Perfect

Chapter 1

It was officially summer. The first night of summer. The skies of blue gave in the the darkness of it's later hours, the clouds faded to stars that twinkled like a head light being seen through the trees in the woods, and the sun had ended it's shift, the moon checked in, in the shape of a beautiful crescent.  

I sat seemingly alone on the now cold metal of the playscape; children's laughter haunted the now quiet play ground. Cricket's sang their sweet summer song, syncing my mind into a much more relaxed state; a state deep enough to forget the presence of two other breathing life forms.  

I hummed the melody of the childhood favorite song, You Are My Sunshine, remembering happier times when my mother would sing me to sleep with this exact song. In my hands I spun a dying daisy, spinning it in between the pads of my thumb and index finger. Daisy's oh how lovely they were, lovely like I wanted to be. Their stems thin, with perfectly white pedals, a yellow center of happiness holding the pedals in a nearly perfectly sorted order.  

"You do know that song is about somebody being cheated on, correct?" Starlene's soft smooth voice awoke me from my state of mind that had set sail on such calm seas.  

I detached my eyes from the flower, searching in the darkness, until I discovered her blue eyes that seemed to shimmer under the moonlight. Any normal fool on the street could refer to Starlene as a daisy, but I knew much better than to think that of her. The darkness made it hard for me to shoot her an intimidating cold stare. Her brunette hair pulled back in a perfectly messy pony tail, as she leaned back into the comfort of her loved one's arms. From this perspective Starlene was a daisy, she was utterly stunning, everything I wished to be and more; an ember of a flame that was lit years ago still burns with jealousy in my heart.  

"Well life cheated me." I said coldly, finally returning my gaze back to the daisy I held captive between my finger and thumb.  

She scoffed, "You're not the only one Bren."  

I knew she was right, I wasn't the only one. The group of people I surrounded myself with were all cheated by life. Starlene, Joan, and Gage. We all were fucked over, life giving us the cold bitter shoulder. 

Joan had remained quiet up until now, "If I knew how badly life was gonna fuck me over, I would've fucking ran a long time ago." He muttered.

I didn't look up at the sound of his voice, nor did I reply, Starlene beat me to that, "Then you would've never met me." She said softly in a playful pout, as the sound of their lips clashing played into the night I was left in an awkward position keeping my stare on the daisy.

I sighed, "I would run away right now if I was given the chance." I murmured , thinking my words would be a soliloquy. I was mistaken.

"What are you talking about B?," Joan's voice let me know my words were heard. "You're given the chance to run away whenever the fuck you want!"

I looked up from my daisy, Starlene leaned against Joan's shoulder she mumbled, "Hell I would do it."

"Not alone, I couldn't do it alone." I confessed.

"You wouldn't do it alone, dumb ass." Joan said, surprising Star when he stood up. "We would all do it together..." He looked down, for a moment offering Star a hand, "The three of us and Gage of course."

"We never would--" I began to disagree but I was cut off.

"Quit being so god damn negative. Of course we could!" Joan proclaimed into the night, confidence in his words.

"Not like any of our folks would give two shits if we didn't come home tonight, or the next night, or a week from now, a month from now. They probably wouldn't notice." Starlene said flatly, I knew she was right, she was always right. Our parents wouldn't care. Why would they? When else do they?

The couple jumped off the foot and a half tall metal structure together.

"Where are you guys going?" I asked, finding my heart racing just a beat faster.

"To get Gage and pack our bags." Joan answered for the both of them. 

"What?" Star and I asked, nearly in sync. 

"We're running. You got quite the noggin Bren." Joan said, the moon light illuminating his white tooth grin.

The idea was a ripe apple in my mind, crisply dangerous and rebellious. Excitement mixed with adrenaline sparked at my toes and tips of my fingers. I jumped to my feet.  

"Why thank you." I accepted the compliment with a smirk.  

"Are you sure about this?" Starlene questioned our idea with caution. 

"Of course babe, I'll be with you. Nobody can hurt you anymore if you run." Joan nearly promised, leaning down with a kiss to seal the idea.  

"Okay..." She said cautiously, giving in to the rebellious idea.  

"Well then let's go!" I grinned, throwing the daisy to the cold metal of the playscape.