Kitty smiled today. She never did before; or if she did she never let us see. It was beautiful, like her summer sky eyes, like her auburn hair, like her soft voice whispering songs under her breath. Like everything about her. Kitty smiled today. The smile was in the picture tucked inside the note. It was beautiful, but sad like the shadows under the eyes that I swore were full of hope, like the bangs she always hid behind when I thought she was crying, like the voice that could would have brought world peace if someone other than I would listen. Kitty smiled today. Though they Photoshopped out the tears and desperation so none of us would see. It was beautiful, but sad like the songs she used to sing, like the stories she used to write, like the poems she read at the park when she thought no-one paid attention at midnight from the swings. Kitty smiled today. Though the newspaper didn't know the whole story because we never asked her before. It was sad like the look in her eyes when she stepped off the bus, like the letter she wrote on her last day of school, like the tears that smudged the words in the note that no-one could stop her from writing. Kitty smiled today. And the popular girls who called her names all cried and said they would miss their best friend, and the teachers who told her she'd never succeed said they wished she had spoken to them, and her mother walked up to the grave and screamed "Why wouldn't she tell me" while I sat and I watched holding the locket she gave me two days before when I told her I loved her. ~March 3, 2013~ ~ShatteredScribe~