Life in the Day

   It was as dark as ever in the small box, only accompanied by my sister who was always quiet. She hadn't spoken since we left the factory, where she were separated from her real mother and sister. We had become sisters by default, considering she was the end of the swatch of fabric, while I was the beginning of a new one. We had been distant friends before we were shipped off, never failing to accompany the one that was alone. I didn't expect it when I was set carefully in the same shoe box as she, and certainly wasn't expecting the vow of silence she had taken, like the fact that she was separated from her family was my fault. Didn't she realize that I too was feeling a loss for my own family?

   Either way, we had yet to speak to each other. The silence was dark and the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. But finally, when my claustrophobia had caught up with me, I turned to her, begging her to comfort me. She said a few words, coming around enough to keep my fear at ease. We exchanged quiet jokes that only our shoe counterparts would understand and by the time we were taken out of our box to be put on display, we were friends again. 

   The store was huge with a high ceiling and slowly revolving fans. It did nothing more than push the hot air around, providing no relief to the people. I, myself, loved the heat and talked animatedly with the other shoes on display. There were colorful running shoes next to me that were always playing pranks on the store manager. The left one would hop off, knocked over on the floor, so that the manager had to come over and pick him up. Then, when the store manager even bumped the table slightly, the right would jump off, rolling halfway across the store. Their antics caused endless amusement for my sister and I and all the others that were on display. 

   After a week or so, the running shoes were bought, and we said sorrowful goodbyes, knowing we would miss their antics dearly. But they were soon replaced by bright red slip-ons. The left was very introverted and didn't speak much, but the right had enough personality for the both of them. Excitedly, she told all of us about her trip across seas, her voice slightly tinted with an accent. Their plane had almost crashed, and when they finally landed in the States, they were stolen by a pair of thieves. How they finally got to this store I never found out because at that moment my sister and I were picked up by a young girl with short blonde hair. She spoke fast, and I couldn't keep up with her English, considering us shoes have a language all of our own. But I finally got the gist of what she was trying to do. Her mother was down where the older shoes were, trying on a pair of brown leather high heels. I didn't much care for them considering they sounded snooty speaking with each other, and my sister avoided them as well. Either way, the girl was trying to convince her mother to let her buy us, my sister and I. Finally, her mother gave in with a tired nod of her head. 

   There was a squealing that I cringed to, and the girl set the us on the counter and we were boxed again, being surrounded by blackness yet again. I quietly dealt with my phobia on my own, considering my sister was too excited for me to put a damper on her happiness. Finally though, the lid opened to the light twilight of day. I wasn't sure how long we had been in that box, but I knew it to be too long enough. After a few moments, we were dropped on the floor and I felt the odd sensation of her foot inside me. She kept my sister and I on for a long time until the darkness descended on the day, making bright stars come out. I felt her walk on her tip-toes, climbing onto her bed and opening the window. At first I had the sensation of falling before we landed in wet grass. Our owner sprinted down the lawn until she climbed into a car, breaking out in excited giggles as the car drove away. 

   Soon, my sister and I started to converse. It was strange, and I had a feeling whatever this girl was doing was not to something of her parent's consent. My suspicions were confirmed when she walked into a place that stunk of dirty socks, body odor, and cheap perfume and cologne. We stumbled into many shoe counterparts until gum got stuck to my sole, and was uncomfortably removed to have the gum scraped off. 

   But soon, loud music screamed through the place, accompanied by a jumbled mess of words that made no sense. My sister and I were equally confused when our owner started jumping in time with the beat, screaming out the lyrics while pumping her fist in the air as a lot of people around her were doing. After a while, I started to enjoy it, more out of amusement of what silly rituals people had and was disappointed when the night ended soon after. 

   And as it was, despite all that happened, I wouldn't have my first day as a real shoe any other way.