Chapter 1 Ashen Days

I was six years old when I had my first kiss.

It was with my best friend, and at the time we had known each other for a full six years, since the moment we were born. The memory itself is pretty vague, but for some reason it will always stay in my mind. I wouldn\'t know why until my later years, but I guess it makes sense now.

Anyways, our parents took us to the park and as usual our moms just left us quietly by ourselves while they chatted up a storm. She and I played on the swings for a little while, me pushing her on the swings, because really, I was completely terrified of heights, still am.

I remember watching her back as she soared through the air, and for a moment, swearing that she was flying; as though moving farther and farther away from me. But then I remember that before she got too far up, she would always come back down and I would be there to bring her back up again. Pushing her away like I always do.

And then, after a while she ran off, and said that she would put her ultimate plan into place. I didn\'t really understand what that was until she led me to the woods that were right next to the park. I followed her for a good ten minutes before she had finally stopped and settled right next to a tree. She said that it was perfect then she took something out of her pocket.

She took out some sort of thing that looked like a pocket knife, but wasn\'t, and instead of a knife coming out, a bunch of pliers came out that included nail filers for God knows what reason. Well, she apparently got it from her older brother and then she took the end of the mini screwdriver and started scraping away harshly at the bark on the tree, trying to dig deeper into the wood.

I watched for a while until I finally understood what it was that she wanted to put up there. But I waited patiently until she finished, which, by the end of it, had the sun setting on us. When she finished, she turned my way, this largest, cheekiest, most beautiful grin on her face. I looked at the words on the tree and had the same smile on my face when I read the words.

Spencer Carlin.

Ashley Davies

BFF

It was written in young, scraggly writing, with the all the e\'s on backwards, and s\' sometimes inverted. We just smiled at each other for the longest time before I took the screwdriver out of her hand and started to carve my own addition to the fold. I dug in as deep as I could and as precisely as was possible for a six year old girl.

When I finished drawing the heart around the lettering I turned towards her, a faint blush on my cheeks while she was smiling and giggling like crazy. We both looked at it one more time before she let out a satisfied yell that was quiet enough to stay in the forest then wrapped her arms around me excitedly. I did the same, and we held each other tight, like we\'d done many times before, and she pulled her face back a bit and planted her lips on mine.

It was just a fraction of a second, maybe even shorter if it were possible, a centoventottavo if I ever knew one. And yet, the sensation stays with me today, so many years after.

I remember being frozen stiff even while she jumped around, giddy with excitement and joy. It probably didn\'t mean anything to her, but it meant the world to me, and I didn\'t even know why. Like everything made sense in that small fraction of a moment that our lips met, like the start of the rest of my life.

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Sorry to do this, but thought you should know a centoventottavo is the italian name and is also known as quasihemidemisemiquaver, or one hundred and twenty-eighth note, and is one of the smallest notes in music. Like the name says, it is worth 1/128 beats. Just in case you didn\'t know, which most of you probably don\'t.