Memories
She lay in the lush green grass of her ranch's field, the jade strands whispering softly in her ears as the wind blew them gently. Her beautiful, orange-blonde hair spread out around her pale face, with the warm spring sun streaming down on it, her deep blue eyes closed while in thought, daydreaming of events long ago. It was break time, how many of them had she spent this way? Thinking of him. It was getting close to that time again. Summer. It would be her nineteenth birthday soon, ten years since he had left. What would he look like now? He had been such a cute little boy. Very adventurous, with brown, caring eyes sparked with life, and short brown hair, always covered by a baseball cap. She chuckled thinking about how obsessed he had been with keeping that hat. She always tried to get it away from him, but he'd wrestle it back.
He first came into her life shortly after her mother died when she was only four years old. Her mother, Ariel, had passed in early spring from sickness. Life was difficult after that. Her father was so mournful, and had become stern and bitter, always looking at his daughter with sadness seeing the resemblance, and wanting desperately for his wife to magically come back through the front door. He couldn't raise their beautiful children himself. She had always felt guilty as a child thinking as children do, that she was the cause of his problems and pain. She spent most of her days outside with the barn animals or away from home, just so she wouldn't make him upset. She realized now that she had been foolish, but she could still see that wistful look in his eyes, especially on overcast, depressing days. And it broke her heart.
Her brother, older than her by two years, had also changed. He used to play with her, and make her smile, but he became withdrawn, and at first would not talk at all, to anyone. After time passed he did begin to acknowledge his family again, she new he cared deeply for her, he was so protective. Still he was never the same.
Her thoughts drifted back to the little boy, the rainbow and sunshine in the most down beat part of her life. Aden. The first time she had met him, he was visiting at his grandfather's. He owned the farm next door to their ranch. She was doing an errand for her father, delivering grass because, Kirk, Aden's grandfather, had a late start growing his own grass fields and didn't have enough for the cattle. She was running, trying to do the job as fast as possible to try and make her dad happy, but she was too little to see properly over the bundles of hay in her arms. As soon as she entered the farm, BAM! They had run into each other and fell to the ground, hay going everywhere.
She remembered that she had been dazed, wondering what was going on, while Aden had already gotten to his feet and was offering her his dirt smudged hand. She didn't know whether to be angry or to cry, she had messed up her father's task. She had just decided on angry, but then she saw his smiling face and he was apologizing, still holding his hand out to help her up. She took it and they introduced themselves to each other. It was the start of a wonderful friendship. He helped her pick up all the hay, and they gave it to Kirk. He invited her to stay for a while, saying Aden needed some friends, and they spent their first day together on the farm.
Kirk spent his day busily working at chores, while she showed Aden a few things about the animals at the farm. She had some riding experience and taught him about horses, then they chased the chickens, and played with the dog.
Every fall he left promising he would return in the summer. As soon as spring rolled around she was always eager for his upcoming visit. They had spent so many days together. Climbing the mountains, naming and pointing out animals, helping out with the chores at Kirk's farm and spending the festivals together. The Beach festival always ended with a water fight and them keeling over with laughter.
The last summer that he came to visit, they decided to make a treasure map and bury and old music box Aden's grandfather had given him. She loved the soft, flowing music it played, although to her dismay, she could now barely remember the tune. She couldn't even remember where it was buried. He had taken the map saying he was going to hide it somewhere special and they would dig it up in a couple summers.
He never came back.
The first summer that he didn't return, she cried. She had cried for days. He was the only thing she looked forward to the whole year. She had gone to ask Kirk if he was ok and why he hadn't come, but he didn't know. He looked at her tear stained face, with pain. He was practically a father to her now.
Every summer after that she hoped he would walk onto their ranch, but by the time she had turned fifteen. The hope had disappeared. She never went to Kirk's farm anymore. It made her depressed. A silent tear made its way down her cheek, when she heard her brother call out her name. Break time was over. She quickly brushed away the tear, hoping he wasn't coming to meet her, tied her long hair back into its braid and made a cheery face as she ran over to help him.
