No amount of space put between herself and her old home could erase what she had seen, what had happened.

Amanda figured that out the first day of school in her new town.

The house her mother bought was cute. It was a Tudor style, two stories with three little rooms with three little closets and one little kitchen. The property was massive, with a neat front but a comparable wild back with stretches of fields on both sides, plots of land yet to be bought up. It was a change from the little cramped yard she was used to, but Amanda thought it to be almost magical, with the unmowed lawns allowing for wildflowers to grow and spot everything with color. Her mother had called it their new beginning, and Amanda had agreed full heartedly.

When they had moved, she had left a lot behind. It had been a very bad time for her family, so when they had vowed for a new beginning, they had meant it. She had the basics, the bed, some clothing, her favorite posters, but most of what had been back home was left there, so it didn't take long at all to unpack.

On the third day in her new town she, her mother and Doris explored their new surroundings. They drove around for hours, rubbernecking at cute homes, parking outside storefronts that they moseyed around in. They spent an hour alone in the park, where rows of pear trees were in full bloom, the air filled with their sweet scent and grass littered with their white blossoms.

It was on the fourth day that school started and it was then that the fragile recovery she had been in shattered.

It had all started so well, too.

Morning came to her at the sound of her alarm and she was up in an instant with the eagerness that she was more accustomed to, a lightness that she had lost when her father died. Somehow, today felt like it would be a good day, and it was impossible to be down. She smiled immediately, sleepily, and bright. It was hardly five and she wouldn't need to leave before seven thirty, but she liked to get an early start to every morning - plus, her mother left before six, and she liked to have breakfast with her.

Amanda threw off her covers and bounced out of bed, going over to her bedroom curtains to throw them open. It was a beautiful morning, the sky painted a cheerful pale orange, a great beginning to a new day. She stayed there a moment, enjoying the sunrise over the gentle hills. Beautiful.

After a quick shower she came out of the bathroom fresh and ready for the day, dressed except for her socks. After checking to make sure everything was in her backpack she went downstairs to eat breakfast with her mother and grandmother. They talked about their plans for the day - her mother had work, her grandmother was going to see if she could start whacking away at the overgrowth in the backyard, and Amanda was going to check out a few of the stores in town for some part-time work before she spent a few hours in the wilderness of the backyard exploring.

After her mother left for work, Amanda spent the next hour in front of the television with her grandma watching the news until she needed to leave, taking her bike to the high school, where they had scouted out the day before.