Words To Live By

• Courtney Bosworth, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2018

PUFF! PUFF! As a fatigued woman ran around the corner in tears and struck Faye. "I'm so sorry are you ok?"
"Yes, I'm fine"
"I'm Lauren,"
"I'm Faye"
"I'm so distorted. I'm training for a marathon and I'm exceedingly fearing letting myself down. I'm just scared to be a part of something bigger than myself."
"You should keep trying, don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you, they're there to let you know what you're doing is worth it."
"That's really helpful, where did you hear that?"
"From Mi Cielito, shes this amazing, independant women full of great advice. I absolutely idolized her. My grandmother used to tell me stories about her when I was little, but she died tragically.
"I'm so sorry,"
"It's ok, she died doing what she loved. She was a pilot in the air force. She put her life at risk to save the lives of others."
Faye arrived at the coffee house to meet a friend after talking with Lauren. "Hi Evie, I'm so sorry I'm late, let me pay for your drink,"
"Thankyou, let me guess you were helping someone?"
"Something like that, I'll be right back."
Faye saw an elderly lady working the counter all alone and coffee pots and machines spitting and overflowing. Customers were getting impatient and yelling for their orders from their tables. "Are you ok?"
"Of course love, I'm fine, what can I do for you?"
"Just an espresso please. Hey, the greatest weapon we have against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another."
"Wow, thankyou dear."
Faye sat back down with Evie and asked, "So, you texted you had a problem you needed help with?"
"Yeah, I'm really worried about university. I don't think I'm getting good enough grades to be accepted into the one my mother went to. My whole life, all I've ever wanted is to follow in her footsteps, now that she's gone, I guess it won't matter if I don't succeed."
"Sorry I've left my card up there, I'll be right back."
Faye ran to retrieve her card from the counter and spotted an advertisement that said, 'Try our new mi cielito range.'
She was immediately concerned and asked the elderly employee about it. "Oh, that's our new range of Spanish style smoothies,"
"Do you know who Mi Cielito is?"
"Well actually it means 'My little heaven' in Spanish. It's not a name."
Faye became disoriented and stumbled out of the coffee house. "Where are you going?" Evie asked in bemusement.
"I have to go, I can't help you."
She approached her house in tears and yelled for her Mother. "Where are you?"
"I'm right here honey, what's wrong?"
"Mi Cielito isn't a real person. All this time, the stories Grandma told that helped me through my problems were a lie." She locked herself in her bedroom, devastated. She eventually stopped herself from crying and started looking through a box of her grandmother's things. She found a photo of herself and her her grandma when she was younger and it made her smile. She turned it over and found her grandmother's handwritting that read, 'Me and Mi Cielto.'