Big Little Things - Chapter 1

Evelyn and Daniel were two strange little people living in a big old world. Evelyn was the bigger person, and Daniel was... He was a mystery.

From elementary to high school, you'd always wonder how you could know someone for that long, but it's nothing but God's gift. It's only your pot of luck if you end up spending the rest of your life with that person.

You could name almost every adventure they would go on, and there would be the craziest stories. Evelyn almost fell off of a cliff one day when she and Daniel were skipping through the woods behind their houses, and that's how they met.

Daniel was slouched up against a rotting tree when Evelyn ran past him and noticed that he was there all by himself. He was reading a piece of paper. The lettering was scribbled onto the paper, and a tear was trickling from the bottom of it.

Evelyn and her wandering spirit were curious, so she walked up to him and handed him a bear that she was holding in her right hand. He held the bear between his hands and stared into its eyes like it was a piece of treasure. The stained and torn fur was nothing to him, but a smile spread across his face as he continued to handle it carefully.

After that moment, they greeted each other. They walked, talked, and tossed that little bear around until Daniel's mother called his name. He sighed because he already liked Evelyn and wanted to stay with her in the woods, only because he was scared to go back home. Evelyn, however, was fooling around when he started walking away. She was dancing with her bear and then she tripped over the root of a tree near an edge that was thirty feet above the ground.

She shrieked with fear as the bear slipped from one of her hands and the only thing that kept her from falling was Daniel. She gasped when he grabbed her arm, and they both fell onto their backs. She got up and crawled to the edge of the cliff, peering down at her bear that was sinking into a large pile of leaves. A frown crept onto her face and she turned around to ask Daniel to get it for her, but he was already gone.

She pouted, got up, and began looking for him. He was nowhere to be seen, and after a while, she found herself at a bridge near a lake. The overgrown grass blocked her view and the only thing she could see was Daniel's head. She ran with excitement, but when she got there, a rope swing caught her attention. Daniel wasn't there when she thought he was, and she became afraid of what she saw. The silence crept over her shoulders as she stood there staring at the rope swing that was almost halfway drenched in the water, and she could hear her mother's voice shouting for her from the hilltop, so she ran.

She stopped at the front door when she heard yelling coming from their neighbor's house. She put her head down and walked inside with her play dress all covered in grass stains, dirt, and chipped leaves. Her mother, Claire, came walking into the living room and looked down at her empty hands, "What happened to your bear?".

Evelyn's brown eyes filled with tears and her voice shook when she answered, "I lost it. I tripped and it fell over a cliff. I can't get it back now. I'm sorry mommy".

She kneeled down in front of her and held her hands, "Don't apologize. Daddy and I can go down there with you tomorrow to get it back, don't worry, okay? Let's get you cleaned up so we can eat dinner." She smiled.

After Evelyn's bath, she and her parents said their prayers before eating. Evelyn sat in her chair, throwing pieces of food at the ground for their dog, Cleo.

Evelyn's mom tucked her into bed after she finished eating, and read a book to her so that she could fall asleep.