Remember the Moment You Face

I wake up to my alarm clock, and it is 7:30 in the morning. I get out of bed and go straight to the bathroom for a shower. Afterwards, I grab a pair of jeans, my pop art t-shirt and a jacket. I put on some flats; go downstairs, and eat some cereal. After I finish, I grab the house keys and I’m out.

I walked to school; I decided that I’d do this for daily exercise. I don’t know how I got to school before, but I’ll leave that as that.

When I got to Spencer High, Teri approached me.
“Hello Vice President, we have an Event Planner’s meeting. February is the month of prom, and we need you to help decide on the theme and the decors, since Tony isn’t here.” She grabbed my arm before I could say anything else and dragged me to this room where it was filled with examples for decorations and themes.

“Hey guys, Jessica’s here.” Teri said as everyone turned their attention to me. I smiled and everybody sat down on their seats.
“So what should our theme be?” asked this girl to my right.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” I asked politely.
“I’m Becca. I’m going to print out the invitations.” I nodded. I looked around at the canvases that had the themes on them. One was the Millennium, one was a Silver Ball, and another was Shakespeare Era. They all looked like – not something I would attend.

“What do you think Jess?” Teri asked again.
“I don’t like the examples set up here.” I gave a blank face and Becca quickly took down the set-ups from their stands.
“I want a black and white ball.” I said. Everybody looked at me and seemed confused. Then this girl beside Becca raised her hand.
“Then that would be the same as the Silver Ball.” Another girl said.
“And you are…”
“Katrina. I made the theme of the Silver Ball.” She said.
“No, it’s not the same. You see, if it were a Silver Ball, people would be wearing silver, and not black of white.” As I said this, I noticed all the blondes nod in agreement.
“Okay. If you want the Silver Ball so much, let’s make it a Masquerade Black and White Ball.” And everybody clapped. I smiled, feeling satisfied.

I made my way out of the room, down the stairs and to my locker. I made a map on my hand, you see – just so that I’d know exactly where to go. I felt good about myself, having accomplished what’s been agreed on during the Prom Meeting. I opened my locker, but then I heard voices from outside – boys shouting.
“Cut in! Cut in!” One of them said.
“Sharper!” Another shouted.
“I’m poached!”
“Forcing Home!”
“That’s yours! Bring it in the zone! Score!”

So I closed my locker and followed the noise. Something about these words seemed so familiar to me, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I continued walking and found myself going out a pair of doors and into a huge field. There were guys playing, eight in black and eight in white. They were playing Frisbee. I walked down the steps of the building and watched them play from the sidelines.

On the other side of the field, I could see girl watching and telling the guys what to do. Telling them things such as,
“Someone’s coming up to your right!”
“Defense!”
“Catch it! Catch it!”
“Fillers, Guys!”
I continued watching them play, and saw Luis running for the disc. He was running for the end zone, seeing as the disc was thrown in that direction, then score. Somehow, he caught my eye, and began to slow down. He stopped running and stood still, looking at me. What the hell is he doing? The white team slammed the disc to the ground and they scored. The girls at the sidelines gave out what’s and No’s. He just stood there, looking at me. I found this moment rather awkward, so I started walking away from the sidelines and out of the field. I walked slowly, and I could hear behind me people talking to him.
“Dude, why the hell did you stop?”
“I’m sorry.” Luis said.
“Look man, I know it’s hard for you – but this here and now. You have to let it go sometime.”
I didn’t know what this guy meant when he said that. It was just like what my mom said to Luis yesterday when he dropped by my house, but I let it be – I was pretty sure it didn’t have something to do with something as serious as my present condition. I mean, what else was more severe as this?

I went inside the building and back to my locker. As I opened it, there was a mirror, and a note; “Look it the box.” I turned my attention to this plain cardboard box with a camera on it. I put the camera aside and took the box in my hands – closed the locker and went inside the girl’s bathroom. I entered the cubicle and sat down. I turned on the camera and found multiple videos, taken November 26. I played the first video.

“Hey Jess! It’s Sasha, Patty, Mica and Aimee here, your single ladies!” There was this black haired girl with green eyes, with glasses, another chinky, another one with curly hair, and another with brown hair and glasses. They waved at the camera. “It’s been 3 months now since we’ve talked. We should totally hang when you wake up, okay? Love you, Jess!” There were a couple of “Bye’s”, and I turned to the next video.

“Heya Jessica! It’s Sean – Tim – JV – Patrick – Mikey – Pao – and Mark! What’s up in that hospital crib of yours?! Well, you can’t answer that, but you know what I mean.” They looked like juniors “We hope you get better soon! We need your voice, and someone on the synth. The band’s doing great, but we need your voice. It’s not the same when you’re not around campus. See you soon okay?”

“Oh my, Jess! It’s Bea! I cannot believe you’re in a coma. It’s different when you’re not around – Luis has been pretty quiet, and it’s not like him whenever you’re around, and you-know-who is getting close to him. I miss you! Get well soon okay? You have to be my spy again! Did I mention I finished Dolores? Bye Jess!” This was one of the girls I saw in the field earlier.

“Jessica Rye! Amanda here – but you know that.” No, I don’t. “I miss you so much! It’s been so quiet during class hours; Luis is taking these 5 months pretty hard. Wake up already! I’m kidding. You need your rest – but don’t rest too long, we need you here - fast! I know I can't force you to wake up, but I will await the moment. Get well soon Jess! ILY, girl.”

Then I turned to the next video, and the next video, and then the next, until the last.
“Hey Jess.” Luis. “It hasn’t been the same these past three months. Not seeing you around campus, not having you around in class, not having you come over to my place practically every day – it’s all different. Things changed ever since the – incident. I don't want to remember the events of that night - and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to know either. Hey, guess what," He holds up this dog that looks like a bear - a baby chow chow! It was the cutest thing on the planet. "I knew how much you like him, and the way you've been visiting this little guy at the pet shop just gave that away. Anyway, I've been visiting the hospital since day one – hoping you’d wake up. When you do wake up, promise me that when I come by your place, we’ll spend each moment as if it were the last. I’m always here for you, and I always will be – for anything, alright? I hope to see you soon, okay, Jay? You'll always be my Lil' Jay. I Love You.” And he waved to the camera, and that was the last message…

I put it down and took the box into my hands. Inside were pictures – a lot of them. I looked at each one – each one had a memory of me with some people, Bea, Amanda, Sean, Tim, JV, Patrick, Mikey, Mark, Pao, Mica, Aimee, Patty, Sasha, Luis, and all these other people from the videos – mostly pictures of Frisbee though. It looks really fun. Others were just pictures of me and Luis, which was really weird because – I didn’t even know who he is. I didn’t know who these people were.

Right now, it really sucks that triggering my memory wasn’t as automatic as looking at pictures and remembering faces – I couldn’t do that. Realizing that, I broke down and cried for a bit. When I knew it was enough, I left the cubicle, went to my locker and put back everything inside, except the camera. I went out the first doors I could find – I found the ones leaving to the field, and so I opened them… only to find a crowd of people in the field. Food was set up on tables, and there was a hugeass mat in the middle of the field. On top of that, there was a tarp that was help up high – saying, “We’ve missed you Jay!” So many people were there, but only a few I could recognize. Like Sasha, Mica, Patty, Aimee – Bea and Amanda – Sean, Tim, JV, Mark, Mikey, Patrick, Pao – Luis, Diego, Nicolas, and those people from the videos. I went down the steps and went over to Amanda, not sure of what was going to happen. She hugged me, and everybody else followed. It was this one big group hug in the middle of the field – as if everyone was willing to help me remember everything. I’m thankful, really…