Love, Loss and Sacrifice

The small clusters of stars dotted in the sky mesmerised Taylor. She loved how they twinkled, she was always afraid of the dark but the stars relaxed her.
"Did you know that a star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity." beamed Levi, proud of the fact he had just shared. Taylor just laughed.
Levi was always trying to impress her with facts even though he knew she didn't really care. Levi was her best friend and always had been, they had known each
other since primary school and since then they have pretty much been inseperable.
"No, I didn't know that." grinned Taylor. She knew what Levi was going to say next as this same conversation happened everytime he told one of his facts.
"Thats because you never listened in class, if you did you probably wouldn't be working in the cornershop." Levi announced, holding up his hands as he took in
Taylor's glaring look. "Sorry." Levi muttered. Taylor never took what he said offensively as she knew he didn't mean it to be. Taylor sometimes wondered how her
and Levi had ever become friends. He was quite a nerdy boy with short deep brown curls and thick rectangular glasses covering pale green eyes. Whereas she
was into the latest fashions and had wavy caramel hair that hung just below her shoulders and bright blue eyes. Levi was about 6ft tall and was as skinny
as a stick. Taylor was about 5ft 5 and skinny but not stick skinny.
"Lets go inside now, my mum and dad should be back from their camping trip soon." Taylor suggested pulling herself up off the dampening grass and then giving
Levi a hand up. Taylor's house was centered in a small village a mile away from the Northern Woods of Minnesota. Her house was only tiny as they didn't have
much money, it wasn't too much of a bother as she was the only daughter of Mr and Mrs Anderson. As the two of them entered through the small back door into
the cramped kitchen they heard the rumbling of a car engine outside.
"That must be my mum and dad back from their travels" Taylor said to Levi in mid run to the front door. She yanked the stiffening door open only to find Mrs Clark,
Levi's mum stepping out of the car. She was about 6ft tall the same as Levi and had the same pale green eyes but she had striking ginger hair that was styled
into a neat bob.
"Oh hi Jo." Taylor said dissappointly, she hated her mum and dad being away even if it was only for a weekend.
"You don't sound very happy to see me today Taylor." Chuckled Jo, patting Taylors shoulder as she spoke.
"Oh no I am, I just thought you were my mum and dad" Taylor smiled "Do you want to come in for a while?"
"Oh no I better get home I've left Alexis alone with Heidi. Thankyou for the offer anyway Taylor." Jo replied gesturing Levi to follow her back to the car. Alexis and
Heidi were Levi's two sisters. Levi was 19, Alexis was 10 and Heidi was 4 so there was quite an age difference between them all.
"Bye Taylor!" Levi waved goodbye as he walked down the dirt path back to his car.
"Bye" Taylor shouted in reply as the Clarks car chugged off out of sight. Taylor gently closed the door behind her and walked back to the cramped kitchen.
The counters were wooden and becoming rotten in places, they had an old gas stove that was once white but is now a dusty grey colour which is slowly
coming to the end of its life, a fridge - freezer which is barely even cold anymore and a kettle that when boiling gargles and screams at you like its in pain. The
walls were once a bright, sunny yellow but the wallpaper is slowly peeling away revealing an ugly brown colour underneath. Taylor hated the state her house was
in and was embarrased everytime Levi came round. They normally hung out in the garden as she didn't like being surrounded by the ugliness of the house. She
never moaned about it to her parents as they worked so hard, they had said about decorating her bedroom once but by the time they had bought the things
that were needed like food and drink they just about had enough money left to buy a lamp with. A cheap lamp. Taylor sighed and flicked on the kettle, she
could do with a nice cup of tea whilst she waited for her mum and dad to walk in. Next to her the kettle screamed and shook, steam spewed out of the top.
Taylor was sure one day that thing was going to explode. She plucked three cups out of the rotting cupboard above her, one for her, one for her mum and one
for her dad. She dropped a tea bag in each. She then added two sugars to each cup while she waited for the kettle to power down. When it had finally
stopped its screaming she poured the boiling water in each and took them into the living room and sat them down on the small glass coffee table.

Taylor looked at her watch, it was 11pm. At least an hour had passed since Levi left and her mum and dad still weren't back. Taylor sighed whilst
tipping the wasted tea down the sink. They must be stuck in traffic she thought as she climbed the creaking stairs that lead up to her bedroom. Her bedroom
was nothing special. The walls were pink with the outline of butterflies in certain places where she had wall stickers up as a kid, the carpet was no longer soft and
was now a matted, dirty white. Her bed sat along the back wall against the window, pink covers draped over it and a chocolate brown teddy bear sat at the
end. She had a bedside cabinet next to her bed that was a faded brown colour with a picture of her and Levi on when they were ten. Opposite that on the
other side of the room was a worn out desk that held a chunky white computer. Taylor slumped on her bed, maybe they decided to stay another night she
thought as she slid under her covers not bothering to put her pyjamas on. Or maybe they went back to their friends for a drink. She tried to convince herself that it
was one of those scenarios as she drifted off to sleep.

Taylor awoke to the sound of two birds singing beautifully outside her window. She forced open her drooping eyes to view the stream of light that filled her
bedroom. She sat up groggily in her bed, feeling gross as she was still in her clothes from yesterday. The room looked even uglier in daylight and the carpet looked
extremely dirty. All the thoughts about the room passed through her head until she realised that her mum and dad were probably home now.
"Mum, Dad!" Taylor shouted breaking through her bedroom door and dashing down the creaking stairs. The house was still and silent like yesterday. Her Mum and
dad still weren't home. Maybe they popped out to get some milk she thought as she made her way back up the stairs to get ready for the day ahead. Taylor
pulled a random selection of clothes out of her draw as she was too tired to even think properly. It turned out she had a pair of dark blue bootcut jeans and a red
tank top so she didn't look too bad. She then went into the tiny bathroom, brushed her teeth and splashed some cool water onto her face to wake her up a
bit. Just as she had finished drying her groggy face the phone started shrieking away downstairs. That has got to be my mum and dad phoning to tell me they
are on their way back Taylor thought hopefully as she picked up the phone off the side.
"Hello?" Taylor said in hopefull tone that it was her mum or dad at the other end of the line.
"Hello, who is this I am addressing?" Said a gruff voice that didn't belong to her dad.
"This is Taylor, Taylor Anderson... who is this?" Taylor replied feeling slightly suspicious.
"Hi Miss Anderson, this is Officer Martin I have some bad news about your mother and father."