Before Yesterday

The calm breeze blew my hair across my eyes. I sat in the hammock watching the

sun go down, and feeling nostalgic. Once upon a time, I used to love watching

the sun set. I used to ride horses with my dad down to the creek and lay in the

green grass watching the large orange ball coming down against the purple-pink

sky. That was before everything happened.

When I was born, my parents called me Stevie after my dad Steven Edwards. And

actually my whole name is Stephanie Nicole Edwards. But I was automatically

nicknamed Stevie. My parents divorced when I was 6. My mom was wild, she liked

to party all the time. My dad, on the other hand, was a stern-faced but handsome

lawyer who loved to spend time with me while to my mother I was just a brat and

a burden. I even look like my dad. I am tall and thin, with dark mud-colored hair

and sea-green eyes. I have freckles dotting my nose and I have an Irish coloring.

After the divorce, when I was in second grade, I was diagnosed with dyslexia

which is a learning disorder making it hard for me to read and write. My dad

stuck with me though. He was determined to make sure that I fit in with the

other kids and felt normal. My mom treated me like a disease, she never wanted

to see me. So I was a daddy's girl. We did everything together. We baked

chocolate chip cookies, went to Chuckie Cheese, he taught me how to ice skate

and he taught me all about the "birds and the bees".

I was twelve when he met Lana. Lana was a tall, slim blonde and very nice and

funny. She had pretty eyes, blue as the sky on a sunny day. She treated me like

a friend, not a nuisance and we soon became close. She more of a mother to me

than my own mother. Lana and my dad married when I was fourteen. I was one of

Lana's bridesmaids along with her two nieces. My dad and Lana and I were a

team. We went camping together and went on a lot of trips. It was great.

Just about a month ago, two weeks after I turned 16, my dad and Lana were

killed in an car crash. They had been at the movies celebrating their one year

anniversary. I remember I was at my best friend, Jade's house and was told by

Jade's mom. It was a shock. It was like my most worst nightmare come true. For

days after that I didn't go to school. I didn't do anything. I just sat and stared

into space.

And now as I sit here, staring off into the beautiful sky, I feel tears streaming

down my face. Tomorrow I will be going to live with my dad's parents in New York. My

mother didn't even bother to come to the funeral. I will never forget my dad and Lana

They gave me what my mother didn't. We were almost the perfect family. So now

as the sun goes down, I step off the hammock, wipe my tears and walk inside.

Someday, maybe I will feel better, I hope. As they say, Time heals all wounds.