♰ᕈᒪᗩﬡTᓰﬡᘐ ᔕᙓᙓᖙᔕ

The Missing Piece of My Heart

It was 7:58. I'm going to be late! I grabbed my purse and book bag and rushed through the front doors of the school. I needed to get to the second floor for my creative writing class. People started to scatter the hallways when the minute bell came on.
"I can make it, I'm fine," I said under my breath as I ran up the stairs. I wouldn't have been so worried if it weren't for my teacher who is so strict about kids being late. Let me tell you about scary.
I went down the last hallway which seemed to be a mile long. I finally arrived and entered her classroom with my head down, trying avoid her presence. I made it safely to my seat and I let out a soft breath of relief. The final bell rang.
"Adrian, I'm glad you made it on time. I was about to count you a tardy," she looked up at me with her eyebrow raised and her spectacles down on the bridge of her large nose. I smiled weakly at her and I heard the class start to giggle.
     The morning announcements boomed on above us and we all pledged to the flag. The rest of the news were blurry, I rarely pay attention to them. However, I heard a piece of news that stood out to me. Tie-dying at 5:00, outside the art room on Friday. I wrote it down on my phone just in case.
     "Good morning everyone. I hope you had a great weekend," she said as she stood from her seat. Yeah my weekend was pretty great...besides the constant fighting between my psycho parents.
"You're going to write a full page journal. The question is up on the board. You have lots of time so go ahead and get started. If you get this done in class, no homework!"
     I love to write journal entries. It's why I'm taking this class. I plan on being a writer when I grow up and become an author and illustrator of my own books. It's always been a dream of mine.

     I looked up at the board to see what the topic is today. It said: Think of a favorite childhood memory and explain why you treasure it.

     Wow. Usually I'm really good at coming up with ideas quickly for each topic she writes on the board. But this one definitely took a lot of thought. I leaned back in my chair and started to think. My childhood is so hazy.
     I remember when I was eleven years old, me, my parents, and baby Hayes went on a family vacation to North Carolina. I remember it was the first time I've ever seen the ocean in real life. It was gorgeous just by itself. But with my family with me, it was even better. I went straight for the sand and it felt so hot and scorching but I really wanted to play in it. I decided to sit on my beach towel to start buildingI was building a sand castle while my mother was holding baby Hayes in her arms, relaxing on a beach towel under an umbrella. I smiled at the sight. I remember exactly what she looked like. She had on a straw hat to block out the sun on her face. She had a pretty sky blue one piece bathing suit on with ruffles. She had absolutely no makeup on but she didn't need it. She looked so youthful and beautiful. I always admired her. Her looks and her personality. I remember her smile that never disappeared that whole day. She's my hero.
My father, handsome as always, walked over to me and helped me build my sandcastle. "How about we make the largest sandcastle in history?" he asked looking at me with an energetic look on his face. I nodded excitedly and we quickly got to work. After an hour or so it was finished. It probably wasn't the largest castle ever built, but back then I thought it was a masterpiece. "We did it Adrian! I can see you being an amazing artist in the future," he smiled at me showing off his perfect smile. He picked me up and squeezed the heck out of me. "Ahh let go of me! You're hurting my ribs!" I yelled quite loudly but I couldn't help from laughing.
"But you're so cute I can't let go of you," he pouted at me. He started tickling my sides and it got so out of control we accidentally knocked over the sand castle. "Oops..." we both said together. "Ah! It's all your fault!" I shouted at him as I threw some sand at him. We both started to laugh and it turned into a sand fight. I could hear my mother's adorable laugh as I was obviously winning the sand fight. Oh how amazing that day was for me. I treasure it because it was just me and my family and no one else mattered. We could be funny and have a great time and we didn't care what people thought. I love those days because...we never have them anymore.