The Ecstatic Life Of Sofia

Chapter Two: The Bench and Changes

Sofia arrived at the small hidden park several towns over and glanced at her phone, 30 minutes until class would start again. She walked through the trees that hid the park from sight and arrived to the desolate place. No one knew about this place, at least no one she knew of. It didn't have toys for kids but it had a small pond and a bench hidden in the shade of all the trees and it was her favorite place to come to be alone and think.

She sat on that bench for awhile staring at the pond as turtles and small fish poked above the surface of the water. She thought of Santino and how she would face him after the rude way she had rejected him. She thought of the future and how it would play out. And at long last thought of where her life was now and why she still wasn't happy even after all she had done to change herself into someone who could be happy. How still after all she had done, something was missing, a key part of happiness.

At last, Sofia stood and left the hidden wonder, heading back to her car. She looked at her phone and saw that she had been at this spot almost two hours. She slammed her hands on the steering wheel. She drove home and called in for herself saying she had a doctors appointment right after lunch. She went upstairs and laid down to rest.

She woke the next morning and glanced at the clock surprised she had managed to sleep so long she had arrived home at 2 the previous afternoon and slept until 6 this morning. She got up and dressed to jog. It had been months since she had jogged early in the morning, at this point she did most of her exercise in the gym and on the soccer field. However, today she got up and ran and ran and lost track of time it was 7:20 by the time she stopped herself in front of her house. She hurried to school and slipped into the seat of her Literature class just as the bell rung.

Weeks went by, following the same old drab routine they always had. Sofia slowly withdrew into herself and away from her friends. She spent the majority of her time sitting and listening to her music. Outside of school and away from her friends and family, when she was by herself, that was when she was herself. The person that she had always wanted to be. She and Santino actually became friends, and although she made it clear she held no feelings for him other than friendship, his eyes followed her like windows into the heart showing all of his feelings for her to anyone who looked at him.

One morning Sofia awoke feeling as she did every morning full of energy but somehow fatigued as well. She went for her jog and arrived back at her house at 6:00. She grabbed the mail and glanced over it as she headed inside. She saw a yellow packet from the school addressed to her.