Okay, so you probably have some questions. Why was I such a miserable soul without a care in the world, never willing to put a smile on my face? Let me take you back twelve years in my life where tragedy began and all hopes of having the perfect life vanished.
"Guess who?" A voice whispered in my ear as two hands covered my eyes.
I grinned, "I dunno, but i betcha he's a jerk" was my reply.
"Hey!" He said, taking his hands off my eyes and placing them on his hips.
I turned around to see my best friend since birth wearing the ugliest hat I had ever seen. I literally fell on the floor from laughter. It was hot pink with blue stars, green dots and red triangles all over, and it stood about a foot above his head. Definitely not meant for someone who's seven years old and male!
Luke rolled his eyes. "Blame my sister." He said, "It was my birthday present. Speaking of which, aren't you forgetting something?"
I gasped. My laughter stopped abruptly as I recalled what day it was. September 11! Jumping to my feet, I threw my arms around him "Happy birthday!" I exclaimed.
He pulled away and grinned, "Thanks but no hugs! It's weird."
I laughed "let's go get some ice cream, loser."
"But your dad said he would pay!"
"I got money, he gave it to me before he left for his office. C'mon, race ya there!" I yelled, catching him off guard and taking the lead. Though it didn't take long for him to catch up and before I knew it, I was behind him by several steps.
We ran our little legs all the way to the ice cream shop, nearly getting hit by a pickup truck on the way. it was 8:30am, and not many people were walking around the big city yet. The ice cream store was almost empty, besides a couple of teenagers in a booth at the back.
"Hey kids! Kinda early in the morning for ice cream, isn't it?" Joey, the fat ice cream shop owner asked.
"Yup!" We said together. I got my vanilla, he got his cookie dough.
"An extra scoop for both of you since it's your birthday boy! How old are ya Lukey?" Joey grinned.
Luke scrunched up his face at the old nickname. I let out a giggle. "I'm seven, uncle Joey, and 'Lukey' sounds babyish!" Luke exclaimed.
Joey grinned and with a quick wave, headed to the back of the shop. We left shortly after to walk around the small town. After ten minutes of aimlessly walking, we sat down on some rocks by a large water fountain near the big park. The streets were getting noisier as New York City was waking up and everyone was trying to get to work on time. There was always so much to see in this city, that's what I loved about it.
"Hey Kezzy?" Luke asked, using the nickname I would only let him call me.
"Yep?" I asked, taking another lick of my ice cream.
"Uh, can we make a pinkie promise?" He asked shyly. My eyes widened as the corner of my lips lifted into a huge smile. Luke never came up with the promises, he just agreed to the ones that I had.
"'Course we can!" I exclaimed "What're we gunna promise on?"
"Well, promise we can always be friends forever? One day when we're old, we can still maybe be best friends?"
I grinned and nodded my head, pigtails flopping everywhere. We linked our pinkies together, and shook on it. "And no matter what happens you can't ever break that promise, k?" I said.
"Never ever!" Luke's grin was the biggest I had ever seen.
We finished our ice cream and started climbing a tree, Luke had a head start (as always).
"You'll never be as good as I am!" He laughed down at me. I was only a few branches below him. I gave my biggest, best glare.
"You meany! I'm better, you just always get to the tree first!"
He laughed harder and grabbed a hand full of leaves, letting them go so they fell all over my hair. "Stop! My mom did my hair all pretty for your birthday today!" I wiped the leaves off my pigtails.
We were interrupted by a lady screaming. Everyone walking passed us on the sidewalk looked super confused, or worried. A middle-aged lady yelled at us to go home immediately because something bad happened.
A big girl ran by crying.
"What's going on?!" I asked, scared out of my mind.
"I dunno, let's go home. Something super bad must've happened." Luke jumped off his branch in the tree, I followed right behind him. He grabbed my hand in his and started dragging me along behind him.
Luke barely even looks scared.. I thought He's the toughest boy I know, other then daddy. Plus, he's super fast at running. I realized, as I was panting already and he was hardly affected by the run.
"Get out of that building!" A lady with tears streaming down her face yelled into a phone booth near by.
"What building?" I asked Luke. He didn't answer.
