The New Light of Hope: Books I to VI.

Chapter V: Scarlett.

Sadie:

Date: June 5th, 2020.

One day, I decided that I wanted to be alone for a while and just escape reality for just a bit without anyone following me around or anything like that in which my family respected. So, I left by myself and decided to head to an untouched area in the park where me, my sister, and our friends used to meet up before... all of this mess took place and ruined our lives as we knew it.
Once I went deeper into the untouched, unexplored area of the park, I just sat down and breathed in and out slowly and thought back to a time when my family and I used to go camping during the summertime; it was something we enjoyed doing the most before the virus hit and made our lives a living hell and made everyone miserable at that. Why did this have to happen? Why did it even happen? What went wrong? Why should my family and I be locked up in a dungeon and go insane just because of some stupid virus? Why--

"Hello." My thoughts came to a stop when I heard a voice of someone greeting me. I looked to see who it was that had spoken to me; it was a very pretty, slender Arctic vixen mix with light gray, almost white fur, red splotches on her face and all over her body, red tipped ears, a red tail with the same light gray color at the end of it, dark red hair, and ice blue eyes; she wore a lavender purple shirt that had blue morning glories on it, black overalls, black shoes, and a braclet that had different flowers on it. I was... flustered? I've never felt this way before, but I decided to answer her without asking myself anymore questions about the situation. "H-hi." I sheepishly replied. Why am I feeling shy all of a sudden? I've never felt and spoke this way before except for when I was young, of course, but that is a different story for another time. "What are you doing all the way out here?" She asked me. At first, there was no response given until I said: "To get out of my house and just think about a memory I love the most; a memory that was made before all of this."

"I understand how you feel." She replied as she sat down next to me. "I know we're not the only ones who wants to think about their favorite memory that they made befoe any of this happened. Trust me, my older brother thinks the same thing; he went to see a Manga Convention with his girlfriend in 2019 before any of this happened, now all they do is just talk to each other on the phone or when they're playing video games and sometimes my sister and I usually join in on their little online talks or dates. And he's still living in our house when he had everything planned out and then 2020 came and soiled his plans."

Sadie: "I'm sorry to hear that. It must be really hard for him."

Vixen: "It is."

She stopped and then said: "My name is Scarlett Cromwell, in case you're wondering."

"Sadie Collymore." I replied, we then shook hands even though we weren't supposed to. But to hell with it, we did it anyway! And who even cares? No one!

I then looked at her shirt and said: "I noticed that the shirt you're currently wearing has blue morning glories on it."

Scarlett: "Oh, you did?"

Sadie: "Of course I did."

Scarlett: "Thanks. It's one of my favorite shirts to wear. I love flowers. Did you know that the morning glory has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries?"

Sadie: "Oh, really?"

Scarlett: "Yeah! The flower is believed to have cooling properties and is often used to reduce inflammation and ease gastrointestinal issues."

Sadie: "Well, I'll be. But why is it even called morning glory?"

Scarlett: "Well, some theories suggest that the flower opens up in response to sunlight being present."