Beach Night

I sit while the blazing heat from the fire battles the salty wet winds from the ocean. I take a sip from my cold coca-cola bottle and look up and the quintillions of stars in the bright blanket that is the sky. The sand is soft in my fingers and the music thumping out of the van next to me mixes with the sound of the water lapping up to the beach and back again, over and over. I breathe in the happy union of the scents of the bonfire and salt water. My hair flows in the breeze, messing it up as it tugs at my clothes, but I couldn't care less. I was happy. I knew that the members of my family that God had taken to join him before me were beside me, their ashes in the ocean. The distorted reflection of the moon on the water moved with every wave, comforting in my bittersweet happiness. I took another sip of the Carmel colored liquid in my hand and enjoyed every second of it. I sat and stared at the water and wondered why I couldn't stay like this forever, why I couldn't stay in my comfort and safety instead of growing up and facing life. Why couldn't I stay and keep being a happy child?