The Playground

Sept 7th

Dear diary,

I am Cailynn Miller. My best friend/ twin sister, Willow, gave me this diary today, my 16th birthday! She gave it to me at the playground. The playground is a clearing in the woods with an old playground that Willow and I discovered when we were about eight.

"Wait up!" I had said to Willow.

"Come on lazy bum! Were going to explore the woods!" she had pulled me past the art store, past her favorite café, Coffee Beans, and through the magnificent forest. I had looked around. I saw a small dirt path with roots growing in the middle. "Come on!" Willow said again. "Lets explore!" we wondered down the dirt path when it abruptly ended.

"Okeydoke! Lets go back home!" I said turning around. "No." Willow said determined and kept marching on. I reluctantly followed her, taking small uneasy steps. After about ten minutes of Willow marching confidently and me whimpering and walking as slow as I possibly could, we reached a small clearing.

There was a small rusty swing set and a slide with a dent in the ladder. The monkey bars were missing many of the rusty metal bars, and the merry go round squeaked when willow pushed it. She walked down the old, cracked pavement and stood next to a tire swing. It looked extremely rusty and old, and there were millions of dents in the tire. She sat down and patted the other side gesturing me to get in. I slumped over to the tire swing and sat down. Willow abruptly jumped out and pushed it as hard as she could. I let out an ear piercing screech and willow laughed.

"Toughen up." She had said. She stopped pushing me and kept wondering through the clearing. I dizzily got of the tire swing and followed her. She stopped and I bumped into her. She glared at me. "Look at that pond!" She exclaimed. I stepped over until I was next to her.

I saw a beautiful shimmering blue-green pond with a river leading into it. I could hear the river running, and a small waterfall was falling just a few feet away. We stared at the beautiful pond in awe. Willow turned around to face me.

"Race ya' to the café! She yelled, running through the woods. I followed laughing. I looked down a few paces later and saw that my feet were hitting the dirt path. I followed it back through the autumn trees and found Willow entering the café. "Your late." She said in a fake snooty voice and ordered a mocha frappichino. I ordered a regular coffee with cream and two packets of sugar. I remember that day like it was yesterday.

But earlier today, we went to the playground and she gave me this diary with an engraving on it. There was a note on my bed that said

"Caili, meet me @ the playground @ 5:30 tonight."

So I had gotten of my bed and hurried out the door. I ran to the playground (I knew how to get there with my eyes closed) and stopped when I saw Willow swinging on the tire swing.

"Cailynn!" She said, hurrying over. "I thought you might not have found my note!" I followed her over to the tire swing, our favorite place on the playground, because it had a beautiful view of Willynn Lake. (We named the lake by combining both our names. I smiled. She tapped my shoulder.

"Yesss?" I asked, swirling around.

"HAPPY BIIIIIIRRRTHHHDAAAAAY!" She shouted, handing me this diary. I grinned.

"You really didn't have to do that!" I exclaimed hugging my very favorite sister.

I have many siblings. My sister Cassadie is the oldest, she's eighteen, then there's Willow and I, Avery is thirteen, Maya's twelve, and Ella's eight. We live in a small town population wise, on Cassadie Farm (yes, they named my oldest sister after a farm.) our next-door neighbors are miles away, there are trees and lakes and rivers everywhere you look, I own a horse, the nearest grocery store is eight miles away, and I wouldn't change how I live for a million dollars.