The Long Journey of Emily B. Harthwan

Ripples In the Pond

It was so bright it was blinding. It was like walking into heaven's light. The sun burned my skin, I thought I was going to shrivel up. The heat and the light was almost too much for me to handle. After a minute of being blind, I saw something I thought was gone for sure. The pond. My brother and I used to throw pebbles into that pond to see who could make the biggest ripple. "I bet mine will be bigger." he used to taunt. I felt then coming again. Tears. But for the first time in forever, they were tears of joy. I threw a pebble into the pond. The ripples were the biggest I've ever seen. "I think that was the biggest yet." I whispered to the sky.

I sat under the pine tree (we named it Susan) and wrote down my new song lyrics.
Turn around I'm waiting for you
The sky's have opened up for me
But all I want is your love.
My parents never supported me in a music career, but my brother always told me, "If you really want it, you can achieve it." I live by most of his quotes now.

Suddenly, a baseball came soaring towards my head! I ducked just in time. I guess we must've gotten new neighbors. "Sorry!" Someone shouted over the fence. It was a guy. Of course it was! I haven't shown my face to someone outside of my family in years. I was like a dear in headlights. "Um...can you give it back?" He said, bringing me back to earth. "Uh, yeah." I said in a small voice. I grabbed his ball out of the pond and went up to the fence to give it to him. but he didn't take it. "Hello?!" He shouted in my face. "I'm right. Here" I said wincing. I looked into his eyes, and saw that they looked more like smoky glass. Then I realized. He was blind.