Break of Day

‘After every storm, the sun will shine. For some, however, the sun will come up for the last time’. The piece of paper floated down through the air like a feather and landed gently on the sand in front of her.

“Hey Ally!” I yelled, running as fast as I could past her on her right. “I’m open! Pass the ball!”

Alice switched the ball to me before I’d even finished speaking. It was strange to think I was the one that scored the winning goal that afternoon during our PE lesson playing soccer. Usually it was Ally who was praised for her athletic abilities. As soon as the whistle blew, I saw Ally walk slowly off the pitch towards the changing rooms.

“Ally!” I shouted after her, sprinting over. She smiled meekly as I caught up. “What’s the matter? You’re not upset because I scored are you? You didn’t have to pass the ball, you know. You could’ve scored an awesome goal from where you were standing.”

Ally shook her head. “No Tash, not at all. I’m just really warm and tired, that’s all.” Her comment also struck me as unusual. Ally was normally full of energy. It wasn’t that warm either. Living on the west coast of the USA may have sunny temperatures, but it was a reasonably mild day nonetheless. As I watched Ally though, I noticed that her freckled cheeks had gone crimson.

“Let’s go inside then,” I suggested.

We began to get changed out of our soccer kits as soon as we entered the cooler changing rooms. The paint on the walls was flaking off and some of the ceiling tiles were missing. I untied my straight, brunette hair out of the ponytail it was in, before putting on my normal clothes. Ally did the same with her long, wavy, blonde hair.

“Is it Chemistry next?” I asked, turning round. Ally was standing there, putting on a thick sweater. “What are you doing?”

“I’m freezing now,” Ally said, shaking her head. She quickly put her hands in her armpits to keep them warm. I raised an eyebrow, before throwing my kit into my bag.

I had known Ally for a few months. I had moved here to California from Colorado. As soon as we looked at each other for the first time, I knew we would become friends, and we did. It was strange though. Ally was pretty and athletic, with a host of admirers, but once I got to know her, she revealed that her life wasn’t so perfect after all. Her mom had died when she was very young and her dad was missing. As a result, she lived in a carehome, after living in various fostering arrangements beforehand.

The next day Ally wasn’t at school. I knew she wasn’t going to be there as soon as I came into school, because I always came later than her. Ally was the type of girl that got up really early, whether it was to catch the waves at the beach or just to watch the sunrise – her favorite time of day. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I tried to call her at lunchtime, punching the keys of her number into my cell phone, to see what was wrong but she didn’t answer. I ended up sending her a text before hastily running to Math.

That evening, I was sitting down at the table, eating dinner with my parents and my younger brother, Josh. The phone rang as the meal was being served. My mom went to answer it. I continued to attempt to string my spaghetti onto my fork, while Josh flicked a meatball at me.

“Josh!” I yelped, flicking a meatball back at him. A piece of spaghetti landed on dad’s newspaper. He shook it off and continued to read the sports pages.

“Josh, stop that now,” my mom said, coming back into the kitchen. “Tasha, it’s for you.”

“It’s probably Ally. She must have got my text,” I said, rising from the table. “Hey mom, can I go over to see her? She wasn’t at school today. I don’t think she’s feeling well.