The Cherry Trees

Chapter Six: 2013

There was a long pause after she said Elizabeth's name. It told me that whatever she was about to say next would pain her. The walls of the clubhouse groaned as the wind blew, and it seemed that they were going to cave in, but when the wind let up, they withstood. Lexi took a sharp, shallow breath, and then spoke slowly and quietly.

"Elizabeth, or Bo, as we all called her, was a junior in highschool. She was my only sister, and as you can imagine, I was very close to her. She was always looking out for me. Anyways, a few years ago on a day like this, when school was out and it was snowing, she said she wanted to take me to the coffee street on the corner for some hot chocolate. SInce the road wasn't busy because of the ice, my mom said it was okay, so we walked up, and got our drinks without any problems."

Lexi went silent, and then she continued after a minute or so with tears in her eyes.

"On our way home, we were laughing about something, I can't remember, and then I heard a car coming at us. I turned around, and I saw it slipping on the ice. It couldn't slow down, so it swerved to avoid hitting us. the car went head on into the other lane, but another car was coming, so it swerved right back towards us. Elizabeth pushed me so I wouldn't get hit, and I looked up right in time to see the car smash into her. I watched my own sister die."

I wasn't sure what to say to this. I never imagined that Lexi had this held up inside of her.

She spoke again, her voice thickened, " I watched her die. Right in front of me. Her birthday was only a few months ago, in January. She would have been 20 years old. Anyways, after she died, my parents started arguing, and my dad blamed her death on my mom, saying that if she hadn't let us go in the first place, this would have never happened. My brother moved out to live with his friend until he went off to college. I rarely ever see him anymore, except for on my birthday. When she died, my whole family fell apart, and now it is just me who remembers her. Everybody else tries to forget. That's why I put a bunch of flowers in the clubhouse, so that my mom wouldn't see."

She bowed her head, and I saw tears drop onto the floor, freezing at the touch of the wood. I didn't say anything, but I moved closer to Lexi, and wrapped a blanket around her. She put her head on my shoulder and started to cry, and I just sat there letting her weep all of her saddness out, forgetting about my earlier excitement about the snow.