Canyon Drop

Kelly Cromwell was the kid who was friends with everyone from the geeks to the popular. But her family life wasn’t going as well. Sure, they loved each other, but they often fought over little things. Little things like why Kelly got a B instead of an A on a class work. After about 20 minutes of cooling off they would be fine. But today was the day for a long fight.
“Kelly! Why didn’t you speak up for your brother at school?” Kelly’s mom demanded of her 16 year old daughter.
“What are you talking about?” Kelly asked with a look that was determined to remain calm.
“I mean your 14 year old brother was being made fun of today, and you didn’t stop it! They could have gotten violent! He could have been hurt!”
“Mom, we have different schedules. I probably was on the other side of the school.”
“Well then, change it! We are a family! We are always there for each other! Even if it means a schedule change!” After that her mom went on for a long time, lecturing Kelly. Kelly listened and, although furious on the inside, showed no sign of it on the out side, nodding and looking down on her cue. When her mom was done she sent her to her room. Kelly was frustrated and was struggling to keep it bottled up. Jamie, her brother wandered in and gave her a hug.
“I didn’t know she would blame you for it. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. Mom is scared for you and she thinks I could have stopped it. This is probably a one time deal,” Kelly said to console her brother, and it was clear he believed what she said.
Sadly it wasn’t a one time thing. It became a nightly thing, and Kelly was convinced it was her fault that her family was falling apart. Slowly her mother degraded Kelly’s self esteem and happiness, although she put up and act for her brother and friends. Only her father knew how much she was hurting. How much it killed her to see her mother grow to think it was her fault too. It was hard for those close to her to watch. Slowly, but surely Kelly lost her enthusiasm and love for life. Then entire school was concerned and Kelly couldn’t take the emptiness any more. She decided to run away. She ran away to her special place where no one would dare look for her. The Cromwell Canyon. It was named after her family from a long time ago, but ever since she had heard that she had been fascinated with that Canyon. It was her hiding place, but it was extremely dangerous. Although this was a fact Kelly refused to believe. So Kelly packed clothes, blankets, and some non perishables and headed to the Canyon.
***
News of her disappearance hit the school hard. She was the one to make introductions to your new best friend. Not to suddenly go missing with out a clue of where she had gone. Her mother was scared stiff, along with the rest of her family. They could barely speak without saying something that reminded them of Kelly and how much she cared. Her mother felt terrible and wasn’t coping well, crying in the middle of the night and never uttering a sound besides a sob.
***
For Kelly it had been a week out in the Canyon, sneaking into the pubic restroom when she need to, but mostly just in solitude. It was boring but she had managed to snatch an empty notebook before she had left, and she was currently pouring all of her story ideas into one big story. Then she started to read it to check her work. She looked at the paper in astonishment. It actually sounded good! In school writing was her weak subject but here, her writing was magnificent! She was shocked in a good way! So she decided to take a celebratory walk to maybe look for some more inspiration. As she walked slightly happier, she picked up a flower and held it close to her, think dryly that being a flower, no matter how boring must be a little better then being a human. It was probably a lot easier too. That was when the tragic accident happened. She slipped on what she thought was safe rock and fell quite a ways down. Her scream could be heard reverberating around the Canyon loud and clear.
***
Dani, the most popular kid in school, was walking near the Cromwell Canyon and heard the scream and instantly knew what it meant. He immediately raced into Kelly’s beloved Canyon and saw her with unnatural detail hanging on to a cliff in the Canyons edge and still screaming. He then turned and ran for help, yelling he had found Kelly and she need immediate help from the paramedics. He soon heard sirens and led them to Canyon.
***
Kelly was found close to passing out clutching that white flower close to her chest mumbling ‘It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault,’ and when they tried to separate her from the flower when she started to get very wound up. So they let her be. She was thrashing all the way until Danni started whispering to her. She quieted instantly. “Sshhh, it’s gunna be ok. The doctors will keep you safe.”
“You sure?” she asked weakly.
“Very.”
She nodded then added “Don’t let them take the flower from me. Got it?”
“Ok,” he said weakly. When she made it to the hospital the stared to put her on meds for the pain and took her away from Danni. “Wait! Leave the flower with her! She’ll wake up with out!” The doctors of course laughed at that, so they disregarded it. So when they took the flower her health rapidly regressed.
***
“What do you mean my baby’s getting worse!” Kelly’s mom screamed.
“We don’t know why, we’re trying to figure it out as soon as possible,” the doctor replied calmly.
“You took the flower that’s why. Good thing I found it,” The words came from Danni who did indeed have the flourishing flower. As soon as it touched Kelly she started to get better.
“That’s impossible!” exclaimed the doctor.
“Not really,” Danni said. “Look she’s still in there. When you sleep you still register things sun-consciously. The flower was with her before she fell, so she knows if she can touch it, the she needs to fight to stay alive. Well, that’s my theory.” The doctors were astounded because it kind of made sense.
***
Kelly soon got better, with the help of her family, the flower and Danni. When she got back to school she found many notes and flowers and teddy bears stuffed in her locker. She merely laughed and enjoyed feeling loved. At home and at school, and of course by her new boyfriend Danni.
***
Epilogue
Coincidentally, the type flower Kelly found was incredibly rare and grew only under Danni and Kelly’s care. To Kelly that little flower is the little thing that masked the miracles God had planned for her. Like the new baby, that was on it’s way for Kelly and Danni.