Sunshine

*All of the following is purely a figment of my imagination and is fictional. Resemblance to any incidents, persons, or events are completely coincidental and are not in any way intentional.

There once was a girl who was like sunshine: her smiles always seemed to light up the room and her very demeanor was bound to lift your mood. Everybody thought so. However, there was one boy who noticed her more than anyone else had.

He walked with her to school every morning, shared lunch with her at noon, and studied with her before tests. Now, none of this was of his own free will, (he told himself). He only did so as she stuck to him like glue every day.

When other people noticed her sweet smile, all he saw was a blinding grin. One so bright that it hurt him to look at her.

When other people saw her bouncing across the street, all he saw was an accident waiting to happen.

When other people saw her eagerness to learn, all he saw was a pretentious fire hazard.

You see, he didn’t particularly like her (he told himself), she was just there.

Since they were neighbors, they had grown up together, spending every single birthday and celebration in the company of the other.

She was just always there.

She was there when he was still in diapers. She was there when he had his first visit from the tooth fairy. She was there when he got into his first fight.

She was always there with that same blinding grin that she would have when he picked her up in the morning (“picked up” as in he waited outside her door so they could walk to school together).

She was sunshine. And he had never seen her dull.

Until one day.

You see, prior to “that day” she hadn’t been to school for a week. Which means, he hadn’t seen her for a week. This was new.

He was used to having her by his side, always unwavering. But then she just disappeared, seemingly into thin air.

Over the past few days, he had been trying to convince himself that this new was good. He didn’t have to deal with her sticking to his side or her blabbering about whatever new thing she saw.

This was good. He was good.

He wasn’t.

And so as the boy trudged home, dragging his feet in a rather unsightly manner, he lingers in front of his neighbors’ house, contemplating whether to go in or not.

In a split-second decision, he knocked on the door and hears an “I’m coming” from the inside.

In disbelief due to his own actions, he glares at his hand that had moved without his command (is what he tells himself).

In the meantime, a certain sunshine-like girl peeps through the keyhole, debating whether to open the door or not.

She finally decides on the former after brushing the knots out of her hair with her fingers and using her hands to wipe away any stray tears.

“Hi”, she says, timidly. He notices the oddity of this. She has never been timid and her “hi”s were always cheerful.

Then he notices her wet eyelashes and very faint tear stains.

He freezes in shock. After all, what do you do when the sun doesn’t shine anymore?

He, for one, hadn’t the faintest clue.