Jamie was a normal girl from Boring Oregon. She had her ups and downs like any other 11 year-old but nothing out of the ordinary. As she lay on bed one night, she began to hear muffled yelling coming from the back porch. Jamie knew what the sound was. It was her parents fighting again. Ever since they had moved in with her grandma and grandpa, fighting became more common than ever before. When they fought like this it was usually about money, or her dad being out too late playing billiards. This night however was drastically different. Jamie didn't know it, but they were fighting about breaking up.



The next morning, Jamie felt like she had been hit by a ton of bricks. She didn't sleep very well the night before because of the fighting. Even her teachers had started to notice that something was wrong at home. Jamie had been showing up to school half-asleep. Whenever her teacher asked what was going on Jamie's usual response was to say that she had been playing to late. They never believed her. She hated that. "Why do people care so much about you when you just want to be left alone?" she thought. Even Jamie's old friends had taken notice of her incredibly grumpy attitude lately. Whenever one of her old friends asked to share something at lunch Jamie always said no and gives them a glare. To Jamie that was OK, she didn't need any friends; she just wanted to be left alone.



When Jamie got home, her Dad wasn't there as usual. Her grandma had make black berry cobbler. That was Jamie's favorite. Grandma hardly ever made blackberry cobbler unless it was a holiday. After eating the cobbler Jamie and her brother Cody, thanked her grandma and went into the game room to watch TV and wait for their parents to come home. Dad never missed family game nights for anything. Jamie longed to play dominoes tonight more than ever before, it had been three weeks since she got to play dominoes. While they lay in front of the TV watching Pok'mon Jamie was thinking of the great night she was going to have, meanwhile Jamie's parents could not decide how to break the devastating news.



Once Jamie's mom arrived home it was already 6:30. She never got home that late. Work ended at 5:15 and it only took 10 minutes to get home. When she asked why she was home so late her mom replied that she got caught up in traffic. Jamie knew that she was lying. Once her dad arrived, her parents took them outside in the yard with a blanket and sat down. Jamie was confused at what was going on. Cody who was two years younger than her must have been twice as confused, Jamie was not sure if Cody had been able to hear them fighting from up in his room. They explained that they were going to be separated and were getting a divorce, there mom said that life was going to be a little different from now on. Jamie cried the rest of the night. She told her mom that she knows what love is for, and it should mean a little more. But her mom said that they just didn't love each other anymore. How could you just stop loving someone after so long? Jamie thought that they were ruining her life, nobody at school wanted to be one of the kids with divorced parents.



That night, Jamie left the house and ran into the woods. She didn't stop running until she found her climbing tree. Jamie climbed and climbed. She had never gotten this high in the tree before, but Jamie didn't care. She felt as if her life was over and just wanted to get away from it all, 70-some feet in the air was the best place she knew of. For the rest of the night, Jamie just sobbed in the tree. Finally she obtained the serenity that she wanted. No yelling no problems, only peace and quiet.

*song quotes and character from Van-Halen