One Step Backwards

Chapter 2

 I was laying on my white and yellow bed. It was a simple oak wood, painted a cherry blossom colour for the borders. My gramps made it for me. He said 'Kiara you are gifted with a gift nobody sees, but one day one of your loved ones will understand, that you my dear are special, listen now.'

My dear.

My dear.

I repeated that word. As if it was the last thing gramps had said. I missed him so painfully. He told me so much. But all I really remember is my 'dear', as I smiled. I looked at the clock set on my dusty brown desk. It read 4:26 pm. Mom mentioned some kind of family discussion earlier. Since when do we have family discussions? I thought about why it was so important. Maybe something happened to Ashton, his parents are really good friends with my parents. The first time me and Ashton met was when we were ten years old. It was after school, in a place where I called it 'magical.' It was at least an hour away from home and school. I usually walked there to clear my mind, to be refreshed. To take a breath and say 'this will be over soon.'

It was a meadow, that nobody knows about. It was hidden behind large burly trees, unknown and unseen. The place is quite magical; grassy green covered every inch of the meadow. Large, beautiful daisies sprouted from the grass, standing high at your knees. They didn't entirely cover the meadow, only some areas where you can sit or lay on the soft grass. Some lavenders were mixed with the wonderful daisies, contrasting from the white and the green. But at the furthest part of the meadow, there grew a tree. It was the heart of the meadow.

The tree was a peach blossom, having grown some peaches on its leaves from how elderly the tree is. The peach tree was huge; it's leaves were almost as large as a car, showing it's leaves with proudness and confidently. Some gossip about the flowers curing diseases that no doctor can, but it's just old women's folk story. But I believed the old folk story. I believed every one bit of it and it was a shock when I spotted the huge peach blossom tree, standing proudly in it's corner. I was even more surprised when I spotted pink flowers sprouting on the tree. I came to that meadow before and after school, sitting under the beautiful tree that I loved dearly. The last time I've been there was when my gramps died. It was so hard in that moment. I could never resist that place. Mutti let me go, where ever, and so I went. I went to the place that made me feel wanted. I cried all the tears I had, I cried to the last bit of my little salty tear drop.

On my way back home, I really never noticed it go dark so fast. Usually the sun shines all the way till dusk, but today was weird. As I was walking, I saw a figure. It looked as it, was about my age but maybe a little older. It was a boy. As he came a little closer I could see him more clear, but in that split second I went down. My face met the ground hardly. Really hard.

"Ouch!" I said to myself repeatedly.

"Are you okay miss?" The boy stopped in front, he saw me and rethought his sentence, "I mean uh- what's your name?" He asked without embarrassing himself.

"Kiara." I replied trying to pull myself up, telling him I was strong, and womanly good without his help.

"I'm Ashton. Ashton Johnal. I'm from around here, but usually don't see beautiful faces falling over a..." He stopped and looked back over a branch I tripped. "Tree branch."

"It was dark, I was scared and I thought you weren't safe...so I didn't pay any attention." I honestly answered, he made me feel safe and relieved in that moment. It was weird.

"Of course, ladies tend to get scared over a lot of things..." he smiled watching the rocky ground.

I rolled my eyes. "Like men don't have fear. They're not fearless." I remarked, trying to prove that women aren't the only ones with fear.

"If that's what you say my lady." he bowed in front of me. I think me and Ashton would have a very special relationship.