I Never Left You

2. happy birthday

My name is Azra Falls and on my 18th birthday, I executed something that altered my whole life. I had an intimate moment with my then boyfriend Ray Fisher to celebrate my coming of age and he as a way of commemorating that he's mine forever and indicating how much he loves me. It was a stupid idea now that I see it but at that moment, it felt like the most right thing to do in the world. We were both head over the heels for each other and the love we had could move mountains, or even make a pope convert and become a Muslim. I could gladly claim It was just the best there was.
Raymond was my childhood friend, best friend, and later a boyfriend that anyone could wish to show off. He had the right words to say, knew when to say something when I exactly needed to hear those words or when to keep quiet. He had a way of hugging sadness out of me and be my favorite painkiller at my lowest points.  We even had affection for the same things, for instance, apple green was both our favorite color, and we preferred chicken drumsticks to wings. So in our final high school, I was turning eighteen years old and he was already nineteen. We were both set to go to Boston University. I was going to major in natural science while he in earth and environment and we both restore mother nature.
On May 16th, I made 18 years and was super fascinated to be a full adult and not a minor anymore, it was a turning point for my life. Having cut my blue and Violet birthday cake and received presents from my family, Ray requested permission from my parents to whisk me off to another party he and our friends had organized at his home in honor of my coming to age. I hastily changed out of my party dress and heels and opted for high waist jeans, a pair of sneakers, and a lemon green jumper to match the one Ray was putting on. I was looking like the female version of him with the jeans and a hoodie, we bade farewell to my family and Ray promised to bring me back home before midnight. How responsible of him! Ray complimented on how cute I looked all the way to the party and kept stealing kisses on my cheek. Romance is truly not loving someone but paying attention to the little details, that's what I and Ray had.
Leah couldn't wait to hug me as soon as I stepped out of Ray's car, I hadn't seen her all day since she was up and down organizing this party. She too couldn't stop commenting on my looks. I guess I looked as good as they said, am one person who doesn't believe that it's all about the looks, she carefully put the birthday sash around my body and we walked in to join the others. We were welcomed by loud music and everyone screamed "happy birthday Azra" as soon as we opened the door, not being used to being the center of attention I smiled shyly and thanked everyone for the wishes and we joined in the party.
After a few dances, jokes, and we cut yet another pink cinnamon cake courtesy of my best friend and boyfriend who will stop at nothing but to spoil me on this special day. I and RI shift to the couch with most of his friends. Kevin and Aron, Ray's best friends managed to scoop some girls today. We're found of always teasing them that they are allergic to girls. They all hand their presents to me and Ray gladly them to the room where he's safely kept the rest. I look around for Leah only to spot her dancing to the music like it's the oxygen of her life so I let her be, I instead join the gang on the couch and we play the never have I ever game that they had paused on our arrival. After a couple of interesting rounds and weird confessions from the group, Ray whispers to my ear that we head upstairs to his room so that he could get me my presents. With a smirk on his face, we abandoned our seats,  Ray notifies Kevin that he's in charge of making sure the party doesn't get out of hand, we retire to his bedroom hand in hand.
The sweet bitter memories of our lovemaking that night are still fresh in my mind even after two years. For the next day that year, I woke up only to find out that Ray and Kevin had vanished and were nowhere to be found. It's like they were abducted by aliens and none of their families could give us a hint of where they could have vanished to. I remember Remy Ray's sister telling me to not bother looking for him cause he wasn't even in the state. As if that misery of my missing boyfriend wasn't enough for me, I later found out that I had something baking in my oven. That's right! I was pregnant. Fuck the stupid pill for not being effective. I not only had to cope with the mysterious disappearance of the love of my life but also find what to do with the life growing inside of me.
My parents didn't put up with the news well and mum was the most aggrieved one but they encouraged me to keep the baby.