The Children in the Rainbow

A Boy's Green Stained Knees

It's getting dark now. The sun is just touching the horizon and soon everything will be covered with a beautiful orange glow. I'm sat, legs swinging below me, in the branches of some big old tree. It took me a while to figure out how to get up here. There's this old tire tied to one of the lower branches. I stood on top of it, swinging myself back and forth, and then threw myself at the next branch and pulled myself up. I walked along the branch, well, I crawled, and climbed up higher. I was about 2 stories up. If I fell from up here I would be pretty badly injured.

I looked down at my jeans. I seem to have green grass or moss stains on the knees. David hate it when I stain them. "You need to top acting like a child Simon" he always says "Grow up and take come responsibility." I slowly stood up and climbed a little higher to a branch that was a fair bit thicker and seemed safer. David can go fuck himself. So can Emma. Foster parents are bullshit. "Listen to your father" she always says "He's right, you're 17 now. You should think about getting a job." He is not my father. Anyway, I have 2 or 3 years of school left ahead of me before I need to do that. I pick a leaf off of the tree and started ripping it up. I just want to enjoy myself and climb trees.

I scattered the leaves down to the ground and sighed. "I wish Sapphire was here. She'd love a tree like this one" I leaned my back against the trunk of the tree and closed my eyes, day dreaming. I missed her cute brown pixie cut and the two freckles under her green left eye.

Half of the sun had disappeared beyond the horizon now. I pulled my jacket around me closer and spun Sapphires ring around the chain it hung on around my neck. It was a simple silver ring but it brings me comfort and I think it's beautiful. Just like her. "I hope you're happy wherever you are, Sapphire."