It was a beautiful day.


After staying over at a friend's house she couldn't help but notice it. A few other friends had also been there and they had all hugged good-bye and said they couldn't wait to see each other Monday. The bonfire the night before had been a blast, with tons of jokes and laughter flying through the air. And after everyone had fallen asleep, the girl had a wonderful dream about her crush.

Driving home the girl was ecstatic. The sky was completely clear of clouds and a perfect blue. The trees were gold and red on a warm autumn morning. There were good songs on the radio and she sang along. Poorly, but she didn't care. She was happy. She looked at the world and thought, today is a good day.

When she got home it was quiet. She put the car keys on the counter and went upstairs.

“You were supposed to be here an hour ago.”

The girl turned around and faced her dad. “Sorry, no one set an alarm so we woke up at ten. I left as soon as I could.”

“Alright, that's fine. We'll just go to the afternoon mass. Did you have fun?”

“Yeah.” The girl turned away and went upstairs to put her things away. When she comes out of her room, she hears yelling. Her younger brother turns to her from his room and stares. He's smiling but looks nervous.

It's her dad and younger sister arguing. Again. She hears her name and guesses that her sister brought up the fact that she doesn't want to go to church again. The girl and her dad had fought over this already, she didn't need her sister to fight about it too. She goes downstairs and hears her sister tell her dad what she already knew. She doesn't want to live with him anymore. She wants to stay with their mom.

There is a lull, the eye of a storm.

The girl quickly leaves the house, she doesn't know what to do. Outside she sees her second younger sister. She is swinging happily on the swing set. Her sister smiles and waves. The girl smiles back and sits down by the playground.

She tries to think about what she should do. Her sister jumps off and sits next to her.

“Guess what I did?” she asks bursting with excitement.

“What did you do?” the girl replies with a smile.

“I caught Zapdos in my Pokemon game!”

“Oh, that's awesome. Which version were you playing?”

“Firered. I got it on my first try!”

“Very cool.”

The girl plucks some grass and starts braiding. The two sit in silence while she makes it into a ring and ties it around her finger.

“Look, I got married!” She jokes with her sister.

“Who did you get married to?”

“The grass.”

They sit together for a little longer until their dad comes up to them.

“Would you mind washing the dog for me? If you're busy that's fine, I'll do it myself.”

“I actually wanted to get to my homework soon, if that's alright.”

“Alright. Go get to work on that then.”

Her dad leaves and the girls go back inside. She goes to her room to get her homework together. She heads out and runs into her brother.

“If he asks, tell dad I went to the river to work on my homework.”

“Sure, whatever.”

The girl wrestles her bike out of the garage, adjusts her bag and pedals away.

At the river she finds her favorite hiding place. She parks her bike and drops her bag. Around her she can hear bugs whining. Every second or so a leaf falls into the dry carpet with a small sound of impact. When a breeze blows through it sounds like rain. Nearby a bird squeaks and in the distance crows produce their harsh caws.

She sits and thinks.

It was a beautiful day.