Flashback

A small 13 year old brunette girl sat on the street corner in front of Mission Creek Church. Her hair was down and wavy due to the braids she recently removed. It was a messy wavy but she didn't care.

Her beautiful white sundress was filthy due to the activities from earlier. Her best friend Leo's mother, Tasha, had taken them to the park behind the church to celebrate her birthday since her parents were off doing some sort of mission. It's not the first time they've done it but whenever they do they always find a way to make it up to her by celebrating it again a few days after they come back.

Tasha and her mother sort of got along but there are moments like this where Tasha just snaps. Earlier today, Leo and Tasha had come over to her place to say happy birthday and see what they had planned and when the brunette had told them they had gone, Tasha began to rant about how irresponsible her parents were and dragged her out of the house.

She had tried to make the brunette forget the fact that her parents weren't there like she does whenever they miss that day. It worked back when she was only a few years old but now...it hurts.

The brunette acted like everything was fine without a care in the world for Leo's sake since it was his day too, but the moment Tasha turned her back, the brunette ran off to the front of the church to be alone.

She was suppose to be alone today anyways.

So now here she was at the corner of the street sitting all alone knowing that Tasha was probably worried sick. Her face was as well dirty due to the dried up tears. People who walked by barley glanced at the teenager thinking she was just being dramatic and looking for attention when in reality, all she wanted was her parents to call her and tell her happy birthday. They couldn't even do that.

The girl stared at the ground, wiping away any new tears from leaking out without noticing a homeless man making his way towards her. He wore torn up ragged clothes and smelled as if he hadn't taken a bath in weeks all while pushing along a cart filled with black bags that contained recyclables.

Tapping the teenager on the shoulder, she looked up and noticed the homeless man for the first time holding out a rose. The girl flinched slightly at his touch but it didn't bother him. Instead, the man held out his hand to reveal a plastic box which contained a plastic red rose.

When the brunette took it, he told her softly, "You're not alone kid. You're not alone." Before leaving.

The girl stared at the rose and for the first time in a while, she believed him. She wasn't alone. Not today at least. She may not feel that way tomorrow but today she did and that's okay.

And in a couple of years someone who loves her dearly will remind her of that again because there was one thing Amelia Falcon never was.

She was never alone.
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Based on a true story.