The Beginning
756 Words
"Why are they so happy?" This mantra repeated in my head continuously for hours. The buzz of electricity carried throughout the bus from all the other kids was making me sick.
At least the universe knows how sad i am right now. I knew this because i was focused in on the the rain drops dancing and shimmering against the window the entire ride home.
These past two weeks have been some of the best in my fourteen years on this earth.
Originally I had only agreed to Janice's offer to attend Bible Camp '95 because the idea of being hours away from Lawton for two entire weeks sounded way better than being locked in my room facing my terminal loneliness.
Now as we head away from Jonesboro, I feel as though my future is even more alone than ever before. I glanced at my watch and felt a lump in my throat because we were just two short hours away from Lawton now and soon this entire experience will have felt like a dream,
Suddenly I feel the brakes pumping the bus to slow down. I raise my head and realize, we're here, damn I must have dozed off. I hesitate and wait my turn to exit until every last person has departed the bus.
Once it is just me I whisper to myself, "never forget, and you'll never be alone". Those were the last words he said to me before we parted ways just mere hours ago. With that affirmation refreshed within me I grabbed my back pack, slung one strap over my shoulder and left the bus behind.
"Daphne girl!!! We're over here!!"
"yay" i sarcastically thought to myself as I veered in the direction of Janice and her chiming mother.
When I reached the white jeep i reached out for the door handle at the same time as Janice, we both retracted our hands as if we had been burned with lava. We side glanced at each other and then i just backed away and went to the other side to enter.
Ms. Kathy, Janice's mom, talked the entire way home. Practically begging us for details of our summer excursion, probably because she is lonely and her best option at "living" is to do it vicariously through her 14 year old daughter and her friends, well ex friends once i get out of this jeep.
I barely waited for Ms. Kathy to stop the jeep in my driveway before I leapt out and ran for my front door yelling over my shoulder, "thanks for the ride!!! It was fun!!!"
As i slammed the door behind and darted to my room I could here my own mother calling after me, "Daphne!? How was your summer?"
"I'll be right back mom! Let me put my bag up!" and with that I slammed my second door in as many minutes.
Once I was safe;y within my own room I ripped open my back pack and pulled out my workbook from camp. Frantically flipping the pages looking for it. And then there nestled between pages 27 and 28 was the one thing I had to help me focus on the first good thing in my life.
I stared at Jason's picture and held on to it so tightly, because after all this was the only thing I had to help me believe that this whole summer had even happened.
I laid down on my bed, still holding this one tiny wallet size photograph. I drank in every detail. It was one of those school pictures where you're sitting behind a desk with your arms crossed on the desk. His dirty blonde hair was short and spiky, but just long enough to look "too long" for spikes. His face was perfect.narrow, with a squared chin. His nose long and slender but tucked close to his face so it wasn't Steve Martin in 'Roxanne' long. His glasses were black solid frames with some of the thickest lenses I had ever seen (most people picked on him for their thickness), his toothy grin was wide and immediately infectious once seen. Even I was smiling goofy just looking at a picture of it. His shirt........safari scenes, in tans greens and whites. Every shirt he had worn this summer was safari themed.
I couldn't help but giggle looking at his face again. I held the photo in my hand and slowly turned it over. On the back was scribbled his address so we could write each other and then a small note, the mantra i had sighed earlier, "never forget and you'll never be alone. Love Jason "
- Writer
