Lili had a quiet personality. She enjoyed being unique. She saw the world differently than others, but she didn’t like others knowing it. Lili was not outspoken like her twin sister. Nor did she crave the social interaction that her sister enjoyed so much. It's not that Lili dislikes people. She loves being around people. She just doesn't want to feel like she has to interact with them. That’s why she enjoys eating alone during her lunch break at school. She finds a pleasant nook out of the way, reclusive but close enough to the social aspect of school that she can sit, observe, and watch the other children and young dragons play and interact.

            Lili also loved to draw, capturing the inspiring moments in her sketchbook. It was the unnoticed moments that she found the most fascinating to draw. Not the big things. It was the moments when a classmate ensures their friend avoids a puddle, or when a child shares food with another. She liked to capture those brief moments that show the care and kindness we all have for one another but often hide in societal facades.

Lili was born with the talent, but it was her constant drawing and perpetual sketching that was turning her into the artist she was. She sat there and sketched out a few scenes and happenings. Her lunch of bread, cheese and citrus sat off to the side, untouched. She focused on observing the world around her.

Lili loved her sister Leila. She was a good friend, even though they were quite different. She enjoyed spending time with Leila and their friend Ella. They were both entertaining to be around. But Lili’s sketchbook was her best friend. It was always there for her. It would never let her down. She always knew when the paper might run out so she could purchase a new one. She could share her innermost thoughts with her sketchbook, and her sketchbook would not judge her one bit. It accepted her for all that she was, her faults, her hopes, and any emotion she liked to keep to herself. Drawing was a way to express her excitement about life and her feelings without the anxiety of being rejected by someone else. It was a safe place for her.

            Lili looked for a subject or a moment to draw. She noticed a little lizard. She stared at the lizard sitting on a rock a few steps away from her. It moved its head back and forth with independently darting eyes, as it ensured its safety. It looked straight at Lili. The lizard sat there for a few moments, then did several little lizard pushups, basking in the sun's warmth. Still staring back at Lili, the lizard crawled even closer to her on its rock. “Strange”, Lili thought to herself. Lizards stay far away from any human. She figured the noises of the nearby school yard would have kept any timid lizards away. But there it was, staring at her.

            She appreciated it. It gave her plenty of time to sketch it out. Even little mister lizard deserved a portrait. Then another lizard crawled up and over the rock. Lili smiled. “Mr. Lizard has a friend! Or is it a Mrs. Lizard?” She thought. Then a third one poked its head over the side of the rock. Lili was in shock. These little critters stay as far away from the obnoxious laughter and wild temperament of school yard children. Yet here they were, introducing themselves to Lili.

            As someone who loved nature, she introduced herself, and talked of the weather, and asked them what it was like living in the woods and how they felt about the sun on the rock, as she sketched what she was witnessing.

            It caused her to think about some of her recent experiences, where wildlife seemed to manifest wherever she went. She had never seen so much wildlife before. It made her wonder if the vegetation in the hills was lacking proper watering, driving the animals to be closer to civilization. But every rainy season seems to bring more and more water every year. Maybe she was getting older, and her observation has become sharper. Maybe these animals have always been there. She simply wasn’t aware of them before.

She recalls a previous experience when walking in the woods and found a family of moose. Normally, moose keep their distance from any civilization, but there was a whole family roaming the woods behind her house. Moose are very territorial, especially around calves which made Lili nervous. She climbed a solitary rock to keep a safe distance and out of reach if the mama moose charged. Lili pulled out her sketchbook to get a quick drawing. The moose family eventually noticed her, but they weren’t threatened. They approached the rock she was on, as if to see what she was all about. It seemed as if they simply wanted to say “hello” and went on their way. It felt like the universe was giving her these gifts of nature.

These experiences seemed to back up her belief that there is something in this world that connects us to all living things. She couldn’t speak to the animals, but she felt like she could communicate with them. Why not? Horses and dogs are easily trained through their own forms of communication. What if there was a deeper form of communication that we haven’t learned about yet? She can’t explain it, or describe it, but feels there is more to this world than what we see and observe. There is meaning to the things we can feel. There had to be an explanation for premonitions, or feeling what someone else was going through.

            It seemed like an odd belief, and her sister relentlessly made fun of her for holding onto such childish notions. But recently, even Leila admitted there may be some credit to this theory. When Lili and Leila were younger, they loved to talk about their special twin powers they had, where they knew what each other was thinking. Leila had long since abandoned the notion of such an unseen connection. Lili enjoyed holding onto sentiments like that. It didn’t mean she was foolish, or any less aware of the world. There were several times when premonitions could not be denied. Lili embraced it, Leila questioned it. But at least Leila acknowledged the experiences happened.

Suddenly, the lizard scurried away into a nearby bush as a stray playground ball came bouncing into Lili’s little shelter. No matter, Lili was nearly done with her drawing, and could finish the rest by memory. Lili picked up the ball. A young dragon laughing came running up to her. “Sorry about that. Our game got a little out of control,” the dragon said with a laugh.

“No worries, here you go!” Lili tossed the ball with a smile and watched as the young dragons and children engaged in their game.

It wasn’t only nature that fascinated Lili. People were equally fascinating. Their behavior, what they think, how they act. People watching was a fun activity for her. She liked to observe people and imagine what they were thinking, their personalities and home life, and what they would say to each other. She often imagines entire conversations people have without even hearing a word they say, just based on their actions and reactions and her imagination.

Lili watched the energetic crowd of young children, dragons, teenagers, and teachers. Lili closed her eyes and listened. She thought about her breathing, inhaling deeply, then slowly exhaling, and focused on listening. She called it “Seeing in the dark.”

            Submerged in darkness, she liked to push her ability to observe mentally by remembering what she saw and pushing her imagination to maintain the visuals in her mind. She had become quite good at it, often predicting an individual’s movements, then opening her eyes to find out she was rather accurate. With her eyes closed, she could see the playground in the imagination of her mind. The children and dragons were chasing each other. The older kids gathered in groups talking and laughing with several teachers in the corner watching over the school. Even though details were hazy, she conjured the images in her mind, tracking the people as she would hear them run back and forth.

            She also challenged herself to look around. With her eyes closed, she looked to her right and smiled as her mind could ‘see’ several of the teachers sitting across the other side of the play area. She looked to the left. Her mind could ‘see’ the roadway, trees and some of the other buildings of their town. She smiled. She took pride in her ability to ‘see’ things with her mind. Then she looked down at her lunch. Her mind instantly conjured images of the bread, the block of cheese, and her favorite, an orange. The colors of her lunch were shining into her mind like an aura of existence.

            Then a strange thought entered her mind. As she looked at her lunch with her closed eyes, she thought, if she could visualize the world around her, and could imagine the children running around, she could use her powerful imagination to move inanimate objects that would not otherwise move. As she stared at her lovely yet untouched lunch in the imagination of her mind, she focused on her brilliant orange. The colors were so vivid in her mind. She held out her hand and imagined the orange rolling into her hand. She smiled with a little laughter, as it seemed like the orange rolled toward her. Her mind made it feel so real.

            Lili was so deep in her imagination that she didn’t even think how foolish she might look to an outsider watching her motion to her lunch as if casting a spell. She wouldn’t care, anyway. She was loving every single moment of it. Lili had a sense of control knowing how well her mind envisioned the outside world.

Suddenly a flash of a red color blocked what she could see. Surprised, she was worried something was physically wrong with her. She held for a moment, eyes closed, and focused on her feelings. She was fine. Then the flash of red came again. This time, it felt like the colors were behind her. Still, with her eyes shut, she turned around, and in her mind, she could see a pulsating red orb. She knew she was facing the wall of the school’s eating area. The flash of red pulsated again.

            Curious to figure out what was going on, she tried to focus her mind. Still with eyes closed, she tried to move closer to the flashing red object that her mind was seeing. The playground noises behind her faded away. As she got closer to the red flashes, she could see odd shapes and movements. They were a mixture of blurred colors, moving about, also giving attention to the pulses of red light she was seeing, almost circulating around it. She forced her mind to look closer.

She wondered if she was ‘seeing’ this, or if her mind was experiencing a medical issue? Focusing, she could see a dark object. The dark object was in the way of something else trying to move. She could see the colors above and below. It looked like an hourglass shape. But the shape below the object was turning a deeper color red. The black object kept moving slightly, but it would not go up or down. She still couldn’t tell what it was, but it appeared to be blocking the two shapes. She physically reached out to see if her mind could feel the dark object.

“Is the dark object supposed to flow through those shapes?” she thought. The lower shape seemed to exude more and more red energy. Physically, and mentally, she tried to push on the dark object with her finger, which resulted in what felt like a jolt of energy, almost painful. “That was odd,” she thought, “why is my mind conjuring such images? And why does it seem I’m sensing pain?” Lili thought about opening her eyes and ignoring it.

What if this was the connection she believes existed throughout life? She had to try; maybe there was meaning with the images in her mind. Lili reached out again to move the object with her mind. She couldn’t hold it despite her mind trying to imagine that very action. It almost felt… slippery? By now, the shape below was pulsating shades of deep red, jittering back and forth. It seemed in great distress. She could sense the urgency the dark object was emitting on the visual shape below. Her heart rate increased. Her mind was telling her to “remove the object”, “remove the object”. “But I can’t, it’s too slippery,” she thought to herself. She lowered her hands for a moment. She was panicking. Was something wrong with her mind? “If I don’t fix this, will I die?” She thought. Her stomach sank as the pulsing red turned into a rapid strobing flash. She reached out again but couldn’t grasp the shape. It was only air. She tried again and again. But nothing was changing.

Then she held up her hand and focused. She started to ‘see’ her hand in the colors. Then, holding two fingers tightly with her thumb, she reached out to the black object, focusing on her energy. Increasing the pressure between her fingers and thumb, she saw the colors in her hand intensify. Letting the pressure take over, she flicked her two fingers with as much force as she could. It was like she could feel the energy of her fingers tap on the black object. The dark object dissipated like throwing a handful of sand up into the wind. The red pulsating shapes faded and filled with calm colors and…

            “YAAAAYYYYYY!”

            An applause of children broke Lili’s concentration, and she opened her eyes. She was staring at the wall several inches in front of her face. Giving attention to the noises coming from inside the building, she ran to the doorway of the eating area. There was a large group huddled around one young boy. His face was unnaturally blue but was regaining color. She took a few steps closer to listen in.

An odd feeling passed through Lili as she heard what they were talking about. The young boy was choking on a piece of meat. The other children tried to get the attention of one of their teachers. By the time an adult arrived, the boy had coughed out the meat that was blocking his airway.

Or was it pushed out? The discovery shocked Lili. She thought through her feelings, looking for an explanation. It’s impossible that her mind controlled the situation, but that’s what it seemed like. She shook her head, “That could never happen!” she thought. Her mind continued to look for answers. Subconsciously, she must have heard what was going on and conjured all the images in her mind. Isn’t that what she likes to do? Wasn’t that the goal of “Seeing in the dark”? That must have been it. Her mind must have heard the commotion, and her imagination conjured the scene in her mind’s eye as the events took place. It’s that simple. It was just so odd that it felt like her fingers felt the object.

            That’s when she realized she was holding something in her hand. She slowly looked down. In her hand was a bright, round, fresh orange.