Your Guardian Angel

I woke up to the sound of the mockingbirds singing their song lightly in my ear and I felt the big ball of warmth right next to me stir. I looked to my left and saw Jesse slowly open his eyes and I smiled. We had fallen asleep under the stars on his front porch last night.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” he said, giving me a kiss.

“Ditto. What time is it?”

“10:30.”

As soon as I heard this, I shot up like a bullet.

“Are you serious? I have to go! My parents are going to kill me! You need to drive me home now.”

“Ok, ok,” Jesse said, getting up and stretching.

We walked to his car and got in. The drive to my house was completely silent. We both knew what was to come and did everything we could to avoid it. When we arrived at my house, the moving truck was already there and our furniture was spread all over the lawn, waiting to be loaded into the truck. I looked at the sky and noticed some threatening clouds up ahead. As soon as I got out of the car, my mom came up to me wearing a very red and angry face.

“WHERE THE HECK WERE YOU?” she yelled. “I called you five times and you didn’t answer and then you never came home last night!”

“I was with Jesse,” I said calmly. I never liked to lie. “We fell asleep, nothing else happened. My phone was in vibrate mode, so I didn’t hear it.”

My mother gave me a questioning look.

“Mom, trust me, nothing else happened; it was completely innocent.” I gave her a truthful look and she gave in.

“I believe you, but you are still grounded for a week after we get to Florida.

I sighed. “Fine, whatever. Jesse and I are going to take one last look at the house.” With that, I took his hand and led him inside for the very last time.

When we came to my room, I stared at the blank walls and the empty room. This was no longer my room; my room was always bright and cheerful with posters and color all over. Without any furniture, it just looked drab and bare and unrecognizable to me. That’s when it really hit me; I was really moving out. I was leaving behind the place that I had called home for my whole life. It felt like I was losing my best friend.

Tears started to well up in my eyes as I thought back on all the memories that I had in that room: the time when I lost my first tooth and got money from the “tooth fairy”, my first sleepover, playing Barbie’s with my sisters and friends, etc, etc. I didn’t think I was ready to let those go just yet.

I felt a comforting hand come around my shoulder and Jesse pulled me close to him and let me cry on him like he always does when I am upset. Soon, I heard my brother calling to me from downstairs; it was time to go.

When Jesse and I came back outside, we saw that Amanda, Natalie, and Caitlin had arrived to say goodbye. I saw that all the furniture was now cleared off the lawn and loaded into the truck. I guess the movers really worked fast.

“Hey girls,” I said, wiping more tears from my eyes. “I guess this is it.”

“God, Riley, I am going to miss you so much,” wailed Amanda, giving me a hug. “It won’t ever be the same without you. You are the best friend I have ever had and that will never change. You’d better keep in touch.”

“You won’t have to worry about that because I definitely will and ditto.”

“I can’t believe you are actually moving,” sobbed Natalie. “We’re all going to miss you so much. Nobody will ever be able to make me laugh and listen to my problems the way you do.” She also gave me a hug.

“I’m going to miss you guys too. I promise I will never forget you and I will make sure I come back to see you every opportunity I get.”

“Good because we never want to lose you,” said Caitlin, rubbing tears from her eyes and copying the hugging. “It’s going to be so weird, you not living here.”

“It’s going to be weird for me too. I will have to make a lot of new friends and it will be really hard. I don’t want to lose you guys either,” I choked out, trying my hardest not to completely lose it.

“Riley, we have to leave now,” said my dad.

I nodded and said, “Ok,” very softly. I gave each of my friends one last goodbye hug and told them each that I loved them. Then I walked over to where Jesse was standing and grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.

I gulped, trying my hardest to hold back more tears, but not succeeding. Then, as if right on cue, the weather started to poor and so did the tears coming down my cheeks. “I’m going to miss you so much,” I sobbed, falling into his arms.

“I’m going to miss you too,” he said, holding me close. “Always remember that I love you no matter what.”

“I love you too.”

“Riley, come on! We have to leave now!” demanded my mother.

I nodded and said, “I’ll be right there.”

He gulped and said, “Call me when you get there,” in a very soft voice as if it was one of the hardest things he ever had to say. I looked up into his eyes and saw tears take form. The rainfall came down his cheeks as it had mine and there was nothing he could do to stop it either. Why couldn’t it just go back to sunshine? He and I both realized that this was really it; this was really goodbye and there was no going back. We shared our last, passionate kiss and the moment our hands let go of each other, I felt my heart shatter into tiny little pieces.

I got into the car and looked back as we were driving away. I saw Jesse standing there sopping wet and staring at the car, a look of pure terror on his face. A loud clap of thunder roared from the sky, sounding like bombs exploding. It was then that I turned around and my life flashed before my eyes. I was spinning out of control and then I got the sensation like I was flying. It was when I hit the ground that I felt my life slowly slipping away from me.