Sunrise

Hey everyone! I wrote this in... grade six? A while ago to be as precise as possible. If it's not very good that's probably why. My writing level has increased quite a bit since then, I hope. It got me into the Young Author's Conference, so it can't be too bad.

Enjoy!

Joker

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Sunrise

There was a new girl in our class, Cree. It was short for something, but she wouldn’t say what and no one was about to ask her. Most girls in our class were kind of prissy. Cree was the opposite of anything you’d ever call prissy.

Her clothes weren’t awful, they just weren’t nice and there was a hole in the knee ofher jeans. But like the name, no one was about to ask her about any of this.

I got stuck sitting next to her.

“Hi, I’m Brett,” I said, putting out my hand to shake. Friendly, you know? She ignored me.

I dropped my hand. “It’s Cree right?” I asked, looking back at my math sheet.

“Yeah,” she mumbled.

“Where’re you from, Cree?” I asked.

“St. Joan’s Academy,” she replied, still not looking over.

I nodded. “Nice place.” I wrote down the answer to one of the math questions. “Why’d you move here?”

“My dad got a job at the high school.” She looked at me. Her eyes were bright violet.

“What’s Cree short for?” I asked.

“Crimson,” she said, furrowing her eyebrows. Strange name. “But don’t spread it around.”

I nodded again. “What’s your last name?”

“Red,” she replied, looking down at her paper. Even more unusual; how could you have a name like Crimson Red? “What’s with the twenty questions?” she asked.

I shrugged, going back to my work.

“You should come over some time, Brett,” she said suddenly. “My parents don’t think I have enough friends.”

“When?” I asked.

“Saturday?” She sounded hopeful.

“Great.” In truth, I did want to go to Cree’s house. And not just for curiosity’s sake. She seemed nice enough and I didn’t have many friends either.

After school, I told my parents about my plans. They agreed.

Saturday, I walked to Cree’s house. Going to her house involved being inside for about ten minutes, getting a snack, and then walking through alleyways for the rest of the time I was there.

I walked home afterwards, looking forward to a great meal and an even better sleep. The meal was great; the sleep was abruptly interrupted by - who else - Crimson.

I was sleeping peacefully until Cree climbed through my window and woke me up. She shook me awake, and when she was satisfied that I wasn’t going back to sleep she went over to the dresser.

“What are you doing here, Cree?” I whispered. She left my question unanswered and started digging through my drawers.

“Do you have any dark pants?” she asked, throwing a black shirt in my face. She was wearing dark-wash jeans and a black T-shirt.

“Third drawer down,” I replied. “Why do I need dark clothes?”

“Sh!” Some jeans landed in my lap. “Wear those,” she whispered. I was curious, so I got changed quickly and followed her out the window. Outside, a boy and a girl, both about our age, stood on the sidewalk.

“Brett, meet Tyler and Heidi,” Cree introduced me to the two kids. Heidi was short and had curly blond hair. Tyler was tall, freckly and red headed.

“What are we doing?” I asked. I was worried, it showed.

Heidi spoke in a soprano voice – I say soprano because she sounded like a singer – “Keep your pants on, City Boy, I mean it. We’re not doing anything illegal.”

“Just secret,” Cree added, “so don’t tell.” I followed the shadowy figures down an alleyway; tiny raindrops splattered my head.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Sh!” Tyler shushed me.

The moon and the stars shone brightly in the dark sky and, once you got used to it, were a pretty sufficient source of light. The alleyway ended and came to a park.

It started to rain, then it started to pour. Buckets of warm rain fell from the sky, soaking me. A thought came to mind – I looked up. The sky was clear, not a single cloud covered up the stars. How could it be raining?

Cree looked over and saw me wondering at the sky. “Magic,” she said, “if you still believe in it.”

I smiled, still looking at the sky. “I do now.”

I wasn’t looking where I was going and tripped over a root of some sort straight into a garbage can. The garbage can knocked over, spilling garbage everywhere. I landed face first in the mess.

I heard Heidi’s high voice. “You were right, Cree, City Boy is funny,” she giggled.

Tyler’s voice was the exact opposite of Heidi’s, deep. “He’s a blast,” he said.

I got up. “What time is it?” I asked, pretending not to notice that I smelled like a dumpster.

“4: 05,” Cree answered.

“Right in time for sunrise,” Tyler added.

“What’s so special about sunrise?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” Heidi replied.

We sat on the jungle gym and waited. It didn’t take very long before a burst of light appeared on the horizon. The sky exploded in color. Purple, blue and orange painted the sky. The stars still shone in the darkness where the sun didn’t reach. Light licked the sky like flames, blocking out the darkness as the sun grew on the horizon. It was magic.

It took five minutes for the sun to come up fully. It was five o’clock when we went home after dancing in the still pouring rain. My mom and dad wouldn’t get up for at least three hours. I tried to get some sleep, but I just didn’t feel tired anymore, so I sat in front of the T.V., eating cereal and drying my hair.

Nighttime isn’t daytime’s opposite. Its daytime’s dark side, its under side. And sunrise wraps it all together. I feel sorry for people who have gone their whole life without seeing a sunrise. I’ll never be that unfortunate.