The older girl looked down towards the younger one feeling that something was wrong. The younger girl peered up at her, shame clouding her eyes. She should have not asked that question, now she would loose her only friend.

The older girl turned away sighing at the younger girl’s obvious discomfort. She briefly wondered about the question her small friend had asked her. A sudden idea snapped her out of her reverie and she smiled at the younger girl.

“I’m sorry. I’m not mad or anything like that. I’m just…taken aback. When I asked you what you were thinking about what you said was something I wasn’t expecting that’s all,” the older girl explained. The little girl tipped her head up and smiled shyly.

“Ok,” she mumbled unsure how to respond. The two girls kept walking at the same pace with a short silence hanging on them.

“I’m thinking about it,” the older girl said suddenly. The younger girl looked at her clueless.

“Your question,” the older girl said. “I’m thinking about it.”

The younger girl still looked puzzled. “Why?”

The older girl shot her a cheesy grin. “I’m not sure how to respond to it.”

The younger stopped, apparently dumbstruck. The older girl came to a stop as well confused at the little girl’s expression.

“What’s wrong?” she asked peering down at the little girl at her side.

The little girl opened her mouth although it took awhile for any actual words to come out. “You-you don’t know…what t-to say?”

“That’s what I’m saying,” the older girl stated clearly. The younger girl looked at her, mouth agape.

“B-but yo-yo-you,” the little girl stuttered. The older girl gazed at her imploringly as the little one stopped to collect her words.

“Anali,” the little girl said knowingly gazing at the older girl with wide brown eyes. “You’re supposed to know everything.”

Anali looked at the little girl who looked up at her with seriousness swimming in her eyes. The moment the words finally sunk in and made their impact she could not help it, Anali burst out laughing. She tried a few times to stop but one look at the younger girl’s face would cause her to crack up again. The younger girl’s eyebrows knit together and a little frown graced her innocent lips.

“I’m sorry! I’m so-sorry!” Anali said in between her giggles. She brought a hand up to her mouth in order to stifle the giggles.

“I’m not trying to make fun of you; it’s just… so funny!” Anali explained after her laughter died off although a twinkle of it remained in her eyes. “What gave you the idea that I would know everything?”

The younger girl opened her mouth then frowned closing it.

Anali laughed softly at the little one’s expression. She then stopped walking and proceeded to sit down with her back against the alley wall. She motioned for the younger girl to sit down next to her. The little girl did so, hesitantly. She looked up at the sky, her eyes clouded with thoughts and questions, before she turned her gaze slightly downwards to face Anali.

The little girl breathed in deeply as if trying to muster up courage.

“So…what do you want to be when you grow up, Anali?” she asked repeating the question that she had asked before. Anali looked up at the sky purposefully avoiding the little girl’s gaze so she wouldn’t notice her unfocused eyes. The little one had no idea of the implications to the simple question.
Anali sighed. “I’m not sure,” she paused then smiled lightly. “But, I do have a lot of dreams.”

“Dreams?”

“Yep,” Anali smiled wistfully. “Dream now, dream big, dream forever… it’s what my mom use to say all of the time…”

The little girl looked at Anali with a confused expression. Anali noticed this and her smile grew.

“I don’t mean the dreams you have at night but the dreams that you have of the future. The dreams of the life you’d wish to have, the dreams you could chase,” Anali explained.

The younger girl nodded, semi-understanding, and brought her knees in hugging them to her chest.

“I don’t have any dreams,” the little girl admitted sadly looking at the cold ground. Anali picked up a pebble and threw it up as high as she could towards the other building.

“You will,” Anali said simply. Together they watched the pebble as it came back down clanging on the stairs of the fire escape.