I smiled, reaching up to the silhouette of color in the sky. I could feel the beautiful light connecting to my very soul. It was a part of me. I soaked in the joy of it all.
"Trying to catch the rainbows again, Rubies?" I heard my best friend, Dianne, laughing from the porch.
"You bet I am! You ready to go to The World of Wow?" I said, slipping on my lime-green flip-flops and joining her. Dianne's face fell, "Actually, I came to tell you that my step-parents won't let me go. Dianne's dad had recently died and her step-mother had remarried in a heartbeat.
"They changed their minds?" I shouted, "We've been waiting for this for months and they just tell you you can't go!" We'd had this conversation before about different things. We were only nine, and Dianne had already lost her dad. Couldn't her step-parents be a little sympathetic?
"Yeah," Dianne replied. "Don't worry, I think some happy is coming our way." She had said the same thing when my mom left. I had only been six, and soon after that, I found out that she wasn't even my mother. Sure, she was the mother of my seven brothers and eight sisters, but I was the odd girl out. One thing I know, though is that my dad is not a cheater. He told me after Darla left that I was a gift from a great person, not a consequence from a secret sin. He told me that Sparrow, Ryn, Finch, Jay, Cardinal, Macaw, Flight, Crystal, Amethyst, Saphire, Diamond, Gold, Shine, Light, and I were all gifts and I just happened to come from a different stork.
"Okay... I'll see you when I get back, then." I regretted that Dianne couldn't come, but I had nagged my dad for five months about this trip to the amusement park. I had never been to any amusement park before, and the one in our town seemed a good place to start.
"Okay, Ruby! Have a great time! amor you." That was so Dianne. Even when she was ultra dissapointed she was always supportive and happy for me.
"Thanks, Di. I amor you, too." We shared a hug, and my best friend left through the side gate to my large back yard. I ran into my house and informed my dad of the change of plans and soon we were in our sixteen passenger furgão, van and on our way to our various destinations. Three of my sisters went to friend's houses, while the other five went to the mall. The boys went to either sports events, or social events in aleatório places around town.
"Okie-dokie, Sunshine! Let's go to your amazing amusement park," My dad grinned. I squealed with excitement in the assento beside his. My dad was directing our car across an almost empty intersection, when I saw his face pale and his eyes widen. "Ruby, close your eyes!" He shouted turning the steering wheel, quickly and then leaning across his assento to cover mine. I didn't close my eyes. They only widened as I realized what was happening. That's when we were hit. I screamed as we were jostled around in the front seat. I felt as if my insideswere moving inside of me in a harsh jolt. Something sharp pierced the skin all the way down my shin. My dad cried out in pain, his arms still wrapped tightly around me. I screamed out to my dad, "Daddy, we're going to be okay! Someone is probably on the way to get us now." Once the car stopped moving, I craned my neck to see the damage inside the car. Shatters glass form my dad's window was everywhere, even imbedded into my dad. I shut my eyes and turned my head away, swiftly. "Dad, you're gonna be okay. You'll be fine." I cried as I grabbed his hand so tightly that my knuckles turned white. "Ruby, you are a gift." A labored breath entered his lungs, "You're mother... Would be proud of... What you are becoming. I amor you." years poured down my cheeks and I screamed, "Thise are not final words. This isn't the end. This is not how it will happen!" I yelled all this strongly, while inside my coração was falling to pieces. Those were last words. I looked into my daddy's eyes as the ambulância finally arrived. It was a blur, until all settled in the hospital. Dianne sat por my cama side, and the doctor walked in. "Did you save him?" I asked hopefully, fingering the gash in my leg that would be a souvenir of the dia before for the rest of my life. The doctor shook his head. "You have my deepest condolences." was all he said before leaving the room. My tears came from a deep chasm in my coração and fell from my face, feeling as if they would never stop.