Danni Santiago

Danni was excited to finally get back to Florida. She'd been backpacking through New England for so long she thought she'd have frozen over by now. She needed the warm sun, the sand and surf, the palm trees! Who'd have ever guessed she'd miss those gut-ugly palm trees... Well, Kelly had. Oh, her dear sweet Kelly! She missed her so much. She was like Danni's twin sister, and it had been two years since she'd even seen a picture of her. They talked a couple times, when she could find a phone, and she sent post cards when she'd had a little cash for stamps. But that wasn't enough. Not when you were talking about your best friend in the whole world.

They hadn't always been as close. Danni and Kelly had gone to daycare and several years of elementary together in Orlando, Florida before Kelly and her grandmother had moved to Jacksonville. Danni didn't know everything about her situation, but she knew that Kelly had been going through tough times. So when Danni had moved to Jacksonville in her second year of high school, she was glad to find Kelly as bright and friendly as ever. She was a familiar face, and someone Danni grew very close to through their years of school together. She could even say that at one point, she'd been in love with her. But that was a long time ago. A different period and stage in her life. Things were different now. Danni was different. But they were still the closest of friends and she couldn't wait to see her!

As she sat at the back of the Greyhound, slowly making her way down through the Carolinas, she couldn't help but pull out her sketch pad. Danni had always loved art. It was one thing that drew her to the big cities like New York. The street art. The tagging and the performers. The city was filled with beautiful, living breathing art. She'd loved it! Every second of her days there had been filled with new discovery, color and vibrancy and passion. But in the days outside of the city, through the hard times where she had no food and no place to sleep, she'd learned to find that in the every day ordinary. She'd practiced and worked and studied to create her own art out of nothing more than what she could find around her. And that was what finally convinced her to go home to her beautiful sunshine state. She couldn't wait to make it home!