A haze filled the air, it was a warm summer day. I was awakened by the glistening sun rays that wrapped me so tightly in their heat. Shortly after I woke up, I was greeted by my mom and dad, smiling and happy as always; but I had noticed something very peculiar about my mother. She seemed uneasy, in a way I couldn’t put together. I didn’t pay much attention to it and shrugged it off. After eating a delicious breakfast, I took a shower, got ready, and went outside. I stepped out onto the porch and sat on the steps. The summer haze covered me in a blanket of warmth; I loved it. I loved summer, I loved Iowa, and I loved my life. I didn’t have a worry in the world. From the lush green grass that tickled my feet, to the clouds bouncing above my head, I was content. This was July 15, 2006. My father is a wonderful man, but he has flaws as everyone else does. With his jet-black hair, amazing smile, kind heart, jolly soul, and humor that could brighten up anyone’s day, he was my father. He had friends everywhere we went. On the other hand, with a temper as short as a wick on a firework and anger as powerful as a raging bull, he was Eddie Reyes. The few times that I’d seen him argue with my mom, I never thought of him as my dad. I always liked to believe that he was actually just another person. How could my loving, caring, funny dad be such an angry and spiteful person? What I believed or wanted to think wasn’t important at the time because my mom was done with him. She was packing up boxes of clothes inside the house and was getting ready to load them into our truck. She was leaving and intended to take me with her. I loved summer, I loved Iowa, and I loved my life There was shouting from inside the house, I knew my dad had blown up again, and he was making a grand scene. Through the large glass window, I had seen the other person, I had seen Eddie Reyes. His face a burning red, a flame. He was shouting at my mom, saying that she wouldn’t leave, that she would be back. Soon, he stopped, ran out of breath, I guess. Hesitantly, I reached toward the doorknob, afraid of what the future could possibly hold, but before I could get a hold of the doorknob, my mom charged though the front door with the boxes in her hands. She started loading up the truck with boxes, and it seemed as if I didn’t matter at the moment. I was just sitting on the porch watching, wondering what would happen to me when the dust settled. I wanted to talk to them, tell them to stop and apologize to each other, but I couldn’t; I didn’t have the courage. So I just sat there, as time moved so slow it almost froze. All I could do was wish, wish for a better day, wish it would all stop, or wish it was a bad dream; but all the wishing I had done, did nothing. The time had come where I had to make a choice. It felt like hours had passed. My mother came over to the steps, looked me in the eye, and formed as much of a smile as she could at the time. My father, who had been sitting on the couch in deep thought, rose up and walked out to the porch. You could feel the tension. The hate that was in his eyes was beyond scary. My mom took my hand and led me towards the truck. We got to the door, when suddenly, as if he just realized I was leaving, my father objected, saying that I should choose who I go with. My mother slowly and carefully thought it over, then asked me if I wanted to go to Chicago with her or stay here with Dad. Well, the obvious answer was my mom, but if you take away all the fighting and anger my dad had, he was the best dad ever. I was also scared if I didn’t pick Dad, would he get angry with me like he did my mother? My dad was smiling at me, my mom as well, and I didn’t know what to do. I was six years old and I had never made such a big decision. I chose my mom, my father’s eyes softened, his face flushed, and his smile turned into a quivering lip. He was hurt and disappointed, but not angry. I felt somewhat guilty, as I never wanted to hurt my dad, no matter how scared I was. My stomach in knots and my body shaking, I jumped into the truck. I said goodbye to my father, and my mom and I were off. It’s a three-hour drive from Iowa to Chicago. It was the longest trip of my life. I sat back and just watched as the green fields and blue skies slowly turned into city streets and tall buildings. I hadn’t slept the whole drive. I was too busy trying to figure out exactly what just happened. I knew my parents didn’t get along, but I figured they would stick it out and someday we would be happy again. But I guess things don’t always turn out like they do in movies; I learned that at an early age. The truck had stopped. I looked at where we were, and I recognized the house. It was my aunt’s house. It’s a cozy little place with a fence and park across the street. We were welcomed in, I reacted slowly and was still in shock but they didn’t seem to mind. My cousins and aunt were so friendly and kind that for a second I forgot the things that happened, and
Family
A Lesson at the Beach
Bella ran up the beach after me. “What’s wrong?” Underneath the fluffy white clouds that rested peacefully in the cheery blue sky, the waves pushed me and my boogie board in to shore. Riding the white water was better than anything I dreamed of doing this vacation. Since the moment I first splashed into the waves hours earlier, I hadn’t come out; there is nothing better than riding your boogie board on the waves with your cousins! Mom, Dad, and I always jump on any opportunity to escape from the seasonal sloppy-slop of Oregon. This time, we’d taken a trip to California to visit my cousins, Bella and Joey, and their parents, my uncle and aunt. On this late June afternoon, our gang had landed at the beach. When we arrived here, no worries were lurking about. It was just a gorgeous California day, and I was happy. Very happy. I would wait for the wave, rush toward the shore, come back out to the waves, and do it again. Bella, my nine-year-old cousin, wasn’t too far from me. Sometimes we would shout, “Ready… GO!” and we’d be riding the waves next to each other. I was having the best time ever. On my ten-millionth wave, I jumped on my boogie board at the perfect time, just in time for the perfect wave of this perfect day. White and bubbly, this was sure to be the wave of the week. I rose, higher and higher, and my smile was as big as the sun. Then, just as I was about to shout, “Whee!” I plummeted down. Uh oh. I squeezed my eyes shut, but even so I could feel the dark blueness around me, like a thunderstorm, like the nighttime rain that always wakes me up at midnight. But this time I wasn’t in my bed. The waves were rolling over me with a huge force, pulling me down into the rock-hard sand. Ow. And then, in addition to all that, I felt something slip off my wrist. Once the waves calmed down, I got up and opened my salty eyes. I looked at my right wrist, and a horrible feeling swept over me. Tears streaked down my face as I dragged my boogie board up the beach. I passed kids building sand castles and laughing. I passed people relaxing on beach chairs. How could anyone be so carefree? How could I have ever thought that the clouds looked fluffy? How could anything, even the sky, look cheery? The sand wriggled in between my toes, like it was trying to reassure me that it was OK. The afternoon heat warmed the back of my neck, and rays of sun wrapped around my body, trying to comfort me. But I didn’t feel any comfort. Bella ran up the beach after me. “What’s wrong?” I didn’t answer. I shook my head and plopped down on the hot sand. I had to admit that it felt so good compared to the cold, biting water. “Are you OK, Chloe?” Bella asked, sitting by me. I shook my head again. “Tell me, what is wrong?” I ignored my younger cousin and stared out at that awful ocean. I couldn’t believe what had happened. My face was hot with tears, and thinking about my bracelet made even more tears streak down my face. “Tell me, what is wrong,” Bella repeated, this time more of a command than a question. So I told her about my special bracelet that I was sure I had lost, the purple one that Nannie, our grandma, had given me. It was made of brightly colored hairbands that were braided together. I had been wearing it for months, and I wore it everywhere. To school. To dance practice. To bed. I never took the bracelet off. It was very special. “Hmmm.” Bella stared into the ocean, then hopped up onto her feet. “I’ll go look for it. Wanna help me?” I got up and followed her down toward that mean ocean, forgetting to be happy or thankful that she was helping me. I wanted my bracelet. We looked for the bracelet for a long time, walking up and down the beach. It was nowhere to be found. Bella and I were both sure that the bracelet had disappeared into the ocean, but I didn’t tell her because I didn’t want it to look like I was giving up, and Bella didn’t want to tell me because it might make me really sad. Bella’s younger brother, Joey, even came down to help us look, but the ocean had no doubt swallowed it. Eventually, I shook my head. Bella and Joey walked with me back to our campout, away from the dark, mean water. The waves chased after us and nipped at our heels like a playful puppy, but I didn’t want anything to do with the ocean ever again. In fact, I would never go in it again! Joey went back to playing, and Bella and I sat down on the sand. It was warm, warmer than the seawater. I began to scoop it up and bury my legs with it. It calmed me down a little bit. Bella said, “Will you be ready to boogie board soon?” “No,” I replied, halfway done with my right leg. “You can, but I don’t want to go in the ocean.” “Why not?” asked Bella. It would be silly to tell my cousin that I was afraid of the water because it was mean to me, so I just said, “Just a bit longer on the sand. Please?” I was done with my right leg, and onto my left. “Look, it is getting to be afternoon. More people are arriving, and the water is going to get too crowded to boogie board. Can we go out?” Bella asked me, with a pleading look on her face. “Not yet. The water is cold. The sand is warm.” I was done burying both my legs in sand.
Face Your Fears
Why were they leaving her? Where were they going? Katherine looked up into the smiling faces of her parents. Though they appeared to be cheerful on the outside, she could sense the worry that hung about their shoulders and the urgency in their movements. She watched as they put on long black overcoats and dark hats with brims that obscured their eyes. “Mommy, Daddy, where are you going?” Katherine asked anxiously. “To somewhere safe. Don’t worry, sweetheart, we’ll come back for you. I promise.” Her father hugged her tightly, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek in the process. “But why?” Katherine queried. She was confused. Why were they leaving her? Where were they going? “Honey, we cannot stay here, we must keep moving.” Katherine’s mother sighed heavily. “Everything will turn out all right.” Katherine watched as her parents ran off into the rainy night, droplets of water hitting their overcoats like shafts of silver arrows. When they were almost out of earshot, she heard her father call, “Take good care of baby Lily for us.” And then he rushed away, a dark shadow moving with expert stealth. Katherine felt a tear escape her eye and run down her cheek. She sniffled and looked at the sign on the door behind her: Mulberry Orphanage. She looked at her baby sister, asleep in a little bundle on the doorstep, unaware of the confusing world around her. Once again, she looked out into the night, hoping that her parents would return soon. She stood there for a long time, smelling the earthy aroma of storm, the noxious fume of gasoline, and listening to the rain beat out its arbitrary time signature on the roof. Finally, when it became clear that her parents were not returning anytime soon, Katherine curled up next to her sister and slowly, painfully, heart-wrenchingly, cried herself to sleep. * * * EIGHT YEARS LATER… Katherine awoke suddenly. Her body was tangled in her sheets and soaked in a cold sweat. The last few moments of her dream lingered fresh in her memory. She desperately wanted to see her parents again, but interacting with them in a recurring dream ad nauseam made her long for her life to return to the way it once was. “Kkkhhonkh.” Katherine looked over at the sleeping figure of her younger sister and smiled. Lily was sprawled across the bed, the blankets wrapped around her torso like a bedcover toga. Her long auburn hair was spread across her round face in knotted clumps, and her mouth was open, exposing a number of pearly white teeth. Katherine nearly giggled, but her face regained its now familiar solemnity when she thought of how innocent her once baby sister had looked, sleeping in that little bundle on the doorstep of the orphanage. Silently, Katherine stepped off the edge of the bed and stole carefully across the floor, trying not to make any noise. It reminded her of the times when she snuck out of bed to get some extra food for Lily from the orphanage pantry. She remembered how underfed the kids at the orphanage had been, each one subsisting on only a tiny bowl of porridge, a cup of chicken broth, and a few pieces of bread and cheese a day. It had been awful living in the orphanage. The director had been a cruel man. He had hated the kids; the only reason he had decided to run an orphanage in the first place was the prospect of money. He had been strict too, and punished the kids for no particular reason. The whole situation had been almost too horrible to endure. But Katherine and Lily had had to bear it… and for eight whole years they did, accumulating calluses all over their hands and feet and growing skinnier by the week. Each day had been the same: short, dull, and hazy. Work, study, eat, work, study, eat; that had been their life. But then there was the joyous day when a woman had come to the orphanage. And she was nice; very kind. Katherine had liked her… and she liked the woman even more when she decided to adopt Katherine and Lily. Now, Katherine quietly slipped out of her bedroom and into the living room. In the ghostly moonlight, she could see the faint outlines of the furniture. She tiptoed across the floor to the window, her nightgown ballooning about her knees. Silently, she eased open the creaky window, allowing the delicious nighttime scent to waft into the room. Outside, Katherine could see the lights of the city spread out in front of her like the bioluminescent scales of a fish. Each one glittered and sparkled, one infinitesimal spot of color in a gown encrusted with sequins. Beyond the city, Katherine could just make out the chain of mountains on the horizon, a jagged line frozen forever in a state of hazy evanescence. And beyond that, into the ebony heavens above, Katherine saw the stars, twinkling and shimmering, like their cousins, the lights of the city, reflected in a tranquil pond. “Oh, Mommy, Daddy, where are you?” Katherine asked aloud. “Why did you leave me?” Katherine thought of what her father had said: “We’ll come back for you. I promise.” Had he been making a promise he couldn’t keep? It was hard to know for sure. He had seemed so sincere, so honest. But no one was exactly the way they seemed. It was a hard mystery for Katherine to ponder, for deep down she wanted to believe that her parents had been good people, and yet she was shrouded in the gray veil of doubt. A single teardrop dribbled down Katherine’s cheek. “I wish things were simpler,” she whispered, more tears escaping from her eyes. “Oh, Katherine, don’t cry, everything is OK.” Katherine felt a warm hand on her wrist. She looked up, expecting to see Amber, the woman she and Lily now lived with. But no, it was her sister,
