Under the Strawberry Moon

Danielle looked out over the water crashing gently against the shore as a cool breeze brushed over her skin. She tried not to think about how bleak her future felt as she gently dug her fingers into the soft cool sand, enjoying the colors of the sky as they slowly shifted from sherbet to darker blue. Her classmates were probably in their homes nervously preparing for their futures. Some were heading off on trips after graduation, others getting ready to begin college. Their parents were excitedly getting ready to take pictures and throw parties celebrating their achievements. She was not as excited. She had no idea what she was going to do after graduation but she certainly couldn't afford to go to college and didn't even have a home anymore, not since she'd left. She didn't even know who her parents were or why they had decided to abandon her on the doorstep of St Mary's orphanage. She didn't know why nobody had wanted to adopt her, but she had left nearly 2 years ago, tired of watching the kids who got picked and the ones who didn't get adopted just getting kicked out at 18 anyway. She wanted to leave in her own terms, so she packed up what little she owned and left. Nobody came looking for her and nobody made her go back, so it seemed like they didn't care much about her or what she did anyway. What was a girl to do? She had no future that she could see making into a reality that was more than surviving on her own out here. She only had one real friend, Christina Reed, who knew everything about her. She was the only person who knew she was basically homeless and on her own. Tearing her eyes away from the waves crashing into the shore, she rose picking up the school books she had been studying and made her way towards the treeline. Reaching the edge of the sandy beach, she carefully slipped on her shoes and began the familiar trek to her makeshift house. When she was younger and still lived at the orphanage she had discovered this place. It was a small clearing near a stream that was just a short walk away from the beach. It looked like it had once been a campsite but every time she went, nobody else was ever there. She played there so often she had eventually named it Muddy Creek. Over time, she had built up a nice little place by collecting discarded items around town. There was an outdoor cooking area with a small garden where she grew her own food. She had found a table and chairs left out for free and brought them here. She had set up a small pool to the side of the stream to wash her clothes and herself in and she had a string between 2 trees to hang her laundry from. There were 2 buildings she had built out of pallets and other wood she collected from around the area. The larger building was about 6 feet square and that was where she slept and stored her belongings. The smaller building out back she used as an outhouse of sorts. It wasn't much, but since running away she called it home. Since the remaining light was almost gone, she quickly went to collect the clothes from the line, placing her books onto a flat rock. When she was done putting them into the basket, she placed the books on top before picking it up. She crossed the clearing to the building and went inside, slipping out of her shoes while reaching to switch on a battery powered lantern. After setting the basket on the floor next to the door, she crossed the small space to sit on her bed and sighed looking around the room. He eyes stopped scanning when she reached the graduation gown hanging in a protective cover next to the door. Christina had secretly bought it for her. Danielle had told her in private that she wasn't going to go to graduation because she couldn't afford it and Christina had bought her the gown anyway. Her thoughts drifted to earlier in the day when her friend had approached her after their last class. Her deep chestnut ponytail bounced back and forth as she had happily bounced over to Danielle with the package in her hands. "I know you said you couldn't afford it, so I went ahead and got it for you. You can't skip out on graduation on me!" She cheerfully thrusted the package into Danielle's hands. "I can't accept this," Danielle told her. "I don't need to go anyway. Nobody is going to be there taking pictures and proud of me." She attempted to give it back. "It's a rite of passage, babe, like prom was," Christina replied, refusing to take it back. "And you spent too much on me for that too," Danielle muttered quietly. "It was not too much, I'm not going to let my best friend miss out on the iconic amazingness that is our high school experience over a little bit of money. You're worth it." Danielle stared down at the package in her hands and slightly shook her head no before trying to give it back again. "It's pointless. I don't even know what I'm doing with my life. This is too much. I can't." "You're going to go," Christina sternly replied, pushing the package away. She tilted Danielle's chin up with a finger until she was making eye contact with her. "You will come to my house Friday after school. We'll have a movie marathon and a sleepover. In the morning we'll get ready together. We'll do our hair and makeup and nails and everything. My parents will drive us to graduation. I'll tell my parents to take a ton of pictures for you. And then you will come with me to the graduation party. We'll have a blast." Danielle hesitated, but stopped trying to give the package back. "Thank you," she said quietly. "It was nothing, truly," Christina chirped as she bounced away excitedly, giving a little wave, "See you tomorrow!" A noise from outside brought her back to the present and she shook her head to clear it, her hair falling in messy auburn waves around her shoulders and into her face. Tomorrow is the last day of finals, she thought, shifting her eyes to the books. This weekend was graduation. Then what? "I should be excited," she said to herself as she yawned, "but how can I be?" Reaching over to shut off the lantern, she heard a wolf howl in the distance. Must be nice to be such a carefree animal, she thought to herself as she crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep.