The clock read 6:10 AM. I can’t believe I’m up this early, I thought as I slumped lower in the passenger seat. My sister was driving us to school for our morning gym class. 

Yesterday was a terrible day, and the more I thought about it, the more exhaustion sunk into my body. School was a huge part of the problem, so now I’m absolutely dreading having to go back there in a few minutes. 

I went to check my phone before entering the school–which has no service and minimal Wi-Fi–and as I held up the camera to my face, my attention was caught by the scene behind me. 

Oranges and yellows shone through the back window of the car and into my phone camera, creating a warm feeling inside me as I took them in. Glancing back in front of me, the sky only had its usual dark blue color that it has before the sun returns for the day.

The dark blue sky in front of me was like the bad things from yesterday, because without looking back that’s all I could see. Meanwhile, the warm colors behind me were the good things in life that I needed to search for in my mind.

I watched it for a few more seconds, letting myself forget all the bad things that had happened in the past 24 hours and letting the exhaustion begin to leave my body. 

After that, I went back to checking my phone as usual. Before I knew it, the car was parked in the parking lot and we dragged ourselves into the building for class. Walking through the door, I took one last look at the sunrise, then entered the building hoping that this day would be like that sunrise instead of like the dark blue sky.