Broken

Dream A Little Dream

The world has always seemed like an adventure to me. My scholarship offer to Notre Dame University led me to study psychology after high school. My confidence was well founded, and sure enough, things went smoothly.

Although my classes were challenging, I managed to maintain a 4.0 grade point average. Since I was working so hard, I decided to have a little fun and attend a party with my friends. There was no way I could have known that that would be the moment I would meet the love of my life, Henry Creel.

The kind expression on his face drew me to him. A handsome smile accompanied his gorgeous blue eyes, which made me blush. His hair was blond, he wore a gray sweater vest and black pants, and he wore loafers. At first I didn't realize at the time that this was indeed love at first sight, because he was charming and I'd forgotten why I was there at the party due to being entranced by him. My parents always said that when you meet your soulmate, time slows down. Time was slowing down.

"Janet, why don't you go talk to him?" My best friend Betty Warren teased. "I wouldn't know what to say," I awkwardly shifted my weight to my other foot, because I wasn't good at walking in heels, and I was a little overconfident in my abilities to wear the footwear. I feared I would trip and land on my face in front of everyone.

"You'll never know unless you try." Another friend named Pamela Barlowe encouraged. "Time is fleeting," Mary Jones prompted.

"Alright alright, I'll talk to him." The constant badgering was getting annoying, but if I didn't take the chance now I don't know when I would.

"It's now or never!" Betty shoved me forward in his direction, and I quickly caught myself to keep from falling. I smoothed down the wrinkle in my dress skirt and stepped forward, and I didn't have to make the first move, because he turned around and smiled at me. "Hello." "Hello," I smiled back to hide my nerves. "What's your name, beautiful?" he slightly flirted, his blue eyes seemed to glow with optimism. "Janet Williams," I replied in a quiet voice. "That's a pretty name," he complimented. "That's sweet of you," I blushed once more. "I've noticed you around school, what are you studying?" "Psychology," I replied nervously. It was the 1960s, and women were allowed to be psychologists and I took advantage of the door that opened for a future career.

"Fascinating," he told me. He smiled at me and he looked as if he remembered something. "I don't think I've introduced myself, my name is Henry Creel." he extended his hand to me. "It's nice to meet you, Henry." I shook his hand. Our hands fit perfectly together and we held hands for a while, staring at each other. I smiled in bliss, but this moment seemed too good to be true. Maybe I was nervous about opening my heart to someone.

"I've seen you around school, but I've been too shy to talk to you," he admitted sheepishly. "You don't strike me as the shy type," I grinned. "I've been wanting to talk to you for a while too." I admitted. He grinned an adorable grin, "Well, then let's talk."

To spend some alone time with Henry, we went to the diner near our school. As it turned out, we had a lot in common. Also studying psychology, he was intrigued by how the mind functions.

When we discussed our families, things got a little weird. "It's just me and my younger sister, Sandra, and our parents." I casually told Henry, slowly opening up. "What about your family?" I asked without thinking.

"My parents and older sister died in a fire about eight years ago. I don't know how it started, but I couldn't save them." Henry's blue eyes darkened, and he seemed to be reliving the traumatic event. "I did everything I could." his expression saddened. "I'm so sorry, Henry. I didn't mean to bring up old wounds." I genuinely felt bad. "No need to apologize, you didn't know," he reached across the table to hold my hand. My heart melted at the affection he gave me. I looked at his hand holding mine, and then I looked at him. "You deserve happiness, Henry." my words sounded cheesy, but I meant them. I considered myself an empathetic person, and I wanted to help my loved ones who were having a bad time. Even when I was a little girl, I would always make it my mission to make everyone around me happy.

As he smiled gratefully, he said, "Thank you so much." Then he proceeded to caress my hand with his thumb and said, "I apologize if this is too forward, but would you like to go out tomorrow night?" He was asking me out!

As I glanced at the clock on the wall, I grinned. "Aren't we on a date right now?" I asked him excitedly, since it had been well past midnight. "I like the way you think," he beamed. We spent the entire evening together, and we even went on a romantic walk around the fountain at school. This stone fountain became one of our favorite spots to hang out, since it is also where we shared our first kiss, making it an important spot in our relationship. Because Henry was taller than me, I had to kiss him on my tiptoes. "Janet Williams, I love you." that was when our lips met. It was a gentle romantic kiss. "I love you too, Henry Creel." I wrapped my arms around him in a hug to kiss him back. We started dating shortly after that, and then after graduation we got married. The wedding was beautiful and our friends from school attended along with my family.

There was a cute little house that Henry and I bought back in Hawkins that we both really liked. As madly in love as we were, we were both eager and ready to devote our lives to each other.

In our blue Chevrolet, we pulled up to the house, excited to begin this new phase in our lives. "Welcome home, Mrs. Creel," he smiled flirtatiously at me, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. "Happy to be home, Mr. Creel," I flirted back, leaning over to kiss him. He softly kissed me back, and he stroked my face while the kiss was still happening.

Suddenly, we remembered that we still needed to unpack our stuff in order to get accustomed to our new home. Because we didn't want to spend a lot of money on a moving company, we unpacked and rearranged our furniture as well as other necessities in our new house by ourselves. It was fine with us because it allowed us to work together as a team, which allowed us to succeed. I believed that was one of the things that strengthened our marriage.

Everything was about to change.