Pain. Fear. Hatred. These things is what my life was full of. Love. Laughter. Happiness. I have none of these things. I used to though. I had a great Mom and Dad. We lived in a small house on the sandy shores of a beach in California. I had a small furry Labrador that would beg for any food he could get his soft paws on. Usually it was only broccoli.

That life doesn't seem amazing. Well....it still was. The nights my family and I had by the crackling fire after a dip in the ocean water were my favorite. My mother would sit on the green chair in the corner and braid my long red hair that everyone said was the prettiest thing. Dad would sing in the kitchen while he baked banana bread. My dog, Daisy, would chase her tail around the living room and I would giggle. That was ten-years-ago.

Think three years later. I live in a small apartment in New York City with my father and step mom, a woman who acts like the best mother ever. But when your father leaves she tries to get you to take meth and beer bottles she hides in my closet. That way if my Dad finds them he would get mad at me. Not her.

My mother was killed in a car accident. She was my favorite person on this planet. People would say that my mother was like a living angel. She went out of her way to help people. Her sweet face was like sunshine and Whenever I was sad or I had a bad day she would comfort me. Lots of people from the neighborhood came to her funeral. She was a respected woman that everyone loved.

So the horrid years of living with the woman that I considered a bad excuse for anything went bye. I became a teenager. My hormones and mood swings danced around everywhere and there was no one to explain them too. My father wouldn't understand and my step-mom had this idea that I was her hideous slave.

Then, one night, as I gazed up at the starry sky from my window I realized something. The sky was black. It was dark. Like me, I was lonely and sad light the black sky. But there were the stars there, so big and bright. Like the good things in life. I didn't have any of those stars. But my mother was one of the stars. My past memories were the stars. My puppy that my new mother gave away. The one person who actually liked me at school, my friend Kaylin. So I grabbed my things and put them in a bag.

I wasn't thinking strait. I thought that running away from my life would bring me closer to those bright stars that were shining above me. But I still ran. I didn't know where I was going. I had no money. Or food. But the fact that I was going to get closer to those stars. I was going to feel there warm heat. Their hope that everyone got. But when the big truck hit me each star ran away.

It was black. A cold still nothingness. It filled my mind and soul. I was walking in the nothingness. With nothing on me. I had none of my belongings. None of my things. But until suddenly a giant glowing gate in the distance opened up to me. I waled through hoping it would take me out of the nothingness. And I found myself in a flowing white dress. My red hair braided down my back with silver beads strung through my strands of red. I felt happy. And bright. Like an angel. Or a princess.

I laughed as a little girl on a white dog screamed by me in laughter. I saw an old couple embracing themselves. The old lady was crying as she hugged the old man. And then I saw my mother. She was a striking image of me only older. She had her arms opened up welcoming me.

She smiled and it all got brighter.

"Welcome Izzy." She said while calling my name. Her bright ocean blue eyes sparkled as millions of people in white came to hug me. I was now home.


I'm not writing this story to make you confused. Or frustrated. But to realize, we always can find our happiness. Not by looking at your bad things in life. Not by making your life ruined. But by smiling at those stars. Going forward, never back. By becoming one of those stars. A happy memory. A happy, good person.

Always look on the bright side. Thats where the stars are, right?