The Sun Always Seems to Set at Inconvenient Times

The summer of 2018 was one I will always cherish. Almost every night, my friend, Alex, and I would sneak out and go to the lake. We lived pretty close to one another and the lake was an equal distance from the two houses. We would meet on the dock and splash our feet and then eventually jump in the cool water. We went in the daytime as well, but there was something about going there at night that made it seem so magical. After dark, the moonlight would shine and bounce off the water’s surface. Dipping your toe in the water created a ripple that seemed to go on forever. It was unaffected by other swimmers.

    A year ago, Alex and I went to the lake after a Fourth of July party we attended. We were stuffed full from all the food they had at the party, so we just sat on the dock, not wanting to swim and get a cramp.

    “You gotta wait 20 minutes after eating before you can swim,” Alex said.

    “Yeah, sure,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I don’t know if I actually believe that.”

    “Better safe than sorry though, right?” they asked. “I mean we could see if it’s true or not”

Before I could even process their sentence, I found myself being shoved off the deck and into the water.

    “Hey! What’s the big idea?” I yelled with a smile on my face. They smiled back understanding my reference to a movie we loved but could never remember the name of. Everything about that night was like a movie. “Are you coming in or what?” I smirked. They grinned and backed up to get a head start. When they’re body hit the water it make a huge splash that covered my already wet hair. Then, just like a movie, the darkened sky was lit up by fireworks. The first “boom” made me flinch. The colors looked so beautiful on the water’s reflective surface.

    Now, a year later, in the summer of 2019, I frown thinking of that time. Not because I didn’t love it, but because I miss it. I sit on the dock and chip away some old paint. There is nothing more painful than losing a best friend, I thought. I wish that everything could go back to being like a movie, because if this were holywood, Alex would walk up behind me and sit next to me while we put our feet in the water.

The ripples in the water remind me of how one thing can affect everything else around it. Throwing a pebble into the water will create a ripple effect, but not a very big one. When Alex left it was like a bolder being thrown into the lake - changing the Earth around it.

The sun is setting so I stand up the leave. Before I go, I look up at the beautiful pink and orange sky where the fireworks were a year ago. There will be more this year, but it’s different now. “I miss you, Alex,” I whisper. Then I walk away because I don’t want to feel alone anymore.

 

Nattilie Sanso

VT

YWP Alumni

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