Ch1: Forever (Present Time Canada)
Have you ever had someone hang up on you before? If you had, then you know what it feels like. The depressing, sad, hollow feeling, that lingers in your stomach for a long time. That's what happened to me.
Last night, I talked to my best friend Cindy Janssen on the phone. Unfortunately she has really bad heart cancer. It might make her die sooner rather than later. I should be worried about her, but she always acts like there is nothing wrong with her. We talked and talked until *beep, beep, beep* she had hung up on me. She didn't hang up on me rudely. It was more like she hung up on me because she couldn't stay on any longer – like she had to stop talking. I couldn't help it. It was times like these that I should be worried about her. She is my best friend after all.
I stayed up the rest of the night, wondering why she hung up on me. Is it because her mom told her to or is it because of inconvenient electricity problems? I shifted slightly, feeling my muscles ache from lack of movement. Groaning softly, I looked at the clock to see that it was already 7:00am. I can't believe that I had spent 7 sleepless hours thinking about Cindy. No wait – I believe it; she normally doesn't hang up on me. Surely there was a great explanation behind it. I went downstairs feeling both exhausted and drowsy. The exact moment I hit the bottom of the stairs was when I saw it. No, when I felt it. I felt the intensity in the air on my skin. I felt the hairs on my back and neck slowly creeping up, indicating that I was scared. Indicating that something was very wrong. Indicating that something horrible was about to happen. I rubbed my tired eyes and immediately saw both of my parents sitting at the kitchen table. I looked at them, and they looked at me. No communication was happening through, no words, no movements and no anything. I quietly sat down opposite them, and started to play with the string on my shirt. After about 5 minutes, I was tired of the creepy silence, and wanted no needed some answers. What was going on here? As though my parents could hear my thoughts; my dad looked at my mom and my mom looked back at my dad. Then they both looked at me.
“What's wrong?” I asked my voice scratchy and hoarse from both the lack of sleep and not using it for a long time. I looked at them boldly – daring them to answer my question. They looked at each other once more, as my mom tried to hold back the tears that I know were threatening to leak out.
"Cindy died last night.” My father told me quietly. I thought and thought how could this be?
“What?” I quietly whispered. She was perfectly fine yesterday when I talked to her. She can't possibly be dead. Is that why she hung up on me without a goodbye? She.... No! No! No, it can't be true...
Suddenly I remembered the last words she said to me. She said the most precious words that I would treasure forever. She said three specific words that I would take to heart. She said: "Remember me. Forever."
“No, it's not true. It can't be!” I was hysterical now. “No! No! No! No!” I screamed.
I felt the hot tears pour down my cheeks quickly as I started to cry. I let out a loud wail as I thought about living without my best friend. I bet you can't even imagine how sad I was that my best friend had died and finding out all of a sudden especially when I only spoke to her a few hours before. How could she die so young? Die so innocent? She was merely just a child! She hasn't even seen the real world yet! How could God let her go away at this time? I need her. She's my best friend!
***
Later that night, we flew to Phoenix for Cindy's funeral. When we arrived, nothing was the same. Nothing would ever be the same. It was different than when we lived here; things had changed so much in just a few years. During that time, I was in Canada trying to get used to everything that was different, but now since I'm back in Japan everything feels so weird. Especially without Cindy around.
