Crescent (Book 1)

+ 22 +

For one month out of the year, the sun would finally melt the snow in Bayport. School was usually out, and Rosie and I often spent the milder days sitting on the front porch. When Dad was at work and Mom was inside baking, I usually had a book in my lap and Rosie would pick flowers from the garden below the porch steps.

I remember one day in particular. It was the summer before senior year- the year that would change everything.

The sun was hot, rays beaming down and baking the dirt where Rosie sat by the sidewalk. She wore a pretty blue dress with stripes down the back, and a white ribbon dangled from her hair. Purple flowers were in full bloom in every yard. With a wad of them already in her hand, she plucked a few more before she came running up the steps to show me.

"They're big f-wowers," she said, and I glanced over the corner of my textbook to look at them.

I smiled, flipping the page and reading again. "They're pretty, Rosie."

She sat on the porch swing next to me, kicking her legs back and forth. "This one's red. Like a rose- like me!" She dropped the fistful of flowers into my lap, and I sighed as she grabbed my book and plopped herself into my lap instead. The smell of fresh blossoms filled my nose, and Rosie smiled as she wiggled around so her back was facing me. "I want them in my hair like last time!"

"Rosie-"

"Pwease, Brenna," she whined, lips puckering. She knew no one could resist the silly look on her face. So sad and teary eyed. "Pwetty please? Like a princess?"

My eyes found the flowers again, tiny iris-like blooms with full green stems. Among them, there was a single red poppy bloom, so at odds with the soft lilac petals that were normally in bloom. It would take forever to fashion them into a crown like I'd done for her once before, but if I twined the stems delicately enough, I could probably fit them around her little head.

"You want the poppy in your crown too?" I asked her as I gently tipped her head back, unknotting the white ribbon in her hair.

"What's a poppy?"

Her soft brown hair fell down her back, so long already, and I rubbed her head, teasing her. "The red one."

She nodded vigorously, singing. "I want it."

Rosie hummed as I looped the flowers together. She swung the porch swing back and forth gently as the day went on. Dinner was cooking in the kitchen and the sun was setting when I finally finished. The sky was bright red, bands of orange and blue now fading with the sunlight. Dad's car pulled into the driveway just as I set her down. "There. Now you have a princess crown."

"It's done?" she gasped, and her eyes lit up further when she saw Dad walking up the front porch steps. "Daddy! Look what Brenna did!"

She ran to greet him, and he hoisted her into his arms. "Well, look at you! Isn't that pretty?" She laughed as he kissed the side of her face and set her back down again. "Wanna go help mom set the table for dinner?"

"Yeah!" She skipped through the front door, and Dad climbed the steps and nodded his hello to me. He paused at the threshold, looking over the mess of flower stems discarded on the porch with my textbook.

His smile was pinched, tired from a long day of working, the gesture so foreign on his stern face. "She kept you busy?"

I attempted a smile back, but it fell flat. "I was tired of reading anyways."

He nodded, face falling back into the same countenance I knew. He looked toward the falling sun, toward the darkness settling faster now, and said as he shouldered through the door: "Better come inside soon. You know the rules."