Why are you being so pessimistic? I asked myself. Miriam is only moving! She isn’t dying, or disappearing…

With my parents behind me again, it was much easier for me to get up for school every day. It was nice to be on a schedule again. Miriam was also happy I was back; she barely had any other friends. It was really just me and her. I used to be a social butterfly, but Miriam was always my best friend, and now, when the past year had turned me into a kind of wall flower, Miriam was the only one who stuck by me.

She kept me company for lunch, we skipped English together; I babysat with her when her parents were away and helped her choose a design for the yearbook. We were both good at drawing, and loved spending hours painting.

Miriam was my very own support system, the closest person I had in my life.

But then, just when life settled into some kind of routine, everything changed.

You should have known, Shulamis, I told myself as I walked home that day, shielding my face from the thunderous rain. I should have known that nothing in my life ever lasts. Good things go, bad things come. No routine ever stays a routine.

Why are you being so pessimistic? I asked myself. Miriam is only moving! She isn’t dying, or disappearing…