Prologue

It was dark. Very dark. It was also a little cold, considering that it was around 3 in the morning on an early spring night. The large pine trees cast shadows all around the large yard. The sliver of moon that remained that night was shielded by a heavy cloud. The only noise that could be heard was a combination of crickets chirping and frogs croaking in the distance.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sound of a slightly squeaky sliding door. The silhouette of a short girl appeared against the side of the house. She turned and tried her best to softly close the door behind her. Then, she faced the road and took a deep breath. She slung the small backpack that she brought over her shoulder and quietly but confidently marched away from the house. When she reached the muddy dirt road, she turned right and followed it. The girl broke into a run, her shoulder-length braid bouncing on her shoulders and her jacket flying open on the sides.

She reached an intersection where the dirt road evened out into a paved one. This time, though, she turned left and continued running, not in the middle of the road, but the ditch next to it. This road was fairly quiet, not many cars passing. Once, the far off noise of a vehicle came into the girl's hearing range, and she dove into the tall grass farther off the road.

There she waited until she was sure the car was gone. She stayed a few more moments, trying to catch her breath. Then, she whispered something to herself, and she picked herself up and started off again, though this time she did not run. She pulled her backpack straps over each shoulder. The girl reached her hand backwards and slipped her hand under the flap that covered the backpack. She seemed to have thought better of it, and her hand dropped back to her side.

**LINE BREAK**

A few hours later, the horizon faded from midnight blue to a lavender color, then to a pink. The girl walked with a droop to her head, lack of sleep obviously taking its toll. She studied the early light for a moment, and decided it must be around 5 am. She then hurried up to the next sign. The white letters told her that the next intersection coming up was with Elmlea Road. She sighed is satisfaction and turned onto it. The girl walked a for a few more minutes, and then she turned right off the road. She crashed through the underbrush, tall weeds scratching her cheeks.

When she finally came out of the weeds, spotted two fallen trees leaning against a larger one. She walked over and plopped her backpack underneath the two fallen trees. The girl pulled a black garbage bag out of the backpack. Reaching up as high as she could, she tucked the sides of the bag on either side of the leaning trees, between the bark and the trees, so that it acted somewhat like a roof over her. Then, she sat down and pulled on a sweatshirt, again, out of her bag.

The girl leaned her back against the tree and fished two last things out of her bag: a piece of paper, which turned out to be a letter, and a photo. The paper was written on with purple ink. The ink was smeared in some spots, as if someone had been crying over the paper. The letter said this.

Andi,

No matter what happens, I want you to remember this one thing: You are my best friend, and you will always be. Nothing will come between our friendship. Not even death. No matter how much you change, you will still be the Andi I always knew.

When you get this note, I will probably already be gone. I never wanted to do this, but there were some things in this world, things I couldn't control, that I'd have enough of. THIS DOES TOTALLY NOT INCLUDE YOU! You are the best friend anyone could ever had. You listened to me when I cried nonsense about hating others, and you let me soak all your shirts with tears. You never told me to stop, or shut up, or to quit whining. You just comforted me and told me that there would be a better part of life to come. Maybe it came for you, but I'll probably never know. It didn't come for me. I really don't want you to feel sad, or bad about me ending my life. Don't cry (though I doubt you will, tough girl)! I don't any pity.

I will miss you so much. I want you to have my special pen, my purple one, the one I wrote this letter with. I want you to have something to remember me with. I WILL MISS YOU! YOU WERE MY BEST FRIEND EVER! Don't you ever forget it!

I love you!

- Jay

Andi looked up at the sky for a moment, and then let out a sob. She glanced down at the photo that was in the same envelope as the letter. It showed herself, her long, wavy blond hair flowing every which way. Her emerald eyes seemed to sparkle as she smiled and wrapped her arm around a much taller girl, with a red, ruler-straight, side pony-tail. The second girl's blue eyes were much more dull in life. She was slightly smiling, but it seemed strained.

"Jay," Andi whispered, as she ran her thumb over the face of the redhead. Tears streaming down her face, Andi cried herself to sleep as the sun rose up into the sky.