The Hills That Cradle Us

“Beep! Beep! Beep!” The alarm clock was having another hissy fit, batteries too low on charge that I had to keep changing them around in order for them to work. I slammed down on the snooze button and dressed in a mere fifteen minutes. As I dragged myself slowly down the stairs a sweet aroma of pancakes and sugary syrup beckoned my name. I took in a large breath and let out a huge sigh, startling Jess. This was the best part of the morning, and always offered a fantastic jump start to the day. Jess, my best friend, worst enemy, most entertaining companion, and loving sister always supplied just what I needed for the day to start off right. "Good morning," she said, greeting me with a smile.
I nodded and replied, "Let's hope so." Jess was well aware of how awful the week had been going for me. Yesterday two of my kids were sent home because of the flu. In addition the advanced students were pulled out to the upper classes and all that was left were misfits. Sure I cared about them, but it was easy to get fed up with their behavior. Next week would be better, I just kept telling myself that, but I knew it wouldn’t be.
That’s when Jess broke my thoughts with some surprising news. “Hey guess what? You got a letter today from some studio; the packaging makes me think it’s from that old friend of yours you were telling me about. Looks like it's been in the mail a while too. Probably got lost finding our apartment again.” I grabbed at the letter she was holding in her hand and tore it open. Jess was right, this letter was from Emily.