Guns and Roses

"Mom, Dad! I passed the entrance exam and passed the scholarship too!" Anna Sandra Bai a.k.a Xiao An runs down the stairs as she cried happily and excitedly to her parents who were having an afternoon tea in the small garden at the back of their house.

"Sweetie, what did you say?" Mrs. Bai asked the jumping girl in front of her.

Xiao An tried to calm herself as she repeated, " I passed the entrance exam and accepted to their academic scholarship....!" Xiao An can't help but to shriek as her happiness was bursting out from her.

"Really? That's truly wonderful!" Mrs. Bai was so delighted as well when she heared her daughter's news.

"Congratulation sweetheart, I know you can do it!" Professor Bai congratulated his daughter.

"Thank you Dad, thank you Mom..." Xiao An said as she was hugged by her parents.

.....

"Sweetie, is it really OK?" Mrs. Bai asked worriedly on the other side of the line.

"Mom, it's alright. I am fine here besides both you and Dad waited this long so you should take this opportunity to enjoy this time for the both of you. Don't worry, I am not longer a baby as I am a big girl now. I can take care of myself." Xiao An coaxed and assured her mother.

"Alright, thank you sweetie and I love you!"

"Love you too sweetheart. Be sure to take good care of yourself well there, alright?" Professor Bai said to the phone after her mother.

" Love you too Dad, Mom. Enjoy yourselves." Xiao An has a smile plastered on her face as she finished their call.

...

Reporter news on television...." Chinese Airline Travels reportedly crashed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean....The plane has 100 passengers on board and no survivors suspected....

The sound of a broken glass sounded inside the room. Xiao An stood frozen like a statue and has a deathly paled face as her eyes glued onto the television news.

....

Xiao An was standing blankly in front of her parents grave. Friends and few relatives had already left.

"Xiao An dear, let's go home now. The dark sky will soon to rain." Mrs. Han hugged the girl and gently patted her shoulder.

Xiao An heared the comforting voice of her God Mother. She's the best friend of her late mother. Her mother, Andrea Gomez, a Mexican-Japanese who married her father Bai Yuehan, a local college professor at Heilongjiang province.

"God Mother, thank you but I want to stay for awhile longer."

"Alright, just don't stay for more longer OK? Here, take this." Han Shanliang handed her an umbrella before she left her alone.

Lightning and thunder can be seen and heared in the cloudy dark sky. Heavy downpours of rain joined the girl's sobbing sound. No one knows how long did she stand there. Drenched in rain, it's already dusk when the rain had stopped. Xiao An gazed the sunset in the horizon as the cold breeze of wind gently caressing her hair. Her eyes were now clear and full of determination.