A young man in a grey t-shirt, blue jeans, and an unbuttoned flannel shirt walked down a winding path leading through a field of trees and grass. The sun glistened above, and the sound of chirping birds rang in his ears. Clouds streaked across the bright cerulean sky. He would often take walks like this to clear his head and straighten out his thoughts. He thought about things a lot, but couldn’t help but feel that he hadn’t accomplished much in his life. Of course, he was still pretty young, but others his age have already begun their careers, gotten married, or heck, at least gotten a girlfriend. He’d often ask himself why he had such a hard time focusing on the positive things about himself.

As he walked along, he found a girl sitting at a bench. She looked vaguely familiar, like someone from a dream. Her long brown hair slightly masked her face. The sun’s light beautifully radiated her fair skin. He continued toward her. She looked up and recognized him immediately.

"Brian!" she said as she ran up to him and gave him a hug. "I haven’t seen you in years!"

"Nice to see you too, Amber," he said, embarrassed. He wished he had worn nicer clothes or splashed on cologne before making this second first impression.

"So, how’ve you been?" She asked as he sat beside her.

"Not bad."

"Man, how long has it been?" She stroked his face with her eyes to prove that he was not an illusion.

"About ten years," he replied.

"Remember all the good times we had in Middle School?"

"Actually, I don’t remember too much from Junior High," said Brian.

"Really?" Asked Amber. "You don’t remember all those times I came to your house, hyper after drinking a bottle of Jolt Cola?"

"I remember that. You would always yell at the cars passing by."

"And we would always talk about weird stuff, like what would happen if we mixed vinegar and nitro glycerine." They both started to laugh. "Remember when we used to play Nintendo together? And remember when you took me to the school picnic?"

"Yeah, I remember that. I puked on your shoes after we got off the Gyrotron."

"I forgot about that."

"Yeah…" Brian shook his head. "God was I embarrassed, but you bought me a Coke and sat with me until I felt better."

"Now I remember, but I was thinking of when we rode the Ferris Wheel together. You bought a ticket for me, and you held my hand when I started feeling scared. I thought that was really sweet." Brian shrugged his shoulders and smiled. She always seemed to know how to help him feel better, and remind him of good times when he would only remember the unhappy.

"Why did we loose touch?" Asked Amber. Her voice echoed in his mind as he spotted a crumbled up newspaper in a nearby wastebasket. On the front page was a picture of her face, the way she looked during her freshman year of high school. The headline read, "Teenage Suicide Victim." A clasp of thunder brought his vision to a close. Rain saturated his hair and clothes. He got up from the bench, and looked up to the sky. Rain poured into his eyes and ran down his face.