Smile, The Worst Is Yet To Come :)

Chapter 1

"C'mon! Hurry up, slowpoke!" I looked up at Jenna's face, which had been created into a dark stilettos. The sun was behind her body, but she was on higher elevation, so the only light I could see came reflecting off her lovely flower dress. Her tiny body somehow was able to block a majority of the red sunlight shining down on us.

I laughed before sprinting up the steep hill in front of me. I went directly for her body, reaching my arms out to pick her up and spin her around. She giggled as I lifted her up into the air and spun her around. I then gently placed her back against the ground. I knew the spots that made her laugh and shriek, so I went straight for them. She let out a holler before rolling away from me.

"Ha. Now you can't catch me," she teased, sticking her tongue out. I sat down in the spot she'd been originally sitting in. I patted the grassy spot next to me.

"C'mon. The sun's about to go to bed," I said. She obeyed, galloping over to where I was at. She sat down next to me and we waited. The sun looked so bright red. It hurt my eyes, but Jenna was staring at it with wide eyes.

"Is this how all sunsets look like?"

"Yep."

"Wow. It's so beautiful."

"You need to get out more. Your generation is going to learn everything through a computer screen."

She scooted closer and rested her head against my shoulder. I condoned it.

"Did you hear Mommy and Daddy yelling at each other again?" I was silent. Yes I heard them. Of course I did. That was why she was here with me today. Some things are just not for kids to hear. I pulled her closer to me.

"Yeah. That's why I brought you out here today."

This was the third time this week. Their fights are growing more constant.

"Why do they fight?" her little voice questioned. I thought about what I'd say to her for a minute, maybe two. Cheating and adultery was one of the things I vowed never to talk to my 7-year old sister about. She wouldn't understand, and if she did, then it would create a conflict with our father that could never be resolved. I began to rock her back and forth.

"Don't mind them," I whispered. "They're just arguing over dumb stuff."

"Like over spilled milk?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Kind of like that."

"But why do they sometimes argue about you and me?"

I delved into my brain in search of the correct answer. "It's a bit more... complicated than spilled milk." Her hazel eyes were still on the bright red rim of the setting sun.

"But why do they argue about us?" The crickets nearby were awakening from their slumber. So were the toads. The moon came out from behind the clouds as I eyed the sun that was setting 50 million miles away.

Her questions were so precise, it scares me that one day the truth might accidentally slip out.

I pointed to the sun. "See that? The sun? The sun comes during the daytime and leaves at night. It's kind of like Mom and Dad. They have times where they love each other and times were they don't." She looked at me curiously. "But even though they go through all of those fights and arguments, they still love each other. And they always come back for each other. Just like how the sun always comes back to us."

"What if it's a rainy day?"

"The sun's still there, just that it's going to stay behind the clouds for a bit longer."

"Is it kinda like Mommy now?"

I slowly nodded. First two times it was me, then it was her. She saw her husband sleeping with another woman, and she cried all the way until there was nothing left to cry about. "Yeah." The sun had left us in the darkness, and she was my only source of light.