one night in the park

2020 - Arthur Cornwall and Rowena Cornwall are 42, Eleanor Cornwall is 13. (Richard Cornwall is 13.)

She'd been sick for a while, but nothing could prepare them for the day she died.

Ellie can't imagine life without her mother. She's only 13, just starting to wear makeup and like boys. How can she become a woman without her mother?

Her father throws himself into work, leaving Ellie home alone at night while he's in his lab. He had always been a serious man, but now he's so distant and cold. If he cries or even feels sad, he never lets Ellie see.

Even when he's around, he's like a ghost. He doesn't pay attention to anything anymore. He always hated how Ellie's cat Nimue loved to sleep on her bed with her, but now he doesn't even notice.

She's supposed to stay in the house when her father's at work, but sometimes she sneaks out to the park across the street. Usually she goes alone, but when Richie finds out he offers to come with her.

She and Richie have been best friends since kindergarten. They've spent countless hours playing at each others' houses and telling each other secrets. But now they're 13, and everything feels different.

They meet at the park late at night. She doesn't know how he managed to sneak out of his house and get to New Athens by himself, but she doesn't ask.

They talk a little, but mostly they just sit together. It's so nice to have some company, to not feel completely alone for a while. When they finally get up to leave, she grabs him and kisses him. She doesn't know why she does it; it's completely impulsive, it suprises her, but it suprises her even more when he kisses back.

young love

2020 - Madison Miller-Kim is 12, Tom Smith is 14.

Madison is 12 the year she first notices boys. Specifically, she notices Tom Smith. They've been friends for years, but now she sees him in a completely new way. She notices his floppy brown hair and dreamy brown eyes, and her insides feel all gooey. He seems to notice her too.


One fall afternoon they meet at the park. At first they keep it light, joking and laughing just like when they were younger. But then the topic turns to dance. Madison's been a ballet dancer since she was five; Tom's a soccer player and thinks dance is just a silly girl thing.

"I don't dance," he insists.

"You wouldn't even dance with me?"


And he does, and her heart flutters, and it's everything she dreamed it would be - her first kiss, her first love.


But even though she loves Tom, she also loves boys. It isn't long before she's back at that same park, dancing with another boy, Justus Lim.