‹ Prequel: Smiles Echo In My Memory
Status: last chapter has been posted; xoxo
Battling the Loss You Live For.
One Year.
Sazzy’s Point of View
I’d already started college when Frank had left.
I still work at H&M, but not full time anymore, as when I started college, me and Sydney switched to part-time. Katie and Charley did, too.
There had been a few changes in the house, too, after Franks’ departure – Sydney had moved into Charley’s room. They were kinda a thing now. Apparently, Charley had loved Syd for a while, and he told Frank about it when he was here. I don’t remember that at all, but Charley just said that I wouldn’t.
Anyways – it was kinda cute. But at the same time, seeing them two together kind of ripped me up. I didn’t want it to, but it did. It just reminded me that Frank wasn’t here - that his beautiful hazel eyes wouldn’t set on mine, that his lips wouldn’t press against the skin of my cheek.
It made me miss him.
It’s been hard, without him… so hard. But I spoke to him all the time, his voice the highlight of my day.
It’s been one year… one slow, painful year.
But I remember, the one day that I got something in the post – a CD.
“Sazzy! I think you got a package!” Sydney called from downstairs. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused yet amused.
I walked out of my room, grinning as I walked down the stairs.
“You think I have a package?” I asked, laughing. She rolled her eyes, a smile on her face as she handed me a brown envelope, one of those types that had a lining of bubble wrap.
“Open it,” she beckoned, as I sat on the last step, flicking it over, seeing my name and my address in familiar handwriting.
“It’s from Frank…” I mumbled, slightly baffled. He didn’t say anything about a letter or anything. I turned it over, ripping the top and shaking the contents into my lap, a CD case falling out. It was the back, so I picked it up, reading the track-listing.
1. PS. Don’t Write
2. Yesterday
3. Don Quixote
4. Ten Rings
5. The Secret Goldfish
6. Eighth Grade
7. Nineteen
8. Trying the Escape the Inevitable
9. Lloyd Dobbler
10. Florida Plates
I turned it over, looking at the front cover. It was a drawing of a guy, who kinda resembled a potato. His heart was sketched onto his blue-coloured torso, broken in half. It was kind of… emotional. It made you feel kinda sorry for him. In the left hand corner, ‘Pencey Prep’ was written in lower-case, childish-type writing, ‘Heartbreak in Stereo’ written in the bottom right hand corner in the same handwriting. It made it look… nice, cute.
“…What is it?” Syd asked in a small voice, unsure and confused.
“I-it’s… Frank’s band… I guess it’s their first CD.”
I grabbed the envelope, checking to see if there was anything else in there. There was. I pulled out a clear CD case, the silver CD inside had ‘B-Sides’ written in a black marker pen, Frank’s handwriting.
“The back, hun,” Sydney said, pointing. I turned it over, seeing a yellow post-it note stuck on.
‘1 – Attention Reader
2 – Heroine Slow
3 – Home
Track 3…
I miss you; xo.’
I’d already started college when Frank had left.
I still work at H&M, but not full time anymore, as when I started college, me and Sydney switched to part-time. Katie and Charley did, too.
There had been a few changes in the house, too, after Franks’ departure – Sydney had moved into Charley’s room. They were kinda a thing now. Apparently, Charley had loved Syd for a while, and he told Frank about it when he was here. I don’t remember that at all, but Charley just said that I wouldn’t.
Anyways – it was kinda cute. But at the same time, seeing them two together kind of ripped me up. I didn’t want it to, but it did. It just reminded me that Frank wasn’t here - that his beautiful hazel eyes wouldn’t set on mine, that his lips wouldn’t press against the skin of my cheek.
It made me miss him.
It’s been hard, without him… so hard. But I spoke to him all the time, his voice the highlight of my day.
It’s been one year… one slow, painful year.
But I remember, the one day that I got something in the post – a CD.
“Sazzy! I think you got a package!” Sydney called from downstairs. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused yet amused.
I walked out of my room, grinning as I walked down the stairs.
“You think I have a package?” I asked, laughing. She rolled her eyes, a smile on her face as she handed me a brown envelope, one of those types that had a lining of bubble wrap.
“Open it,” she beckoned, as I sat on the last step, flicking it over, seeing my name and my address in familiar handwriting.
“It’s from Frank…” I mumbled, slightly baffled. He didn’t say anything about a letter or anything. I turned it over, ripping the top and shaking the contents into my lap, a CD case falling out. It was the back, so I picked it up, reading the track-listing.
1. PS. Don’t Write
2. Yesterday
3. Don Quixote
4. Ten Rings
5. The Secret Goldfish
6. Eighth Grade
7. Nineteen
8. Trying the Escape the Inevitable
9. Lloyd Dobbler
10. Florida Plates
I turned it over, looking at the front cover. It was a drawing of a guy, who kinda resembled a potato. His heart was sketched onto his blue-coloured torso, broken in half. It was kind of… emotional. It made you feel kinda sorry for him. In the left hand corner, ‘Pencey Prep’ was written in lower-case, childish-type writing, ‘Heartbreak in Stereo’ written in the bottom right hand corner in the same handwriting. It made it look… nice, cute.
“…What is it?” Syd asked in a small voice, unsure and confused.
“I-it’s… Frank’s band… I guess it’s their first CD.”
I grabbed the envelope, checking to see if there was anything else in there. There was. I pulled out a clear CD case, the silver CD inside had ‘B-Sides’ written in a black marker pen, Frank’s handwriting.
“The back, hun,” Sydney said, pointing. I turned it over, seeing a yellow post-it note stuck on.
‘1 – Attention Reader
2 – Heroine Slow
3 – Home
Track 3…
I miss you; xo.’