Tears of Autumn

Chapter 2: Amber Selene

Ms. Harmony watched as the bus was growing farther away.

"Amber!" she called.

Amber rushed to her call. Her hair whisking up and down from her movement. She came next to her and asked,

"Yes? Is something wrong? Who is that girl?"

"Calm your horses, the girl's name is Layla. And like you, she needs someone to be around. I won't be here forever; my time is nearly at its course. I worry for that girl as I do you." She explained giving a concerned look.

Amber knew what she was pointing at. She wanted her to be close to Layla but can she, do it? She can barely contain her own anxiety and thoughts.

"Ms. Harmony- "

"Please, call me Aleena" Ms. Harmony corrected.

"Sorry, Aleena. I don't know if having two people with similar symptoms is such a good idea. I've never been capable of managing and keeping friends let alone my family. I'm terrified that it will be like every other 'friendship' I've attempted." She cried.

Aleena looked at her. She knew getting her to see that there was more to her life then tragedy was going to be an uneasy task.

"Amber, there's more to life than what you've gone through..."

At that moment, Amber's face turned cherry red and her thoughts consumed with fury. She remembered every moment of rejection she felt, her loneliness, her anger. The rush of fire ignited her heart and tears began to fall from her hazel eyes.

"You're wrong! All I ever felt these last three years was loss and rejection! I've been tossed from one orphanage to another like a little book that no library wants to store!" Amber blurted in a loud voice.

Before the elderly woman could say anything to extinguish her fire, she ran into the barn, quickly went to her room, and closed the door.

Her tears were growing more intense. She grabbed her stuffed panda bear and threw it at the mirror. The looking glass cracked a little. Before she knew it, she was having a mental breakdown.

"Why can't I just have a normal life?" She asked herself even though the answer was clear.

Her calming peppermints were on her desk for whenever she was feeling infuriated. They were in a heart-shaped jar with a cork on top and there was a message.

"For the times that your 'dragon breath' needs a calming mint" The parchment said.

Amber was humored. She ate one and began reading a book titled "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.

Aleena sighed to herself. This was going to be a challenge but she wasn't going to give up like everyone else who was close to her.

An hour later, she came to her room, and knocked the door. She didn't hear any noises hinting that everything was calm.

"Come in!" Amber accepted.

Aleena opened the wooden door.

"Amber, I'm sorry about earlier. You know I want you to live a better life than what you've endured."

"I know. I shouldn't have yelled at you but I couldn't control it" Amber said to her.

"Do you want to meet Layla?" Aleena asked.

Amber wanted to say yes but her phobia of meeting people made her nauseous.

"I'll try" She spit out.

"Please do, it will really be worth it." Aleena begged.

"I need to do some house work or chores as some call it. Let me know if you need anything!"

She departed the room leaving Amber alone.

She pondered to herself thinking about her other life. Not the pain from her troubled past but before that. The feeling of her mother's warm embrace and her lullabies and songs. Before her father passed, he was a damn good baker and cook. She remembered when it was the season of autumn, that's when he'd gather fresh maple syrup, and make his special Maple Hot Coco. It was a sweet warm chocolate milk flavored with pumpkin spice and maple topped with whipped cream. They'd drink it together outside in the backyard then play in the leaf piles and go on a nature hike.

She looked at the picture of them all together during one of those times.

Her mother with the same hazel eyes, long silky ginger hair, and was wearing a sweater she made for herself and her father, with his gracious evergreen eyes that sparkled in the light and his wild curly brown hair that screams for attention. Oh yes, she remembered those days. The memory brought droplets down her cheeks.

"Oh, how we'd love the autumn." Amber said to herself.

"Father, I am going to be strong. And do what you couldn't bear to do. I promise that I will try to be better. I promise I will try and face my problems and not seek the easy way out like you did." She prayed to herself and to her parents.

She grabbed the stuffed panda bear her mother gave her when she was seven for Christmas. It was her comfort object and it smelled of cinnamon. Her favorite scent. The panda had large glittery crimson pupils that somehow brought a sense of peace to her. She had named the fluffy toy, "Ruby."

Any shade of red, orange, or yellow would strongly appeal to Amber.

Shelaid down on her bed and continued to read her book, awaiting Layla's visit.