Pepsi

The room was suddenly filled with light and cool air, unlike where I just was, in the dark and warm. My mind raced as I tried to adjust myself to the atmosphere around me. My eyes wouldn't open. Why?

My back touched something soft, and I heard noises. Voices, I realized. Two men and a woman. My eyes opened slightly, to see a man in glasses looking at me. I didn't know what was going on, so I cried. Glasses Man picked me back up and brought me to the man and woman on the other side of... the room, I think it was called.

The woman was laying on a bed, while the man was constantly moving: sitting standing, fidgeting. I was still crying. The woman's eyes were leaking. Why were they doing that?

Glasses Man started to say something as this woman held me, but I heard something else. A beautiful voice whispered to me, sounding like silk.

Welcome to Earth, child, it said. Enjoy your world. Once you here your name, you will forget all of this, and learn like a regular child. I calmed down slightly, tuning into the others talking.

"What would you like to name your child?" Glasses Man said.

"Sarah," the woman said. I reached for her face with my tiny hand.

And just like that, came the start of my life. I forgot it all.

•••••••••••• ~ •••••••••••••

"SARAH LEE!" my mom screeched. I sighed, and walked downstairs and through the dining room and hall, into the kitchen.

"Yes?" I question, trying my hardest to mask my annoyance towards her crappy mood this afternoon. I pulled at my favorite skinny jeans, waiting for her response.

"Why are your shoes still on the floor?" she questioned.

"Because I put them there all the time when I get home since we have a shoe tray there." I said neutrally.

"We have people coming over! Take your shoes to your room!" she said. I picked them up and dragged myself all the way back upstairs to my room. Just wait, she'll want me to run and grab something from her car, and then I'll get yelled at for not having them downstairs.

I straightened my hair and quickly changed into my Thanksgiving attire. The sweater dress fell to my knees, and the black leggings that I wore underneath matched nicely with the black belt buckled across my waistline. I looked pretty good. If only my boyfriend Brandon were here.

Brandon was a grade above me, in 8th grade, while I'm in 7th. He was adorable, with his blond hair falling over his forehead. I loved the way his blue eyes sparkled whenever he hugged me. I wish he were here...

I heard my grandma's familiar high-pitched and nasal voice coming from downstairs. I quickly ran down to greet my family.

"Sarah! Happy Thanksgiving!" my grandma said as I walked into the kitchen. She engulfed me into a huge hug. Her shortness allowed my to almost fit my chin above her head. I laughed as my grandpa commented on how short she was.

"Sharon, grow a bit!" he said. She slapped his thigh. I took their coats up to my parent's bedroom. Walking all the way back down, my huge family has already flooded my house. I smile and hug everyone that I can get around to, and end up with a ginormous pile of coats. I trudge blindly up the steep stairs to plop the mound of clothing onto my parents' bed. I just hope it doesn't break.

I got a text as I checked in on my room to make sure that no little relative of mine had messed anything up yet.

*HAPPY THANKSGIVING!* it read. It was from my best friend Raelyn. Raelyn and I grew up together, and we're probably the craziest and loving best friends that you could ever know.

I smiled. *Right back at ya sista!* I sent back. My mom's voice floats up the stairs.

"Sarah, more coats!!!" she says. I groan and trudge to grab them. Today is going to be a long day.

"Thanks Sarah Bear! We will be eating in two minutes, so come down soon so we can pray." my mother says as she hands me a mountain of clothes that might touch the ceiling. I grunted in reply and used all of my strength just to make it up the stairs. I was halfway to my parents' room when the pile fell over. I just about was ready to throw the coats out the window.

Finally getting all of the coats to my parents' bed (which looks about ready to break in half), I thunder down the stairs to join my gigantic family in a prayer circle before eating. My family could be considered more religious than others, but personally I think that I'm probably the most religious of all of us.

My mom says a quick prayer over the food for starters, and then we started to go around the circle of people to see what everyone was thankful for. Many of my cousins and all of my younger brothers gave generic or kind of funny things, such as 'family' or 'video games'. Some of my aunts and uncles talked about their lives and their children or spouses.

"Sarah? What're you thankful for?" my aunt Tamara spoke as she stared into space. She, along with my aunt Theresa, uncle Anthony, and uncle Timothy is blind. My mom and aunt Alissa are the only two out of my mom's side who didn't go blind, or react to the Retinitis Pigmentosa gene.

"Well, I'm always very thankful for my family and friends, and for everything that God has granted us in life. This year, I'm especially thankful that I get to go to a conference in Green Bay in January with my church. It's called Districts 2013 (referring to the year), and I've hear many things about how life changing and fun it is!" I say. My family smiles and comments and then we move to my grandpa next to me.

"Well," he states. My cousin Lizzy looks at me and rolls her eyes while my dad and some of my uncles and aunts make snide remarks. My grandpa is prone to long lectures.

I smile back as Lizzy. Her full name is Elizabeth, but she doesn't like it. She's about 7 months older than me, her birthday landing in March, mine in October. Because of this, she is one grade above me. Her blonde, thin hair fits her face very nicely, with prominent cheekbones and a slightly angular nose. Her blue-green eyes are almost the same tone as mine, but my eyes are less gray than hers.

As the prayer, with a lecture included, wraps up, I can't help but to look at the mouth-watering food piled onto the kitchen counters. If I wasn't conscious enough, I might've drooled along the entire kitchen floor. Lizzy noticed my stare and nodded in agreement.

When my mother said Amen, it took all that was within me to not immediately rush over and eat everything that I saw. Lizzy caught up with me as we stood in front of the counters, piling food onto our big plates.

"Hun. Gry." she stated. I answered by eating a biscuit.

"So," she started as we walked into my dining room. "Districts? What's that?"

"Well, now that you asked," I started. She rolled her eyes. "What? I'm not going to lecture too long!" I scoffed. She elbowed me in the ribs.

We sat down. "Districts is a conference for teens," I started. "Churches from all over Wisconsin, and maybe Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan or Iowa, bring their middle school and high school youth groups to Green Bay for the first weekend in January. They hold concerts, karaoke nights, rallies, seminars, and loads of cool activities to do over the entire weekend. Everyone keeps telling me how fun it's going to be, I'm so excited!" Lizzy smiled.

"Well have fun! But, two things. First, boys are bad except for Dad. Second, never lecture that long again without taking a breath. We'll both pass out if you ever do that again." I laughed at her comment.

"Hey, less talking, more eating!" my grandma spoke as she walked by. Lizzy and I obliged.

Honestly, I was quite worried about the conference. What if we get lost? What if the church bus breaks down? Oh, shut up! I told myself. It's going to be amazing!