I Decided to Write

Taylor closed her eyes and felt the warm summer sun on her face, and remembered, not for the first time, how easy it was to overlook all of the beautiful things in her life. Today was- well, that was the beauty of it; she didn’t know what day it was. The sky was clear blue glass, and July’s warm fingers stroked her sun-soaked cheek. Her hair was long and untamed; it was all she could do to brush it in the morning, let alone attempt to style it. T-shirts and shorts were dominant in her wardrobe, paired with worn rubber flip-flops or, as it usually ended up, no shoes at all. She hadn’t tanned like she usually did with her friends, but the sun had gradually browned her naturally olive skin. Summer was the most beautiful part of her life; the part that she lived for, where she could laze around in the drowsy heat without any obligations. She was free.
Today she had done nothing but sit around, and by now the sun was beginning to set. The thought came to her that if she wanted to, she could decide to have a friend over right now, and it pleased her. Instead, she decided to give herself a solo adventure, just because she could. She got up from her grassy bed and lazily looked around for her shoes; when she found them she continued to the garage. She mumbled-yelled something to her mother about biking and she’d be back later, and then mounted her bike and was off.
Usually the route she took was around her friends’ houses, but today she went in the opposite direction. She found some woods that she had not known were there, and got off her bike to look around. She entered the shady trees, and, after walking for some amount of time, discovered a stream. Delighted, she slipped out of her foot prison and basked her feet in the cool trickling water. She grabbed her shoes and continued to walk around, keeping her feet in the stream. She had been walking for about fifteen minutes now, and wondered how she had never noticed these woods before, with them being so close to her house. In fact, she knew she had passed this street many times before, and didn’t remember ever seeing any woods. Nevertheless, Taylor disregarded her confusion and continued on her way.
It was much darker in the woods than on the street, but it was getting hard to see what with the sun setting so quickly. She patted her pockets to make sure she had her phone, should her mother need to call her, and realized with a sigh that she had forgotten it. During the summer she had used it less and less, until she had taken to not even bringing it with her anymore. She decided that she should probably turn around before it got completely dark, and proceeded to turn and follow the stream the way she had come. When she got to the spot where she had found the stream, she put her shoes back on and followed the trees to the outside of the woods. Unfortunately, she could not seem to find them. She was positive that this was the same way she had entered the trees, but even as she continued to walk, the street was nowhere to be found.
Taylor was not one to worry, but it was getting dark, and she didn’t want to get into any trouble with her mother. She quickened her pace, resolving that the dark must have made the walk seem longer and that her bike was waiting for her just a little ahead. But she walked for another ten minutes, and still could not find the street. Taylor was very confused, and worry was beginning to rise, along with the moon. It was not completely dark, but it was dark enough for her to not be able to see trees that were only ten feet away. Her heart began to beat a little faster, and she groaned with worry.