So, hey there I am Alex here. I dwell in the ordinary locality of Soghn (a fictional town, don’t take this crap name for real). The world is making rapid advancements in science and technology. In this modern world it is very rare to see ordinary things so they somehow turn extraordinary.

Anyways, it has been almost a decade since I moved here. This place is indeed one of its own kind. It is a huge, lofty town which supports comfortable life. My father works at the Sogn space station which is at the central plaza, located in the crest of the town. It is a sky-kissing, high rise building. It is often referred to as the heart of Sogn.

There are also a few streets which are coloured according to their purpose. Like there is this orange street where people can buy vegetables, fruits, basic groceries, etc. Then there is the red street which is essentially a 24/7 meat market. An odd, disgusting,

bitter smell prevails through this street. Then there is this yellow street which is a centre for buying machine parts and electronics. Thanks to the Soghn Space centre, the yellow street is flourishing. Then comes my favourite street and astonishingly my favourite colour, the blue street. This is the longest of all streets. This street boasts about a fifty different restaurants which serve aromatic, delicious food which melts right onto the tongue. The aroma that wafts around the street compels me to buy one of those sandwiches and ice creams.

I am much of an introverted person who basically avoids normal eye contact with people in public. Throughout my 14 year experience I have only been able to befriend three people. I still remember the day me and my family moved here. I was crying and sobbing unconsolably for one day straight for my two old friends whom I had to bid adieu. And that’s right, even though I have lived here for ten long years, I only have one friend. If you want to know, the name’s John. It was an unfortunate accident when our mothers met at the green street. John’s mother said that he was a very mischievous lad who used to make the house a burning hell! She said that in the presence of a true friend, a buddy-o-pal, he can discipline himself.

I still feel it was a dumb move from my mother’s side to have made me play with him every evening. Oh boy! That lad was indeed the way his mother had described. He performed handstands on swings and somehow managed to not fall off. One I was caught off guard while sitting on a swing; I told him to give me a slight push from the behind and that boy gave such a “SLIGHT” push that I performed a neat 360 degrees turn on the swing. From that day I have officially given up on my dream of becoming a space pilot since I had got a first-hand experience that day.

 When I was in my seventh grade, I was very fond of the sport badminton. I joined coaching classes right away. I was pretty much clean in almost all sports thanks to my genetic makeup doing much of the job. I thought that I was the top player in my batch when a new entry gave me a reality check. A new girl had recently joined classes and her skills were way better than me when I was her level. One day we were asked to take on each other in a three-set-21-points match. During the first set, I started off well and managed to rack up 14 points in the seven minutes. Even after a lot of effort from her end, I managed to clinch the first set(21-17).

Even though I won the first set I knew this was not going to be easy. The second set went pretty rough with me as she won the set this time(21-9). The fact that I was unable to get upto double digits was utterly humiliating. I went all out in the third set. We both tied up to a thrilling 20-20. A deuce was supposed to follow. Whoever scored two consecutive points, won. Due to a silly serve error, she gained advantage. Just a point and then I would be doomed. My dignity was on the line. After a long exhausting rally I collapsed onto the ground and the whistle blew. I hung my head down is despair and disappointment. I did not even shake hands with her after the match which is a tradition in all sports.

The next day I heard the doorbell. A new family had showed up. They gave us some sweets. They had recently moved into Soghn. I also happened to see the girl whom I had lost to. I pretended not to notice her but when her family were about to leave, she came up to me and asked my name. I did not care about asking her name but she said it herself, Cristella. She took me outside the apartment on a swing. She started swinging and started talking about how good my skills are. I told her that I was not good enough as I could not beat her.

She said that I put forward a tough fight. I told her to now shut up and mind her own business. For some reason, she was able to find the annoyance in my words and she said that if I cannot accept defeat gracefully, I cannot be a great sportsman, this time loud and with anger. She told me that the reason she called me here to console me after my loss that day. She said that all days in my life could not be as I wished. Winning can cheer anybody but it takes grit and guts to digest defeat and still move on.

 All feelings of hatred and disgust fled away at that moment. I fell down on my knees and looked up in the sky. Her words kind of motivated me that there is still some hope left but I am not going to deny the fact that, she is annoying! Tears welled up in my eyes. Just then John showed up. He began with the overly humorous question by asking why my eyes were sweating. I just stayed quiet, motionless for the next few seconds. Then Cristella asked me if he was my friend. I hesitated a bit and said no. I guess she caught the catch in my speech and said us three should form a group and find more friends. We then went through the apartments and found two more friends, Sophia and Olivia. They were siblings. Sophia was a tall girl with long curly hair. She had a bold personality and was very proud of herself; and not to forget, she was vinegar tempered. Olivia was her little sister who did not know how to speak any language because she was born deaf. She occasionally made weird, murmuring voices which no one understood. And that was how I got stuck in this pack of 5 friends(counting myself)…