Up, Up, and Away

Hannah did not like to walk to school. There were always older kids standing on the street corner, and sometimes they weren't very nice.

Hannah did not like school. Her teacher yelled and the other kids pushed.

Hannah did not like coming home from school. Her mom was never around and there was never anything to eat.

And as she sat on the swing, by her house, she had a terrible thought. "The world is ugly," she thought. "Ugly, ugly, ugly!"

And she made up her mind, right then and there, to leave.

And so she pumped her legs and

pushed her arms and

gritted her teeth and

swung herself so hard that

she flew clear off her swing and into the sky.

Up, up, up she went.

Over the jungle gym.

Over the trees.

Up towards the spaces only birds went.

And the playground grew smaller and smaller.

Soon she could see the entire town beneath her.

And then she couldn't see the town at all.

She reached for a cloud as she flew by and

found a hand full of feathers.

And still she continued up.

The ground below her

looked like the maps they used in geography class.

And still she continued up.

And then she was in outer space,

up among the stars and the moon.

She grabbed a star and held it for a second,

a little ball of light in the palm of her hand.

It tickled.

She looked down at the earth and smiled.

"What a beautiful world," she thought.

"What a magical place I belong to!"

And then finally, finally, finally, she stopped.

She paused for one whole second,

still as a stone and just as calm.

And then she felt herself drifting down.

Not falling, but floating.

Past the twinkling stars.

Down among the light, feathery clouds.

She said goodbye to the birds,

Floated under the trees and landed...

Back on her swing.

"Wow," said Hannah when she landed. She brushed herself off and stood up. "The world is beautiful. If only everyone knew it."

And she ran off to go tell them.