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Carmen looked into the mirror. Her pale skin reflected back at her, showing just how much of her needed to be fixed. She starred into her own dark brown eyes: full of sorrow and thought. She yanked her blonde hair out of the collar of a white robe, the only thing hiding her nakedness. As she looked into the silver glass she could only think of one thing, a younger her, herself mere four-years prior. A lone tear tumbled down her face, and into the small dip her collarbone crated due to mal-nutrition. She walked out of the blue bathroom, and shed the material, before walking over to her closet. The room was small and painted in coffee, and chocolate tones. A poster of a folk musician painted on the wall, once again in browns. The mans face smiled back, he sat on a stool so care-free, so happy, all he had to do was sit on a stool, with a guitar on his lap. Carmen however had to get dressed her day was fast approaching. a** she looked through her clothes a knock rang at the door. “I’m naked!” her voice shouted sounding surprisingly strong to her ears. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes, my shower t-took a bit longer the I had been anticipating!”

“Okay, hurry though we’re just waiting on you and Natalee!” a male voice replied back to her. Her brother, Kyle, was four years older then her and, well a man not much else could be said about him. He stood a god four inches taller then her, and his blonde hair looked much more lively then hers. His eyes always sparkled when he was smiling, and to the normal person he seemed perfect. He had A-B honor roll, was on the Football team, had received two scholarships OSU, and PSU plus another one expected from MSU. He volunteered every Sunday after church, and he taught younger kids with disabilities. He was in one word a dream.

“Alright!” she walked over to her bed and set a mid-calf black dress on it, before walking over to her dresser for undergarments. She slipped into all clothing, and once again looked into the dreaded, full-body mirror. Her figure was apparent, but little, and her dress made her look paler then before. She walked back into the attached bathroom, and put on a bit of eyeliner, and a light eye shadow, followed by mascara and lip-gloss. She pulled her hair quickly up into a high pony-tail so that it would only go to her butt, and opened the door to see Kyle about to bang on her door again, she merely looked down, avoiding his face, and focusing on his black pants and shoes. “I’m ready to go.” She mumbled as she walked over to the foyer area, and slipped on a pair of black, backed high heel shoes, with a built on silver buckle. She looked at her brother in the face then, his ear length hair reflected the afternoon sun from the windows, and his eyes shone as he looked down at her. The tears welled in her eyes, but anyone could she wasn’t going down without a fight; if she didn’t have to cry, she wasn’t going to.

“Carmen, it’s fine, no one can blame you for crying.” Kyle’s voice resounded in her mind, the sweet baritone reverberating in her ears. She just cried. She could feel her make-up running, but all was well, she finally had her release. He pulled her into a hug where she continued to let the tears fall, until a small voice was heard.

“Carm, Kyle, I’m ready to go!” A girl around six stood on the hardwood floors, smiling up at them. She smiled completely unaware of the moment, she had interrupted. Her three missing teeth gave her a true growing child appearance, that contrasted with the black satin and velvet knee dress she wore. Black panty hose clung to her chubby calves as she flipped around in saddle shoes.

“Okay, Nat, one second. Just let me fix my makeup.” The older girl said quickly running back down the dark hall to alter her appearance. As she ran back, black streaks gone, she saw a light on in the small study, so she walked in to see, on her mothers large oak wood desk, a picture of her when she was a bit younger then Natalee, kissing her father on the cheek. They were in the mountains, and both bundled up in jackets, but the girl had moved her scarf from her mouth, to kiss her father. She turned off the desk lamp, and walked back outside, the picture embedded in her mind. “Lets get this over with.” She opened the door wile holding out two coats she had pulled from the small rack beside the door. One for her sister, and one for her brother. She grabbed a large puffy silver coat, for herself before heading out the door, and locking it behind her. She set the key ring in her pocket, before walking out, the seven or so keys jangling.

As the three of them pulled up to a black rod iron gate, Kyle let the girls out and silently went to park his car. Carmen grabbed out her keys and opened the gate. She took in a deep breath, and squeezed her sister’s hand as the oldest of the three came over to walk back with them. The grass was dying and the leaves turning colors. “Where is it?” Kyle asked looking at the middle child.

“Gate seven row three, fourth plat back, and sixth to the side. WE should see mom there,” Carmen said looking around at all the headstones. Each one carved with the name of the once living person who was now buried below it. The though sent chills down her spine. A cool wind blew across her exposed legs causing her to get goose bumps. “There she is.” The three walked down the concrete pathway, before walking in the grass over to their mother, they hared her speaking quietly to herself.

“Hi mommy!” Natalee shouted at the top of her lungs. Kyle immediately crouched down to her level and began explaining to her that a graveyard was a sacred place, and that she had to let people rest peacefully. Carmen simply let him deal with it; she just wasn’t in the mood. She took the remaining ten or so steps to the stone, before taking the flowers from her tear-choked mother, and replacing the old ones with them. The silk and plastic was cold to the touch, but then again, so was everything outside, it was after all November fifth. The chilly Pennsylvania air stung her fingers and nose, but she stood there praying until small hands tugged on her own, “I’m sorry. Will you tell daddy that I am to?”

Carmen smiled sadly before kneeling down, and taking her sisters hands. “How about we tell him together?” Natalee nodded, and followed her sister by closing her eyes and bowing her head. “Just say it Nat, he’ll hear.” Carmen said giving a light squeeze to her sister.

“Hi daddy, it’s Natalee, and I just want to say sorry for screaming, I didn’t mean to make you all the other dead people mad” Carmen held back a small laugh, “well I really miss you, when are you coming home? I know mommy misses you to and Carmen any Kyle talk about you a bunch. You’re not leaving us like Emily’s daddy left her and her mommy are you?” the small girls voice filled with worry, and Carmen swallowed her tears, hearing the pain, and naïve honesty was truly heart wrenching. “Well I’ll see you soon daddy. I love you! And I really am sorry for yelling I didn’t know about all the cranky people here” she kissed the air and smiled at her older sister, who nodded, and stood back up by her brother, younger sister in hand.

“Alright guys I have to get back to work.” Their mother gave them ala kiss before running back to the pathway. Her shoes clacked as she walked. Natalee watched her seeming how it was more fun then watching her siblings pray. She read across the stone:

David McFarland
Father ~ son ~ husband
He will be missed

“Carmen what does the big rock say?” she questioned. Her reply was a finger tracing the bottom of the words, helping her to sound it out.

A the three finished their thoughts, and walked out to the car they saw me carrying a casket, followed by people in black, a woman carried a purple heart box. “A soldier” Carmen whispered for the wind to carry.

“The woman doesn’t look a day over twenty five does she?” her brothers voice replied, and from then on they all entertained them selves with their own thoughts. The car ride was quiet some soft music played as they drove. Kyle was focused on the road wile the girls were looking out the window watching the snowfall.

“Hey Natalee, when we get home-” ba rung ba rung ba rung ra ra ra a cell phone sung to the air. “One second.” Carmen flipped open the phone, “hello…Okay…No it’s fine…go ahead…okay…alright…I will...I’ll be sure to…love you mom.” She sighed as the phone snapped shut. She slid it back into her coat. “That was mom, she’s going to be out late again tonight.”

“David?” Kyle asked assuming that their mother’s boyfriend had asked her out tonight.

“Yep. How’d you know?” Carmen asked sarcastically.

“Lucky guess” her brother replied.

“What about when we got home?” Natalee asked obviously knowing that it would be fun.

“I was wondering if you wanted to help me make dinner?” the blonde asked.

“YAY!” her sister screeched from the back.

“Alright.” Carmen said, “how about…mock Pizza?” Another screech was heard as they pulled into a large three and a half-car garage. Carmen spun around and un-buckled Natalee before pulling her in the house to take off her dress.

By the time the six year old had been tracked down, undressed and tracked down again to get re-dressed into jeans and a long sleeved purple shirt. Kyle was already spraying the pans for dinner. “Watch her, and I’m going to go change.”

“All right” He laughed as his sister ran out the door to put on normal clothes for her.

She soon emerged in the kitchen with jeans and a black turtleneck on. Her gold locket stood out on the dark material, and her hair tie up in a high ponytail swished along as she ran over to help.

“Aright, Nat, now that you and Kyle have the meat on yourselves and the bund, do you want to help me put on the cheese?” her sister bobbed her head and grinned goofily, as she was handed a small bag of cheese. The two of them covered the pan with the white food as Kyle put spices on to finish off the food. When they finished, and the food was put in the oven, Kyle and Carmen cleaned the kitchen wile listening to their sister sing ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ very off-key.

As they finished dumping the rag down the drain the timer went off and they ate at the table, both heads empty, and Carmen next to Natalee at a diagonal from Kyle. The only sound was of what happened in Mrs. Judy’s first grade class.

After the dishes had been put away, and Natalee had done her coloring pages for school. Carmen put her to sleep. Kyle normally went down about an hour after her, and that left the house to Carmen. She changed into short shorts and an old color-guard shirt, before gathering up the trash and taking it out to the curb. She finally let her hair down and it went mid-way down her thighs, lower then the shorts. She set the large smelly green can down on the cement next to the matching recycle bin, and walked back into the house with her feet hitting the cold November cement. “Hello Carmen!” a cheery voice said from next door.

“Hey Brian.” She walked over to him and gave him a hug.

“You have to be cold.” He said his long jeans and brown leather jacket covered him almost completely, even a light brown hat covered his head. “I am,” he said huddling his arms about him. He shivered a bit and chuckled deeply in contrast to her high-pitched attempt. “So how are you guys, I know that today’s um-” he trailed of letting the chilly wind finish for him.

“We’re good thanks, Nat still doesn’t realize what it is and Kyle’s over it.” She paused and knew that he was waiting for the rest. “I’m as good as I have been, and mom’s on a date.” She said rolling her lips through her teeth.

“Oh, well uh…you better get in it’s cold.” He said needing to change the subject.

“Yeah, I’ve still got a lot of work to do before mom gets home in an hour.” She said stumbling around on her feet.

“Yeah.” He smiled, “And incase I don’t see you, merry Christmas Carm.”

“Merry Christmas.” She said and turned around her legs freezing in the crisp air. She turned around and let out a sad smile. She hadn’t moved since as long as she could remember, and she had always lived by the Young’s, they had one son: Brian Young. Her first crush, her dad would always tease her about him, before he left anyway. She fiddled with her cross necklace; she never took it off. Her father gave it to her. She walked up the cold, wet grass into the house where she began loading the dishwasher of the earlier dishes. When that was finished she turned off the light on the fish tank, and dimmed the ling on the turtle tank, before sighing a yellow folder for Natalee’s school, to prove that an authority figure had seen it. She then saw a pile of mail and sorted thorough it. There was a letter from Nat’s school and about six bills, followed by a thanksgiving letter and a citation from the homeowners Association. Carmen went outside to pick up one of Natalee’s buckets that solved the HOA. She then filled out six checks down to the signature and paper clipped them to a paper that said:

Just sign on the line, I have them all filled out and your register up to date. Natalee’s school sent over a letter she’s on the 74th percentile of reading, and I already signed all the junk like that. The only things I need you to do are sign and leave the two checks for Kyle and my lunches at school. They’re filled out and attached to. Thanks!

She set them down on her mother’s desk, and pulled a black shadow box from the wall. Inside sat a purple heart surrounded by third level general stars, and many other military awards. She smiled at how brave her dad was. A distant laugh was heard. Carmen re-hung the badges and scuttled down the hall to the stairs.

“Carmen Elise!” her mothers voice shot through the air. “It is nearly eleven ‘o clock what are you still doing up? It’s a school night.”

“I was finishing up the mail, and the trash, and the animals, and the dishes.” She said looking down. “There’s a bunch for you to sign on your desk. Night, love you.” She said as she walked quickly up the steps. To see her mother dressed like she as was personally insulting. ‘I think she got those clothes from my closet.’ Carmen thought as she entered her room. She picke dup the clothes her mother had thrown on the floor, and checked her E-mail. There were no new messages, not that there ever were, so she slipped into bed wearing her old guard practicing outfit.

That's a good story! I like the detail in it. Most kids lost there fathers or even mothers in the miltary. It's very sad. This story can turn out to be really great! Please write more!

((Told ya color tv!! Be sure to post in the main forums too biggrin but thanks for joining!))

Yeah, some parts were confusing. I also think you didn't put enough history, but later chapters could fix that! not a grammer crtic, a plot crtic....