I took a deep breath of the cool, Autumn air. Klava Park was always beautiful during this time of the year, though some of the trees were bare, and some of the plants were dying. Even with that, it was one of the few peaceful places in Klava City. It was set off near a small church which I used to go to. 

I was expecting someone, actually. I checked my watch. 2:10. Myrna would be here soon. 

Sure enough, a short, black-haired teenager came shuffling towards me. She had her hands stuffed into her brown jacket pockets. Myrna plopped down in front of me. She didn’t talk but glared at the ground. Something was wrong. 

“Hey, Alex,” she grumbled. “I can’t believe those jerks! They act like they can boss everyone around then wonder why nobody likes them! Come on!”

I shook my head. Myrna couldn’t let those kids get to her like that. When she does, they get more and more power over her. I wish I could do something to stop them.  

Myrna sighed, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to become super negative there. Well, school’s been pretty busy lately. Jazz Club is playing at a new cafe, Art Club has a gallery-thing next month, there’s a test in Biology next week. Oh, and my grandma is visiting! Remember her? The one that said you looked like young Tom Cruise?” 

I chuckled. I remembered when I was part of Jazz Club. Myrna and I had joined together when we first entered high school. She had been shy about doing it at first, but then I was able to bother her enough to convince her to play. Her violin skills were pretty good, but her piano playing seemed to flow from her, like it was as natural as breathing. She hadn’t said that she has stopped playing, yet. I hope she doesn’t stop. 

Other than Jazz Club, Myrna was a wonderful artist. I was never into the artsy-fartsy stuff, but I really liked her creations. They were usually nature-themed or combined her Irish-Chinese background. I could never have created something as good as hers.

As for her grandma, she usually slipped me some candy if I had seen her while I was over at Myrna’s house. 

Myrna commented with a slight frown, “There’s also a new policy at school. Nobody can be on campus without some kind of I.D. After…you know… school’s been more careful about things.”

She took out her wallet from her red purse. Opening it, she revealed a white I.D card that read, “Myrna Shen. Junior. Milton High School.” Myrna roughly twisted it in her hands.

“This stupid card doesn’t help anything. It just becomes a pain to keep track of. What is it even supposed to do? What if someone was on the street, and someone attacks them? What the heck is a card supposed to do?” she fumed.

I sighed. Myrna has a good heart, but I guess she’s still pretty shy to say anything. If I could, I would tell all of her ideas to the world. I had thought about that a lot, how she couldn’t say what’s on her mind. She thought that she was useless, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.

I tried to look on the positive side. Myrna had seemed to be more confident than when we first met. In seventh grade, she was a pretty quiet kid. I had been a very loud one. The only times she would talk would be if she answered a question, or if she was telling me to shut up. 

“Well, your sister has been complaining a lot,” Myrna huffed while fiddling with her hair. 

What’s happening to my sister? I thought. I fell to my feet and stared at Myrna’s brown eyes. If something happened to her…

“There’s this boy in her class, Carter, I think? She said he keeps arguing with her each time her class has a debate. I told her to tell the teacher, but she says that she doesn’t want to seem like a wuss. She says she hates him, but then also says that she doesn’t mind him that much? I don’t know what’s going on. You know what? It ‘kinda reminds me of us when we were kids,” Myrna smiled.  

It really did. Myrna and I had hated each other. Then, when our Science teacher made us work together to fill out a worksheet, we talked to each other, and I learned that she liked the same things as I did. Same shows, same music, same books (except Myrna read a few romance novels, and I wasn’t into that stuff). She wasn’t as rude as I thought, and I guess she didn’t find me as annoying. As time went on, we became really close. I had even begun to have a small crush on her. On our first dance in Freshman year, I asked her out. I told her what I had felt. Waiting for her response felt like I was waiting for a bomb to go off. Then, she responded. She had felt the same way. I had felt something I had never felt at that moment. I feel sad that that feeling has gone away. 

While I was reminiscing, Myrna had grown quiet. The chilly wind whistled in my ear. I watched a few of the gold, orange, and red leaves blew around. She pulled down her hat. I moved next to her. It probably didn’t help--I was most likely freezing compared to her. 

“When did it get so cold?” she muttered to herself. “It was warm just a few minutes ago.”

Together, we sat there. Myrna didn’t say a word; I wished she would. It felt so odd for it to be this quiet when she came to talk to me.

After a bit of time, she whispered, “I wish you could tell me what to do. I just... feel like I’m failing you.”

Those words hit me, and they hit me hard. I hated that I couldn’t do something. At least, something useful: tell her that it will get better, that there will be something good that will happen. I couldn’t help, and I hated myself for that. 

We would’ve stared into nothing for the next hour if Myrna didn’t begin to talk, again.

“‘Walk on, walk on with hope in you, and you’ll never walk alone.’ That was from Carousel, the musical that Theatre Club performed,” Myrna said with a chuckle at the end. She paused to think, then continued. “You’ve always been with me, Alex. Never forget that and never think that I don’t love you.”

Suddenly, an alarm went off. Myrna hissed as she whipped out her phone to stop it. She poked at the phone multiple times until it finally stopped. 

Myrna sighed, “It’s 2:40--I have to go pick up Adelpha. I don’t want your sister waiting long.”

With one last wave, she turned and walked away. 

As I watched her leave, I smiled to myself. Though I could only watch as my friends and family walked through life, I knew that they were not alone, and that they were going to be alright.     

Even though I was gone, they were going to be alright.