into her room with amazement only to realize that she was not within it, but just outside. *Flash *

Lights were all I could see, and they appeared to be the same color as the ones I had seen earlier in the night: an off-pink hue.

"Hi!"

I leapt back and raised my arms as to protect myself, even though I was pretty defenseless. I laughed to myself just thinking about that in my mind.

"Who are you?" I heard a voice call to me. It matched the laugh that was so cheerful and filled with life just as it had been on that day that I found the lights in the window along with their source: the girl with the pink hands.

"Autumn", I replied.

Suddenly, she stood before me, and the light was up close, catching me in a moment of "this is totally cool" while still being a little bit " what the heck was that?"

"Why are you here?", she asked.

" I felt the need to come" I responded nervously.

"Why?" she asked.

She slowly walked towards me, and I could hear her voice, or so I thought it was her voice, but she wasn't moving her lips. She slowly touched the camera to adjust it, and it lit up her hands.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked. I was very scared to see that this girl's hands glowed just as Freddie's voice did when he was up on that stage for the last time.

"What do you mean?", she smiled and then laughed about the fact that her hands did indeed glow.

"How can you see them? The lights? " she asked.

"What do you mean? They are lit up like Rudolph's nose as he leads the sled on Christmas night. It's blinding."

"But, no one sees the lights anymore. How can you?" she replied. "Come with me!"

I politely said no thank you, but I left her my mom's number so that she could call my mom to arrange something. I never listened to strangers and much less ones that invited me to their house without either her parents' or my parents' permission.

When I arrived home, my mom was on the phone with hers. They laughed, and they cried, as if they had known each other their entire lives. But, they didn't. Both my mom and hers had lost their husbands, and in their conversations, in their words and their pauses, they shared their pain. They laughed out of fear, and cried from excitement, but I didn't sense happiness from either of their voices.

Death, it takes so much more than just a life. It takes the light with it, too. The plans you made with others and the plans you made with your light, they are sometimes never realized. But, you can never truly understand that unless you experience the death of someone you loved, someone you believed in.

"It was Karma" my mom said.

"Ok, who the heck is that?"

"Destiny's mom" she said.

"Who?"

"The girl you hung out with today", she replied.

I was like okay. I didn't hang out with anyone, but I did cross paths with the creepy hands girls.

"They lit up like Freddie's voice" I told her.

"Oh, I see, honey" my mom said.

I could hear the fear in her voice and see the concerned look in her eye.

"What's wrong, Ma?" I asked her to let her know I could tell she was giving me the crazy look.

"Why do you keep bringing up these lights that you say you saw?"

I told her I had seen lights and that both Freddie, at the theater, and Destiny, the girl down the street, had this light that shined when they were doing something really specific. With Freddie, it happened as he sang, and with Destiny, it happened when she photographed things. It didn't make sense to me that they both had lights and that they weren't coming from the same place in their body. It seemed like the lights were connected to their abilities. No matter what I told her, it didn't make any sense to my mom, so I stopped trying to explain it to her.

That night, my mom and I went to Destiny's for dinner, and as we went through the awkward hellos, we sat together in silence. Destiny reached over to grab her camera, and suddenly, there was a flash that was so intense, I was no longer in the room.

I looked around, but nothing looked like something I had seen before. I could hear Destiny's voice calling to me, and suddenly, I heard the click of a switch, then I was in a room filled with photographs. At this moment, I couldn't fully understand the power in Destiny, but I knew that there was more to the creepy hands girl than just a good eye with a camera.

I saw pictures Destiny had taken all around Chicago. Every landmark, every person that looked like someone I knew, and every wonder that was Chicago. I had never seen Chicago this way, at least not with my own two eyes. I either heard about all the things happening in the tourist areas or I heard about the crime that riddled the city, my city. But, I loved the idea that Destiny captured Chicago as I knew it: with all of its charm. This city was more than the negative news that tv presented it as, it was a place where love happens, where people discover that they are so much more than the place they were born in. I always had great pride in it, but at times, I felt shame because the news tied to Chicago didn't present it in its best light, but I was going to change that one day.

"How did I get here?" I asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"I just remember a flash of light, and suddenly, I am here with you looking at your photographs", I responded, and as I looked down, I saw it: the light in her hands was glowing. It reminded me of the rose at the end of Beauty and the Beast with this energy all around it, as if it was the energy of life itself. "Finally!", I thought to myself. My mom will be able to finally see it and not think I am crazy.

I called my mom, and she and Destiny's mom rushed over to check on us.

"Yes, Autumn" she said as she made her way through Destiny's door.

"Look, mom! The lights!" I quickly shouted.

"What lights, honey?" she replied anxiously.

I felt this sense of disappointment in my mom, in Destiny's mom, and in everyone except Destiny. She could see the lights. How could they not see them? They are so real to me and to Destiny. It was then that I realized that no one could see the lights but Destiny and me. It felt strange to see something that no one else could, and I thought to myself, why is this happening to me? I wished my mom could see what I saw. The lights, the love, the gifts connected to those lights in the same way that I saw them. This light, it's as if it was telling me that our gifts, our purpose has a life of its own. But, my mom couldn't see what I saw, and so I wouldn't insist on making them real for her just yet because then she'd think I've lost my mind. I brushed it off quickly and sullenly said an "Oh, never mind."

I decided to ask Destiny about the lights, but she refused to say anything the first few times I asked, then she finally gave in and told me everything when she saw this look of defeat and sadness come over me.

It all started at the beginning of time. There were people with lights everywhere, and people's lights were on from the moment they were born. With the first cry came the first flicker. Parents knew what to do when they saw the light, and at the time, parents worked hard to make sure that the light kept shining. They were known as the light protectors, and they made sure that they helped children keep their lights shining bright. It wasn't an easy task or burden to take on because the lights were to be preserved with great care. Children delighted in their gifts unaware of how fragile they were if they were exposed to the true evil that lives in the world. I looked around the room as Destiny was telling me the story, and then I walked to the window. From it, I could see the rows of houses on both sides of the street in front of Destiny's house, and I could see dim lights coming from every single one of them. The lights were not as bright as Destiny's or Freddie's ,but they were there, they existed. How did I never see them before? I asked myself as I looked at Destiny with a puzzled look on my face.

She continued on by saying that this fire inside us was connected to everything and anything that made humans happy: painting, music, teaching, learning, etc. As the light protectors, parents made sure that their children grew up in a safe environment where children were happy and healthy and where they could keep the light shining bright. Anyone that made children feel unsafe, unhappy, or afraid was quickly removed from that children's life while anyone who supported the children or showed them respect and love was invited in.

The children's light shined bright when they used the gift that the light was connected to, but it slowly disappeared when parents hurt the children, didn't respect the children, or refused to support their dreams. As the light protectors, they encouraged the children to use their gift. Gifts came in all forms: singing, dancing, photography, acting, designing, gardening, healing, and so many more things, too many to list.

I stood there in this room filled with Destiny's photographs. I saw that she had captured the beauty of love, respect, unity, equality, but most importantly, happiness.

That which brought joy was captured through the lens of Destiny's camera, but I noticed something as I looked around the room. There weren't lights in these pictures of happiness. So, I asked myself "Were these people truly happy?"