Lukas

The world has weird ways of doing things. It gives random people great lives, great opportunities, and so much happiness, then it takes it away. It makes your prized possessions disappear into thin air, it teases you with the things you once had.

As bad as that is, there's still is beauty under the dark. Beauty that has been taken for granted. Lucky for me, I have been blessed with great things. That is before they were ripped away.

I laughed and pulled out my polaroid as my friends gather close to me. I turned the polaroid around, looking at the reflecting to find the right angle. I clicked the button and it instantly snaps a picture. My friends and I continued down a trail.

I let the camera hang on the camera strap and pushed my sunglasses down onto my nose. The wind picked up a bit, causing me to shiver.

“Oaklee, I told you to bring a sweater,” My best friend Layla chuckled, her straight blond hair bouncing on her shoulders as we walked.

“Well, who’d think 45 degrees was so cold?!” I sighed and continued walking.

“Here, take mine. I’m hot anyways,” My other best friend, Amy, smiled softly as she wrapped her sweater around my shoulder.

“Thank you,” I smiled softly after taking a glimpse of Amy’s smile. It’s contagious.

“No problem,” She replied in a singsong tone as we carried on. “Ooh! The spot looks great today! It would make a great picture opportunity!”

Amy rushed ahead, her straight black hair blowing in the wind as she ran over to a little pond. The sun shimmered gently down on the water. Flowers lined the bay, and a huge Oak Tree hung over it.

“It’s so beautiful today!” Layla smiled brightly.

“I know right! Come over here!” Amy ran toward a huge patch of overgrown plants and shoved her way through.

“There’s no way I’m going through the weeds. I have enough scratches from all the other shortcuts we’ve taken today. I’m walking around,” Layla sighed as she looked for a way to get over to Amy on the nature trail.

“Suit yourself! Come on Oak!” Amy grinned.

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” I giggled and shoved the weeds aside. I winced a bit from the prick of a small weed on the ground. Nature paths like this are great unless you go with Amy. When you with her, prepare for tons of cuts and scratches.

Amy got out of the weeds, landing her just in front of the Oak tree. She jumped onto a rock and held her arms out, “I love this place.” I laughed, “Me too.” Amy sat down on her rock, and I sat next to her, keeping my knees close to my chest.

“Where are you, Lay?”

“I don’t know!” She shouted from somewhere on the path. Amy and I started laughing before Amy stood up on the rock to look around for her.

“You’re going to have to cross through the weeds. There’s nowhere you can get here from the path!”

“There has to be a way, Amy! It’s a nature trail! It would be pretty stupid for a nature trail to completely block off one of the only things on this trail that isn’t old dying weeds!”

Layla has always been trying to find a way to get here without getting pricked but she hasn't been successful in the many years this has been our meeting spot.

“Well, they were pretty stupid! Cross through the weeds!” Amy shouted.

“Ugh!” Layla muffled as she shoved her way through the weeds and headed over to us.

“Oh my gosh! She’s alive!” I teased.

“Shut up!” She grinned as she sat down next to us. “It really is pretty today.” Amy and I nodded as we looked around. Puffy white clouds shifted across the bright blue sky as the tree gently wove in the wind, red, orange, and yellow leaves gently falling from the tree onto the dirt below.

Amy dug her hands through the dirt and threw the rocks into the water, attempting to skip them but instead just plopping the rocks straight into the water.

“Stop it! You're getting me splashed,” Layla said as she wiped a few drops of pond water off of her face.

“Sorry,” Amy laughed.

“Wait! We didn’t take our picture yet!” Layla leaped up, smiling.

“Oh yeah!” I smiled brightly and turned my camera back on to take a few pictures. We walked over to the Oak tree and leaned against it, taking a bunch of random pictures. We laughed before laying on the ground and swatting the images in the air, waiting for them to develop.

“Do you guys remember that trip to that old-fashioned town in third grade when Oak had told everyone that the bus ride had actually just brought us back in time to see the city?” Amy asked, starting to laugh hysterically.

“Hey! I read a lot of the Magic School Bus,” I muffled, my face going red as I quietly laughed in embarrassment. Yeah, that definitely wasn’t one of my brightest moments.

“The time-traveling bus!” Layla started laughing hysterically.

“Don’t be embarrassed Oaklee, It was cute. Plus, you were little. You don’t believe in the time-traveling bus now so your all cool,” Amy giggled before looking up at the sky again.

We continued chatting about random stuff till the sun began to set and we decided to head back home. Lucky for us, the paths were really close to our house so there was no need to waste money on gas which was why this was always our meeting spot.

“Stupid weeds!” Layla muffled as we shoved our way back to the trail.

Amy and I laughed as we reached the trail and began to head to our houses. We walked to the end of the trail and walked through a small path engraved by the footprints of tons of people into our neighborhood. No one really came to the trail except for the people who lived here, which kind of made it our property, or at least in our heads.

When we approached my house a big, shaggy golden retriever sprinted our way and leaped upon Amy.

"Maggie!" Amy smiled brightly, petting the puppy. Maggie has been my dog since I was twelve. She's been my partner in crime and literally the sweetest thing, but she and Amy are even closer.

Maggie rapidly wagged her tail as she stayed close to Amy, happy with all of the love she was receiving.

Layla quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket and sighed, "It's my mom. I should get going. I'll see you guys tomorrow for moving day!" She smiled brightly and waved before heading home.

"Shoot I completely forgot about moving day! I have barely even packed!" I blurted out loud. I have a bad habit of accidentally saying my thoughts out loud. It's gotten me in trouble quite a lot.

"Don't worry. I can help you. My dad doesn't care what time I get home anyway," Amy replied, standing up and wiping the dog fur off of her clothes.

"Thanks," I smiled brightly. Her parents got divorced when she was five. After that, her mother completely fled the country, leaving her with her dad. Her dad works at an office job and has to work long hours so because of that, curfew has never really been a thing for her.

"No problem, Oak," Amy smiled.

Maggie cheerfully led us inside.

"Hey, Amy! How are you?" My mother smiled brightly from in the kitchen.

"I'm great, thank you! How are you Mrs. Merrits?"

"I'm doing quite well myself, thank you," My mom smiled softly before getting back to work.

Amy and I headed down the small, narrow hallway into my bedroom.

"Woah we have a lot of work to do," Amy muffled.

"She comes over after school almost every day but she hasn't much this last week because her dad had a few days off and over that time, I kind of went overboard with decorating.

"Well let's get to it," Amy replied.

I looked around at my room, trying to figure out where to start. My shelves are loaded with books, my wall is covered in polaroid pictures, lights, and records, and my shelves are covered in little knickknacks I've gathered over the years.

"Maybe we should start with the shelves," Amy suggested.

I nodded and grabbed a box. We quickly began putting things into the boxes, talking about old memories and more embarrassing things we've done in the past and it made me realize I am so lucky to have met her and Layla. Life truly couldn't get better.