"Today, however can change things for better or worse. The outcome depends on you."
When a marriage fails the residue trickles down to everyone in the family. Sixteen-year-old Daya Nicole Johnston must fight to understand what is happening in her li...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
* Olivia Saint-Charles *
Watching him safely climb down the tree, I thought about him, my heart, and even Olivia. With these thoughts in the forefront of my mind I thought well, I don't know what I was thinking. I directed my head from his silhouette and onto the snow surrounding me.
As he landed in front of me, our eyes immediately connected, and our bodies grew closer. I felt his shaky fingers brush a stray hair from my face. It caused a slight giggle to accidentally fall out of my lips. I noticed just how close we were.
His forehead lightly crashed onto mine as I whispered, "We can't stand here forever. Take me away."
Slowly our faces drifted apart, and I took one more look at my lovely pearl in the sky. Then, I heard my front door open, and a voice coming from that direction. I didn't stay to see who it was or what they had to say as I ran down the street with Jay following behind.
"God Daya, when did you learn how to run so fast," Jay remarked to me as I stopped in front of the Daralus home.
I joked, "Years of running away from my problems," as we hunkered down on his front steps.
"Do you think they saw us?" I looked down the street to see if any middle-aged parents were scampering down the road.
"I think we're good," Jay retorted as he leaned against the railing on his front steps, panting.
"Come on! Is the little baby tired from running down the block," I quipped in a mocking tone and my bottom lip poked out.
He chuckled, "Ha-ha, I'll get you back for that later. I'm too exhausted to be witty."
Being in front of Jay's loving home was comforting to me, despite the resemblance to my discarded home. The same type of home watched me as watched it, waiting for a thought to come into my head. My attention then turned to the broken bricks beside me on the stairs. A broken entrance to a full home. How ironic I thought.
Jay had a beautiful, caring mom and dad and four energetic siblings whose faces lit up when they saw him. His siblings and he were all adopted from different places in the country; Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey, Alabama, and Jay was seemingly from Maine.
"Follow me," Jay said to me as he reached out for my hand.
I took his offer, "Hmm, acting like a gentleman today." He laughed and transported me to a door towards the back of his house. Being that we've remained friends for years, this path into his home was well-known to me.
Two years ago, he requested to move into the basement away from everyone. His parents were upset with his decision, as they should be, but they always checked on him.
His parents had always been outstanding to all of them and to me. And to repay them, Jay took advantage of how much they wanted to please him. They bought him a mini fridge, his own microwave, and anything that he asked for in hopes of showing him their love, unsuccessfully. I've tried to discuss it with him, but I believed it only drove him farther away.
