The End's Beginning- TLOS

Visits

"Elizabeth!" yelled one of her cousins. Elizabeth held out her arms as twelve-year-old Alana ran across the hallway and hugged her tightly.

Her other cousin, Carlos, walked behind his sister and smiled at Elizabeth. He was two years younger than Elizabeth and was a lot more mature than Alana. Alana was a small girl with her mother's strawberry blonde hair and big blue eyes with some freckles scattered on her nose and face. Carlos looked very similar, with the same coloured hair, freckles, but with brown eyes instead of blue ones.

"Where's your mom, guys?" Elizabeth asked them. She couldn't wait to see her aunt.

Alex had never failed to get her a new book every time she visited. She said she understood her love for books and related to it a lot, which made Elizabeth really happy. Her aunt was really supportive of everything she did, just like Bree and Conner were.

Alana let go of her cousin and nodded. "This way!"

Carlos and Alana led Elizabeth into the dining room, where Alex, Conner, Arthur, and Bree sat, chatting and laughing. They looked up as Elizabeth walked in with her cousins and her aunt and uncle stood up.

"Elizabeth! It's so nice to see you!" her uncle said, smiling and hugging her.

Alex also hugged her and held out a paper bag by its handles. "Still like reading, I hope," she laughed.

"Definitely," Elizabeth assured and looked into the bag. Inside sat a book like she knew there would be. "I can't wait to sit on a beanbag and just read this and fall asleep when I start to get tired."

"Look at what it is!" Alex said as Elizabeth's family members watched.

She nodded and lifted the book out of the bag. It was Bridge to Terabithia, one of the books she'd wanted to read for as long as she could remember but could never get a hold of one. Elizabeth hugged her aunt tightly and thanked her a million more times before running up to her room to read the book as the adults continued to talk.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During the last weekend before summer, Elizabeth spent most of her time hanging out with her family and reading her book, even after she'd completed it. It had to be her favourite book of all time. She'd gone on another date with Ben and loved it as much as she loved the first one, but it was time to go back to school.

Elizabeth grunted in frustration as her alarm rang over and over again. She moved her arm around her bedside table and accidentally knocked some books over along with the clock, which stopped ringing because of the fall. Elizabeth completed her morning routine and chose to wear a white shirt with a black Adidas logo, a pair of ripped light blue jean shorts, an original red and black plaid button-up tied around her waist, and black Vans Old Skool shoes.

She tied her hair up into her signature messy bun quickly and headed downstairs for breakfast with her cousins and siblings while the adults all worked together to create the best possible breakfast they could. When she sat down, her brother and Carlos were there but Carrie and Alana weren't.

Conner put down a plate of hash browns that smelled amazing and Alex gave each person an empty glass and put two aside for Elizabeth's sister and her cousin.

"Orange juice or milk?" she asked Elizabeth.

"Oh, the classic OJ please," Elizabeth said.

Alex cringed playfully but smiled as she filled her glass. She asked Matthew and Carlos what they wanted, then turned to look up and took a breath before she yelled. Elizabeth covered her ears.