My Favorite Memory

“Ugh. This always happens.” Sarah said as she rubbed aloe on her sunburned shoulders. I smiled and said, “I told you to wear sunscreen.” She was bright red. I found it odd that her skin almost matched her flaming red hair. “That stuff causes skin cancer Sam!” She whined. “Well now you have sun poisoning.” I said as I began to pack my bags. We had been at the beach for almost two weeks now, and were about to head back home. Home, my town was a sorry excuse for a home. It was so boring. There was never anything to do except hangout at the skate rink, or go see a movie. I was not excited about going back. “Hey, you’re driving, Right Sam?” She almost demanded. “Yes, Sarah.” I said and continued to pack. I had just got done with both of my bags, when I heard a knock at the door. I made my way through the kitchen, and down the hall of Sarah’s beach house and peeked out the window. No one, “That’s weird,” I said to myself as I opened the door cautiously. “Who is it?” Sarah called from the bathroom. I looked down to find a package. I picked it up and went back inside. “Um no one, it's just a package to me.” I said. Curiously I sat on the sofa and opened the box to find a necklace and a letter. “Who’s it from?” Sarah asked. I looked all over the box, and the letter, and then said “It doesn’t say. That’s strange.” I opened the letter and read aloud what was inside,
“I lay here and ponder things, as I look up at the pure blue sky.
The clouds move swift and soundlessly with the wind.
I think of a world where nothing is bad, and we don't ask why.
A place full of hope, wonder, and happiness would have no end.
I look up, and spot a bird it sings and chirps, perched upon a branch of a tree.
So care free and happy, it mocks me as if it is better than me?
I am imprisoned in a harsh lawful life while it's happy being free.
Life, a single word, yet so complicated. Tell me, why must this be?
Sometimes I dream of a world as I sleep, where I can let loose and be myself.
A place where I'm anything, I can be free, As if I were that bird.
Some where far away where I don’t have to impress anyone else
that is where I want to be forever, somewhere simple, where it is MY world.”
I just stared at it curiously. This was my poem. I presented it in my English 1 honors class at the start of my freshman year of high school. I knew Sarah was thinking the exact same thing by the look she was giving me. Neither of us spoke for a minute. “Umm, Is that all it says Sam?” She asked. I stared at the letter. Whoever wrote this down had magnificent penmanship. I saw nothing else on the paper, until I turned it over.
“I loved this poem. Your work is beautiful Sam, Don’t stop writing.”
I read this to myself. It was almost abrupt. It was as if there should have been more to it. I just stared at the letter, the box, and the necklace, which was beautiful; I removed it and held it. I didn’t know if I should put it on or put it back in the box and put that away, to act like nothing happened. This was after all the creepiest experience I’d had. Who sent this to me? Who was so crazy about me that they had either memorized, or wrote down and kept my poem for three years? I was scared. Not only was the poem thing scary, but this necklace was one I’d stared at in the little boutique downtown for the past year. Was I being stalked? I was Terrified. Should I go home, or stay here? Well I couldn’t stay. What would happen to my dad and sister? So many questions, unanswered in the past 10 minutes. How did something so major just happen? “Hey Sam are you alright?” Sarah asked worried. I thought about it, and then said “Yes. Sarah I’m fine.” I looked up to find her staring at me. It was a strange look she was giving me. “Well, Honey, You’re crying. What did that last part say Sam?” She said, so concerned. I thought about what she asked, I decided to just keep it to myself. “Nothing, I just haven’t read that poem in a long time is all.” I said so indecisively she had to have known I was lying to her. But she just accepted the fact that I wouldn’t tell her. She knew I wouldn’t, I’m too stubborn. She just went into the other room, to pack up I guess. I just put the necklace and the letter back in the box and took it to my bags to pack it up. It was noon when we decided to put our bags in the car and leave. On the way home we stopped to eat at a little diner. It was cold inside; it had flickering lights, and hardly anyone inside. It looked just a bit off of a rundown shop. But there wasn’t anywhere else for another fifty-five miles, and we had already been driving for two hours. We were starving so we sat down at the counter. A woman named Sandra brought us a menu and smiled a smile so fake, you knew she was forced to be friendly. “So do you know what you want?” Sarah asked me as she stared at the worn out menu. I stared at it as well; it didn’t have much to offer though. “I might just have a grilled cheese sandwich with tater tots.” I said and then looked over at her. She stared at the menu then looked at me and said “Yeah, I’ll have the same thing I guess.” I looked for the waitress, not knowing where she could have gone in the small place but I couldn’t find her. Then she came in and said “Are you ready?” With an attitude so bitter, you could almost taste it, like a grape fruit. “Yes. We are.” Sarah shot back. I smirked, and continued for her before they got into it. “We’ll both have a number four, extra cheese, tomato, and hold the mayonnaise. Please and thank you.” I said in a completely fake voice so she’d know I was mocking her. “What about your drinks ma’am?” She spit out. “I’ll have water with lemon.” Sarah said. “I’ll have the same thing.” I said to the waitress. She smiled with her head cocked to the side and walked away. “Ugh. Can you drive now? I’m tired.” I said to Sarah almost quietly, as I laid my head down on the counter top. “Yeah, I’ll drive. It’s only another three hours.” She said as she dropped her head on her hand. We finally got our food after forty-five minutes of waiting, which was weird considering we were the only customers in that time frame. The food was, as expected; greasy, slightly cold, and not too satisfying. But we dealt with it and went on our way. We didn’t talk much on the way home; the only noise was the wind, traffic, and radio. But it was still too loud. The only thing about my home town I liked was how quiet it was. I was grateful for that much. I was so drained I just wanted to sleep, but I developed a weird sleeping pattern a while back. I don’t have insomnia, because I do sleep, but I just sleep at odd hours. I don’t know why the ride home was so awkward, but I couldn’t stand it. I had never been happier to see that, worn old wooden sign saying “Welcome to Brookside” That meant I would be home, and out of the car in 7 minutes. It was such a small town you couldn’t help but know exact timing to things. I was so ready to get out of Colorado. My town has two-hundred and twenty-three people. Yes, it was very small. You know that kid that always sits alone at school and doesn’t talk to anyone? The quiet one that you want to speak to, but you aren’t sure if they are weird, or mean. Yeah, that’s me. I’m that girl. I have one friend out of one-hundred and ten students. But I’m okay with that. I sort of like to be the loner. I never really had a boyfriend, though I always wondered what a relationship was like. Sarah on the other hand, was so beautiful, and the guys loved her. I could see why, she was what every seventeen year old girl wanted to be. She was my best friend, but I couldn’t help but notice that we were slipping apart. “Well here we are. I’ll text you later. Okay?” Sarah said. I could hear that something was wrong in her voice. “Okay. Drive safe.” I said as I got out of the car. I grabbed my bags out of the trunk and went to the porch. There weren’t any cars in the driveway. I unlocked the front door and opened it, I heard talking. I walked in the den to find the TV on. The food network was on; I knew my dad was the culprit to leaving the TV on. I just cut it off and took my things upstairs in my room. I made my way down the hall to the bathroom and washed my face off. When I got back in my room it was 6:30 pm. I lay down on my bed, and closed my eyes. I woke up to my cell phone ringing; it was 8:00 pm. I answered it. “Hello? Sam? It’s Jennifer, Sarah’s mom. Something’s happened. She’s in the hospital!” She cried to me. I felt tears start to fall down my face, “What?! I’ll be there as soon as I can!” I spit out. I franticly put my phone in my pocket and dug around for my keys, I ran downstairs and out the front door, leaving it wide open. I ran to my car and jumped inside to crank it up. I was hysterical, I had been given so little information but I knew it was majorly important. I was probably doing well over the speed limit but I didn’t care, it was five miles to the hospital. I arrived and dashed inside, “I’m here to see Sarah Freever. It’s urgent!” I said to the woman behind the desk. I felt a tap on my shoulder and jumped around, “Jennifer!” I said with a sigh of relief and hugged her. My heart was racing; I had no idea what was going on. For some reason I felt safe with Jennifer, even amongst all the unknown danger. “Come on honey, let’s go sit down.” She said to me and she wrapped her arm around me tightly, as if she was afraid to let go. I couldn’t speak, I was too scared. I just stared at the floor contently, hoping she would say something. “I haven’t gone back to see her yet. I’m afraid.” She said nervously. I wanted to speak so badly, I worked up enough to choke out “What happened?” A look came over her face, she started to cry. Then I snapped out of whatever was coming over me and said “Jennifer. What happened?” She looked at me, her eyes full of tears. “Sarah was in a car accident on her way home from your house. It wasn’t her fault; she was driving down the road when a truck jumped in her lane right in front of her, she swerved off the road, and down that drop off, and then wrapped around a tree. The police said she’s lucky to be alive.” She said then looked down. I took it all in then just leaned back and closed my eyes. When I opened them up Jennifer was across the room, crying and talking to a doctor. I sat up and waited for her to come back, but she didn’t, she dropped to her knees and cried. I quickly got up and went over to her and put my arm around her. “Sam. She’s gone. Sarah’s gone Sam.” She said quietly as if it was all she had in her to say. I was oblivious to what she had said for only a moment and then I found myself just like Jennifer was. Crying on the floor, wondering what she did to deserve this. I stood up and pulled her up to, we made our way over to our seats and just cried for a little bit. I hated this, Jennifer crying, me crying, and losing Sarah. I hated crying, I hadn’t cried since my mom died four years ago. When I did cry I thought of my mother, so then I cried even more. I let loose of Jennifer and just looked at her, I didn’t know what to say. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.” I said uncertain of my own words. When I left, in the car I didn’t have the radio on, the windows down, air conditioning on, or anything. I just drove, right by my house, right by Sarah’s house, Right out of Brookside. I was okay with this; I didn’t want to be in that town. Not without Sarah. I lost my mom, my best friend, and I was not prepared to lose anyone else close to me. I was ready to shut everyone out, I hated that I cared for people so much, when you care you get hurt. I didn’t need any more pain, and I didn’t want to cause any. I drove for what seemed to be hours, but in reality I had only gone twenty miles. My gas light came on, that dinging noise was putting me on edge. I drove two more miles and found a gas station. I pulled up to a pump and went inside to prepay. I opened my wallet as I walked up to the counter. I was shaking as I pulled thirty dollars out of my wallet. “Um, are you alright?” A voice said to me. I looked up, my eyes full of tears and said “Yes. Um, thirty dollars on pump number two please.” I said as I handed him the money. He stared at me for a brief moment then said, “Yeah, no problem.” He said as he handed me my receipt. I turned around and started walking to the door when he said “You have beautiful eyes by the way.” I just continued to walk until I got to the door. I put my hand on the door. Just before I opened it I turned and said “Thank you.” I pushed it open and walked to my car and opened the gas tank’s cover to begin pumping the gas. I got finished and got in my car. Who was that guy? He looked so familiar; I had to have gone to school with him. I thought about this for about five minutes then it hit me! Damon Archer. He was in my English class every year. He was a teacher’s pet freshman year, and then realized it was annoying. He started sitting in the back, being so anti-social it was no wonder I couldn’t remember who he was at first. He wasn’t remarkable really, just your average seventeen year old boy. He did, however, have a voice that left you wondering how he was human. It was so deep, rounded, and just in every way voluptuous. “Stop just stop,” I said aloud to myself. I was thinking way too much again. According to my dad when I think a lot I get overwhelmed. If I get overwhelmed I’ll get depressed, if I get depressed I’ll hurt myself again and stop taking my medication. It’s an ongoing lecture that I have heard more than twenty times. I know he means well, and he wants me safe but I wish he would not lecture me so much. I pulled off the road for a minute. Then I noticed I was already in Walsenburg. I had already driven an hour and a half. “I should probably go home.” I thought as I entered into a little town in Walsenburg. I hadn’t been here much, but it was bigger than Brookside so I thought of moving here when I leave home, but wasn’t decided yet. Right now I didn’t want to go home. I wanted to stay as far from there as possible. I kept driving until I found a motel. It was not very big. The sign was blinking and buzzing, the railing was rusted and the brick walls were cover in what looked to be dried up algae, but it wasn’t home. It was perfect for me right now.