Word Thirty-One: Flowers (*Extended Edition*)

Samantha pulled into the driveway, and looked at her surroundings. Things hadn’t changed much since she left home a few years back. The grass swayed in the wind. The windows were all open, and Dad’s car was parked underneath the basketball net. Mom’s magnolia tree still stood out back, its flowers shading what once had been Samantha and her sister’s get-away location: the swing-set.

Samantha got out of her car and ran to the swing-set, tears burning her eyes.  She sat on the swing and pumped as hard as she could, her feet kicking the magnolias as she got higher in the air. She knocked some of the flowers off the tree, and for now, she couldn’t care less.

Dare she think it, she was mad at God. Five years ago He took Mom after her long and painful battle with breast cancer, and now He wanted Janelle? This was getting to be too much for Samantha.

Still swinging, Samantha stretched her legs out straight in front of her, and leaned her head backwards. She closed her eyes, and let it sink in.

Janelle was gone.

And there was nothing Samantha could do about it.