Sunrise

For as long as she could remember, Agatha hated the dark. It was cold. It was bitter. It was unforgiving. Even sitting still in the dark room, illuminated only by the crescent moon, made Agatha feel like she was writhing in her own skin.

As her impatience grew with each passing second, she chewed her lip. 

The bright red numbers on the digital clock by her bed made a ticking  sound every time they changed, and Agatha kept track of every minute. This time, her attempt would work. 

When the time was right, Agatha would get out of bed and leave her room. Careful to avoid squeaky floorboards, she’d crawl down the stairs and skip the 7th step, because that one always creaked when someone stepped on it. Then, she’d slip out into the night through the back door. 

Agatha’s knee bounced with anticipation as she waited for the right moment. 

Now! As the minute changed, she sprang up out of her bed, tiptoed across the room, and gently opened the door. If only her parents didn’t have such an odd obsession with black furniture, maybe Agatha could’ve seen something in the dark. She stepped into the hall and felt her way around the house. Turning the corner and walking down the stairs, Agatha descended.

Thirteen, twelve, eleven. Agatha shuffled around as she went down the stairs, stepping left and right, only putting pressure on the parts of the stairs that she knew were silent.

Creeaak. Agatha froze. She’d forgotten to skip the 7th step. She bit her lip and slowly lifted her foot, resulting in another loud creeaak. 

After quickly stepping down the rest of the stairs, Agatha turned. It seemed no one had woken up. She sighed in relief.

Making sure she went unheard, Agatha crept through the kitchen and pushed the back door open. A strong gust of freezing air blew into the house, and she quickly shut the door behind her as she stepped outside. Across the yard, her eyes found her target: the ladder that her father had left leaning against the shed the night before.

She crept across the yard, the icy air stabbing away at her face. She reached the shed and placed a cold hand on the ladder. Almost there. With both hands, Agatha lifted the ladder and pulled it off the wall.

“You know it’s dangerous. You shouldn’t be out here.”

Agatha sharply inhaled at the sound of a voice. She turned around and sighed. Standing there in a puffy black jacket was Eve.

Eve was, well, Eve. She fit the perfect stereotype of the nosy younger sister, and, coincidentally, was also the one sibling Agatha was most afraid of waking up.

“Well, neither should you,” Agatha said.

Eve rolled her eyes. “Just come back inside, come on. It’s too late for this.” 

“No, I can’t!” Agatha continued dragging the ladder along through the grass. “I have to do this now. I’ve never gotten this close before. You know I always get caught. As soon as I’m done, I’ll come right back down.”

Eve sighed. “If I help you move the stupid ladder, will you promise to come back into the house immediately after?”

Agatha nodded.

The two of them hauled the ladder across the yard and propped it up against the house’s wall, fully extending it.

Agatha could hardly contain her excitement. Today, she’d finally do it.

Eve helped hold the ladder in place as Agatha began the slow climb up to the roof.

One, two, three, four. Agatha ascended each step. Five, six, seven, eight. Up, up, up. Higher and higher still. Agatha kept climbing until she finally felt her hand touch the tiles of the rooftop. She’d done it! 

Agatha pulled herself up, her feet dangling off the roof. She looked around, seeing houses, trees, and mountains for miles all around. As the sky slowly got lighter, every little detail of the suburban neighborhood around them became more and more vivid.

“Alright, you happy now?” Eve said, exasperated. “Come back down.”

“Are you kidding? Not yet!” Agatha could hardly contain how eager she was. She chewed her lip so hard the skin ripped, though she was so excited she couldn’t even taste any blood.

“We made a deal, Agatha!”

“Just a few more minutes! I have to see it at least once!”

Eve sighed. “Fine! But I’m not going back inside until you do, so if Mom and Dad wake up and find me out here, you are the one who’s getting in trouble.” Eve sat on the ground.

“Suit yourself!” Agatha rested her head in her hands and continued to admire the mountains off in the distance.

Just a few minutes and the sun would come up. She’d finally see it. Her parents would’ve killed her if they knew she was up on the roof this early.

The sky began to lighten, turning from navy blue to shades of lavender and orange.

“Time’s up, Agatha! Come on, seriously!” Eve stomped her foot impatiently. “This isn’t safe!”

Agatha’s heart soared as she saw sunlight beginning to spill over the distant mountains. The sun! She jumped to her feet as the warm sunlight began to touch her toes. Agatha felt warmth pervade through her ankles as the sunlight spread. Agatha had never felt like this before. Could this really have been what the sun felt like? The heat slowly traveled up to her knees. 

“Agatha, get down here, now! In a few minutes, you’ll— ugh!” she sighed. “I’m gonna wake up Mom and Dad!”

But Agatha could barely even hear. The sunlight was so warm. It was so comforting. It was so forgiving. The warmth traveled up to her waist, then through her arms. Like a blanket, she was soon totally enveloped in soft golden light. She shut her eyes. Why didn’t her parents ever let her go out after sunrise? This was wonderful. She wanted to stay like this forever. Like a statue, Agatha refused to move. Why would she ever want to?

“Agatha, no!” Eve began climbing up the ladder as fast as she could. The dark may have been scary and dull and boring, but it was the only place where their family could be safe.

Eve made it up the ladder and screamed.

She was too late.

Her older sister had already turned to stone.