All set

"Mmmm...!?"

The alarm clock was ringing loudly in the morning.

Karen set it up so it could start buzzing and would wake her up as early as she could so she would not waste a single moment of this very special day.

"Yawn... What a wonderful dream that was..."

She opened her eyes as soon as she heard the sound and checked again to make sure she wasn't late for her planned day.

The alarm was showing six o'clock in the morning. Good, she wasn't late at all.

Honestly, she would be fine if she took another two hours too actually get off the bed. That's how it usually would go on during her daily routine. But not today. Today, everything had to be perfect.

She finally got off her little piece of heaven after rubbing her face on her pillow one last time and doing a few stretches.

She walked towards the mirror to decide what clothes she would be wearing for her big moment and saw her reflection, a slightly tall but thin girl with freckles under her eyes and massive jungle of red hair above her head, worth of being comparable to the hair of a lion.

She stretched her hand across her hair trying to grasp the feeling of wildness that came from its appearance.

After that was done, she returned to observing her wardrobe and deciding which one of her tacky clothes she would go out on the street with today.

At first glance everything looked the same. A bunch of shirts, pants, skirts, and socks, all inspired by the characters she loved the most from her favorite tv shows. She was a huge fangirl after all. She loved spending all day watching tv and following the plotlines of all kinds of dramas, comedies, and even animated shows.

Although she was starting to reach the age of sixteen and some of the other students at school would look at her weird for enjoying these things so much to the point of obsession, it was all ok. She didn't mind if people thought she was a bit weird for liking the things she liked.

There was no point in living if you couldn't do what you enjoyed after all.

"This one!!"

She picked a yellow shirt and an orange dress. Combined with her wild red hair, she was basically looking like a living personification of the colors of fire.

One would think she was doing that to call for attention, but, Karen being Karen, she was just trying to pay respects to her favorite character from the tv show "Mia's house of adventures!" where the main lead was a girl with blue hair that would often get teased for using colors that reminded people of the feeling of cold while going out to live adventures with her friends.

"Yeah!! This one will do just fine!!"

She opened her windows to get a grasp of the sunshine on her face and opened her arms as if she was waiting for a hug from the air itself.

"Mmmm!!! What a beautiful day!!"

After a quick shower and putting a bit of perfume, she went down to join her mother and father at breakfast.

"Moring guys!!"

Her mother was already finished with her breakfast and was just waiting for Karen's father to finish his reading the news so she could lean up the table.

"Morning sweetie... You look good! Are you going somewhere today?"

"Thanks mom!! I am actually!! I have big plans for today!! I can't wait!!"

"That's great honey! Just don't forget to let us know when you will be returning ok?"

"Don't worry, You'll know!"

She finished her eggs, bacon, and toast and took a small glass of hot milk before leaving the house. She rushed towards the side of her mother and gave her a big hug.

"Bye, mom!! Love ya!!"

"I love you too sweetie! Remember to call us!"

"Don't worry, don't worry, everything will be fine!"

She then went to her dad and tried to hug him too but was quickly rejected.

"Not now sweetie, I'm busy..."

"Not even a small one? Pleeeeeeeease??"

"Karen, please, you're not a baby anymore..."

"Just one small hug, you will barely notice it! I promise!!"

Her father looked at her and noticed that she probably would not leave him alone until he gave up. He noticed his wife enjoying the situation with a smirk.

"Sigh... Ok, but make it quick..."

"Yay!!! Thanks daddy!!"

"Yeah, yeah..."

"I love you both! Bye, mom! Bye dad!!"

"Sure sweetie, I love you too..."

"Bye honey! Don't forget to-"

"I know, I know! Don't forget to let you guys know."

She finally exited the house and left her parents by themselves.

Her father stared at his daughter as she walked away with a look of concern.

"Almost sixteen and she still dresses like this...? Maybe we should try to be a little more strict on her don't you think?"

"Come on dear, every child develops at their own pace. We just need to be a little patient with her."

"I think you are too patient with her..."

Outside on the streets, Karen was strolling through the neighborhood without a care in the world. She was wearing her headphones and listening to her favorite opening themes from the shows she loved so much.

One of her favorite hobbies was organizing her playlist so she would have something to listen to whenever she was bored and tried to memorize the lyrics of the songs.

This doesn't seem that impressive at first but one might think twice once you realize that most of her favorite songs where sung in another language. She was never one to dedicate herself to studying this kind of thing in classes, but she would always dedicate herself to memorize everything if it meant she could follow the beat of her beloved artists.

Even right now, as she walked on the sidewalk, she was trying to focus so that her steps would match the rhythm of the song on her ears as she continued to hum to herself.

"Hey! Are you! Ready-to-go!? Do! You know? The-way-to-go?"

As she continued her song she spotted her favorite store close by. It was a candy store and she had a bit of money with her so she took a little break to get some sweets. Her parents were not very fond of her using her money for something so trivial. But, as she always would tell herself, there was no point in living if you couldn't do what you enjoyed.

After entering the store and grabbing a taste of her favorite candy bar she passed through the doors as if she was entering the gates of paradise.

"Shoooo goooood!!!"

At first, she wasn't very fond of the taste because it felt like she was eating a piece of rubber. But then she realized that there were other variations of that candy and she decided to try one of another kind. The chocolate one, as stated, wasn't a big win on her book, but she absolutely adored the strawberry one. She could eat that thing for days and never get tired of it.

She knew that because she would sneak out to eat those with her friend Nate behind her parents' backs on a daily basis.

Nate was her partner in crime. The two shared many of the same tastes and hobbies so there was never a time when one would refuse the chance to spend the day togeher.

She made a few other quick stops along the way. She smelled the flowers in a nearby garden. Greeted a nice old lady who would always ask for her help when choosing clothes for her newborn granddaughter. And finally, she played with the world's most adorable puppy that belonged to one of her classmates that lived two blocks from her house.

Everything was going great. She was so distracted enjoying herself that she didn't even realize she had already arrived at her destination.

"Eh...? Already? I must be faster than I thought... Mmmm... I should have joined the track team..."

She was standing at the city's most famous tourist attraction, the white bridge. It was a large passage that connected the two half of the city that were usually divided by its river.

Many couples would come by to enjoy the view during the sunset. It was extremely popular to spend time with your beloveds one.

Karen took a small glance at the view from the top of the bridge and started to recall her day.

"Let's see..."

She definitely couldn't find any reason to complain about her little adventure. She went to all her favorite spots and did all her favorite activities. It just had been a perfect day for her.

"Yeap! Looks like I'm all good!"

She stepped on the edge of the bridge and took one last look at the distance from her current location towards the river several meters below her.

She then took one deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Sorry for taking so long Nate... I'll be joining you now..."

She then proceeded to jump off the bridge much to the surprise of many of the bystanders walking around.

They probably looked at her and saw nothing but some crazy girl, but she didn't mind. After all, looking back, she realized that nothing she had done that day had managed to fill the gap left from the death of her best friend.

She tried her best to see if she could still find any resemblance to the feeling of joy on her last day, but nothing seemed to truly work.

And as she always would tell herself, there was no point in living if you couldn't do what you enjoyed. And Karen for the last couple of yeas, couldn't enjoy doing anything.