Olivia was a full six years old, but she had never seen a puddle of this size. It spanned the entirety of the parking area behind the elementary school, and it seemed to Olivia that it reflected the entirety of the gray-blue sky as well. The fir trees surrounding the parking lot stabbed downward into the open expanse just beyond her toes, and the grey clouds slowly rolled forth from under the edge of the pavement. It was after hours, and the schoolyard was silent. The whole pool, completely serene, was a perfect mirror for the silent heavens.

Standing near the lip of the pool in her rubber boots and purple coat, Olivia felt a vague sense of vertigo, especially since she was just far enough back to hide her own reflection. Normally, she loved splashing in puddles, but this one threatened to send her hurtling into the mirrored sky. She wavered, contemplating how long she would fall if she jumped in.

Under the shade of a nearby fir tree sat Olivia’s mother Sandra. Completely heedless of her daughter’s dread-filled contemplations, Sandra scrolled a moment on her phone, then set it down to look around the schoolyard. Her eyes lingered upon the sprawling brick building with its large windows mirroring the trees and open sky.

How many years had it been since she’d been to this school herself? Twenty years? And now little Olivia would be attending in a couple weeks. Maybe she’d meet one of her old teachers. Were any of her teachers still there?

Probably not. It was twenty years ago.

Sandra let her mind wander back through the decades to a world of teeming classrooms and ringing bells, of construction paper and wide-ruled notebooks, of the vast cafeteria that reeked of peanut butter and of recesses in this very yard.

She remembered friendships that lasted months and animosities that endured for years.

She found memories of Wilma who had one time pushed her into a puddle. She remembered feeling the asphalt on her elbows and shivering in the cold. Then there was Alexandra. Popular girl. She hated that their names sounded so similar, and she let Sandra feel it almost daily.

Sandra had taken her pendant out of revenge. It was shaped like a star, with the cheap metal inlaid with red glitter and resin. She wondered briefly if her parents still had it somewhere.

She remembered Ms. Burgess yelling at the class the day she’d taken it. She felt the dread silence that had followed alongside the hope that she wasn’t the cause of this outburst. But her teacher’s wrath had been directed at the class as a whole, and it had been so fierce that not even the most rambunctious students dared speak for three days. By then, her theft was forgotten.

A drop of rain plopped onto her thigh.

She stood up and pocketed her phone. “Olivia!” she called. “Time to go!”

By the pool, Olivia heard her mother, but didn’t move. She remained standing at the edge of the open sky, staring downward into its endless heights, contemplating visions of a rippling, splashing sky.

“Olivia!”

A few drops of rain hit the pool. Ripples broke the illusion and revealed the asphalt mere inches below the surface.

“Olivia! Let’s go!”

Olivia leapt into the pool, splashing the open sky away and giggling with glee. Then, soaked to the waist by the sky’s own water, she ran back to her mother, grinning at her conquest of the heavens.

Sandra could only smile as she took her daughter’s hand. Irrepressible as always.

She’ll be okay, she thought as they walked back to the car.

Hopefully.

This piece of flash fiction is brought to you by the infinite expanse viewed in puddles of rainwater. Share this story with your friends, or print it out and use it for origami. Consider also supporting The Astral Wanderer on Patreon. All proceeds go toward recovering stolen pendants from forgotten nooks in dusty attics. Really.