Dancing with the Red Shoes

Once upon a time, on a bright sunny day, there was a pleasant home in the nice Auburn neighborhood. Each neighbor has a garden, statues, trees, bird feeders, and strange, but colorful mailboxes like one is a castle, one is a rocket ship, and one is a school bus. In this modern world, there was a young girl named Karen who lived in a two-story white and black house filled with tulips, daisies, and hydrangeas. She lives with her single mother who was a fashion designer. Karen was a ballet student. She was passionate about dancing and theater ever since she was a baby. She loves different kinds of dance. She loves theater. She loves wearing makeup. She loves to dress up in costumes. And, she loves movies.

There was one thing that nobody knew about her. Karen was also a fanatic with shoes! Yes! Karen loves shoes. Lots of shoes! She's been obsessed with shoes since she was a toddler. Her first shoes sparkled like stars and red was like a pure bright lipstick that her mother and her aunt wore.

Then, a neighbor from the next door, who was a shoemaker, brought a present to Karen to congratulate her on the ballet class. They were nice maroon-red ankle boots known as ‘booties’. Karen loves it! The Shoemaker was so grateful. It was also her early birthday present. Karen will never let it go. She wears it to school, to the store, to road trips, to movies—anywhere!

One day, Karen got home from school and ballet practice. She also got an invitation to the school dance this week. Then, she saw her mother looked very ill. Karen was devastated. She called the number and took them to the clinic. At the clinic, it turned out that her mother's illness seemed to be getting worse. Karen stayed with her mom in the room for a few days to look after her, even the nurses helped her out. One week later, the treatment did not go well. Her mother's last words to Karen— ‘you don't have to do it for me.. But do it for YOU..follow your dreams..you can do this.’ Just like that, her mother was rested, smiling.

The next morning, She was gone.

It crushed Karen’s heart.

It was very devastating how Karen worked very hard with her mother since her childhood. At the funeral, Karen felt so lost and she couldn't understand why this happened. Karen felt so lonely. She has no one who could reach out to except her aunt. Her aunt was like a second mother to Karen, although her aunt was quite wealthy, spoiled her, and was also a dancer. She and her aunt were on the phone for hours about Karen’s hopes, values, and future.

Weeks later, Karen moved in with her aunt. It was still a couple of miles away from Karen’s school. After that, Karen kept focusing on her homework from school and her ballet routines. At that moment, Her aunt thought about going shopping together. Her aunt knows that Karen loves to shop so it will make her happy. Karen smiled and accepted.

While they were at the outlet mall, they talked a lot of steps to find something that Karen would like something to wear during her school time. First, she got some new tops and a shirt dress. Then, Karen saw something on the window display. She found glorious red shoes. Karen thought she could try it on. She and her aunt realized that those were the dancing shoes. She can tap, twirl, and make some moves. She loves it! So, they bought it.

Later that evening, Karen tried to put it on. She turns on some music. She began to dance. She tip-toes. She twirls. She grooves. She dances, and dances, and dances, and dances. Karen couldn't stop dancing for minutes to hours. Suddenly, Karen felt exhausted. She needs some rest.

The next morning, thank goodness it was no school day and a ballet class. Karen overslept. But at least she needs some time. Karen thought about watching some dancing videos on Youtube and studying them for the next moves. But first, she has to eat something. After breakfast minutes later, Karen decided to dance more and learn new moves with her new red shoes. She kept focusing on the dancer that she dreamed of.

Suddenly, she heard something. It was her aunt, coughing. A really bad, nasty cough. Karen finally knew something just hit her and what happened to her mother. It's happening again. Karen was scared. She decided to watch her aunt during the weekend. Karen was worried that she won't be able to succeed in anything if she’ll lose another family member and will not graduate.

Then, Her aunt was resting, but sleeping.

Karen got an idea! A huge idea!

She thought she could do the dance viral challenge for awareness after her mother’s and her aunt's illness.

Before the dance went viral, Karen made a video message online to help raise awareness about the mysterious illness and raise charity. First, she introduced herself. Then, she explains why she was doing—doing a dancing viral to reach awareness for both of her mother’s and aunt's illnesses.Karen seemed nervous. She took a deep breath, in and out. The music starts. The video begins on the live web. Karen begins to dance. She dances! She dances each move and music from one to another. Every minute. Then, hours later, Karen stops. It has already reached 5k supporters for the charity. Karen was pleased and shocked at the same time. She is also thankful for her new red shoes.

The next morning, her aunt is still ill. Karen has begun to feel overwhelmed and flustered between her personal life and her passion. Things are beginning to fall apart. Karen began to do another dance viral live to reach more awareness. She couldn't stop. She will not stop until she reaches over a million supporters. She kept thinking about dancing and dreamed of becoming an amazing dancer. A few days go by, her schoolwork has begun a big struggle. She also felt sore after too many dancing exercises, losing her concentration, and feeling stressed day after day. Her aunt’s illness had become worse than before, and the reality turned into a nightmare.

Karen woke up! It was all a dream. Karen thought about her aunt. She went down the stairs. Her aunt was feeling better. Karen was glad. They hugged together so they danced together for fun as they did before in the past.