Found her

Chapter 1 | Vanilla is better!

S A D I E

It never goes away, the guilt you feel after losing someone.

Survivor's guilt, they call it.

The constant, nagging feeling of betrayal filling your insides.

The voice in your head that says over and over again.

It's your fault.

It's your fault.

It's your fault.

I close my eyes.

I'm not doing this right now.

'Sadie!' My mother calls from downstairs. 'Breakfast!'

'Coming, Mom!' I call back in a melodic voice. I pack the last of my books into my bag. I walk out of my room, purposely ignoring the door right in front of mine. I drop my bag at the bottom of the stairs.

I walk towards the kitchen where Mom was cooking breakfast, humming a familiar tune under her breath.

'Morning, sweetheart.' She gives me a wide smile. 'First day, big deal, huh?' She drops a plate stacked with pancakes infront of me.

I shrug.

'Fresh start. New year to get a clean row of A's. Hm?' Dad continues, earning an elbow to the side from Mom.

I continue to nod and shrug. At the moment, those the only gestures I can bring myself to do. I just stuff my face with pancakes.

As soon as I'm done. I put on my converse, and send my best friend, Jaxon, a quick text.

Me: I'm done. Meet you by our tree?

He sent back a quick 'okay' and I leave the house.

'I'm leaving, 'bye!'

'Bye! STUDY HARD!' My father calls back. I groan in return, loudly.

'What's that?' My Dad asks, poking his head out of the kitchen.

'Nothing...nothing...' I reply, I shut the door behind me.

I sigh, taking a deep breath. I walk through the cobblestone streets, of Beverly Hills. Brick houses line either side of the street, with their tiny gardens with white fences and white gates. My house was one of the many brick houses in my neighborhood, though quite larger. I pick a jasmine from one of the trees on the edge of the street and put it in my hair.

'There comes the light of my life!' Jaxon calls, as soon as I reach our tree. I roll my eyes at him.

We planted our tree in Beverly Gardens Park a long time ago. A large chestnut tree, we planted it as a seed, and now, almost a decade later, a large tree. We even named it Penny.

And carved on Penny's bark,

Sadie Grace Parker & Jaxon Miles Williams
Forever besties!

Cheesy. I know. But hey, we were kids.

'Took you long enough, me and Penny were just discussing your lateness." Jaxon pats Penny's bark and I smile. 'Let me guess, your Dad opened a discussion about grades?"

'Almost, but let's go, we'll be late,' I loop my hand through his and we walk to school.

***

'The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water, is-' Our science teacher asks.

'Photosynthesis.' I call back lazily.

'Good job, Miss. Parker.' He smiles at me and I raise my eyebrows at him.