Unearthly Uprising: Valeria's Journey to Rediscover Herself

There was always something about the way the sun rose over the tree line that made me feel a little less alone.

I had always loved that feeling, ever since I was a kid, when I woke up at six in the morning every day to go to soccer practice and then I would take a long walk home, often passing through this very same forest.

The sunrises were always so beautiful back then, so full of color and life. Everything seemed almost magical. There was a certain beauty in the simple process of waking up with the sun, feeling that warmth slowly creep into your body, making you more alert with each passing second, until finally you can't stand it anymore and you drag yourself out of bed. I felt like that right now, like an animal just barely awake from hibernation.

There was also something about it all being ruined for me... That year everything changed forever. It was still beautiful, but everything had lost its magic somehow. Things lost their luster when my father died suddenly from a heart attack. We didn't have much time to prepare for his death because we never knew he was sick. He had never complained about chest pains or anything like that so we never thought anything of it until one morning we woke up and the paramedics were trying to revive him.

Everything felt like it had slowed down after that, like the world itself had been covered in tar, making everything heavy and slow-moving. My mother was devastated by his death; she couldn't keep herself together for weeks afterwards. She looked so old and tired after losing Dad; I'd never seen her struggle to walk before. Her eyes were dead and she refused to leave her room except to shower and eat once every few days. It wasn't healthy at all but there was nothing I could do about it either. It didn't help that school was a mess too; everyone was walking around whispering about what happened to my dad and about how horrible it must be for me to lose my father at such a young age. I hated every bit of it; whenever I saw someone coming towards me on campus or even at my house they did their best to give me as much space as possible so they could avoid having any sort of interaction with me at all costs. It got so bad that I ended up spending most of my time in my room while they were all sleeping just because it hurt too much when they looked away or pretended not to notice me altogether.

It took two whole months after his death before my mom started showing signs of improvement; she went back to work and helped with my homework again every day after school just like before everything happened but her eyes remained dull and lifeless for years afterward. Every now and then there would be times where she would smile or laugh like nothing ever happened but those moments were mostly rare and fleeting moments followed by extended periods of sadness that would make everything just as bad as before again. Eventually those moments became fewer and fewer until there were none at all anymore. Her face hardened over time until she looked just as cold as the rest of them; no one bothered talking to her anymore either because they knew better than anyone else that everything hurt more than others did when you tried talking to her anyway so why bother? It wasn't worth it... And look how well Valeria is taking it when her own father has died just recently! What's wrong with her? Everyone wonders... Of course no one says those things out loud but everyone thinks them anyway regardless of their social status or whatnot; none of them can say anything though because who are they to judge?! They've heard plenty about her father's health problems lately so maybe she's just grieving?! How dare they say anything when she's grieving so deeply?! Who are they to talk? They're not her family! This is private! This isn't anybodies business! That's what they think... And they're right... Because if they gossiped behind Valeria's back it wouldn't do anyone any good because Valeria doesn't care anyway... Not anymore...

The only person who actually cared about me during all this chaos was Drew; he's been my friend ever since I can remember really... But things have changed between us over the past year or so... We don't talk anymore... And we hadn't seen each other since November... Maybe he stopped caring too? Maybe he finally gave up on me? Maybe he doesn't want anything more than friendship anymore? Maybe he knows better than anyone else does that this whole thing will end horribly? Whatever the reason may be for his absence lately, I missed him dearly... And now here I am alone in this forest on this beautiful sunny morning just thinking about all these things while staring at the sun rise over the tree line while trying not to break down into tears again because it hurts too terribly much already! Why did this happen? Why is everything terrible now? Why did everyone leave while things were bad instead of sticking around like Drew used