Broken Bridges

Chapter 2

                             May 30th, 2020
                                 Jeremiyah
Life changes. One morning you can wake up and everything around you can look different. One morning you can wake up and everything inside you can feel different. Everything you thought you knew could make absolutely no sense anymore. Everything you felt could no longer make you feel anymore. Everything you loved could no longer mean anything to you anymore
                                      ***
I still remember the day I meant Harper Fields. I remember everything about that day. What we wore, how I felt, everything that was said. It was June in 2010.  I had just turned six in May, but Harper was still five because her birthday wasn't until July. Although we had been neighbors since we were born, I had never seen her before. I guess I never really paid attention to our neighborhood though either. I have a younger brother who is only two years apart in age, so I never really needed other friends to play with on a daily basis. I had my soccer team, who I practiced with every night after school and my friends from school so I was never lonely. I never knew that she was the only one I was missing.
My brother, Anthony, and I were kicking a soccer ball against our garage while we were waiting for our mom to finish cooking dinner. She was learning how to ride her bike without training wheels with her dad.
" Don't let go, Dad!" I heard a girl scream. I ran to the end of the driveway to see what was going on. Harper was on her purple bike with her dad holding on to the seat. He was running as he was holding on until he came to an abrupt stop as he let go.
" I'm doing it. I'm doing it!" She cheered in excitement. A smile was painted across her face. Her beautiful, perfectly white smile has always been my favorite thing about her, even when we were kids. She hit the ground and that purple bike flew five feet in front of her. She had cuts on both knees and pieces of gravel stuck in her palms, but she didn't even cry. She just got right back up again. Even at five years old that girl was full of strength. I said my first words to her that day.
" Are you okay?" I yelled across the street. Her dad just looked at me like I was crazy. I understand why. I was just a random little boy talking to his daughter from across the street. Harper looked at me with welcoming eyes. Her eyes have always been calming for me.
" Yeah, I'm okay." She responded.
" I'm going to go get you a bandaid, Harp." Her dad told her as he walked into their house.
"You can come over." She smiled.
"Okay."
I walked across the street to her house.
"Hold on! Let me go get my bike!" I said, excitedly. I ran back home and got my bike out of the shed.
" Where are you going?" Anthony asked me as I rode down the driveway.
"Across the street." I replied. I still didnt know her name yet. I parked my bike next to hers and sat down next to her on the grass.
" What's your name?"
"Jeremiyah. What's yours?"
"Harper."
"I had a cat named Harper when I was three." I said. " She got hit by a car and died." Her calm eyes turned shocked.
"Oh. That's sad. I would cry.:
" Oh I definitely did. I cried for like five years." She laughed at my attempt to be dramatic and funny. Her dad came back with the bandaid and when he did he looked at me with a more approving expression. He cleaned her up and went back inside. The two of us continued to talk.
"What's your favorite movie?" She asked me. She tied her hair up into a ponytail. Her hair skills were not perfect at the age of five. Her ponytail was bumpy and many pieces of hair were not included in the ponytail but I didn't mind.
" Spider man." I brushed my fingers through my curly brown hair like I always did when I was nervous. I still do it to this day." What's yours?"
" Tangled."
"Is that the movie with the girl with super long hair who's locked in a tower with her lizard?" I questioned. I was really stupid when I was younger.
" He's a chameleon, but yes it is." She pronounced chameleon wrong but of course I didn't know that then.
"What's your favorite song?" I asked her.
"You belong with me by Taylor Swift." She smiled. " I love Taylor Swift." I could tell by the spark in her eyes and the smile on her face that she was extremely passionate about Taylor Swift.
"Okay, mine is sort of embarrassing." I bit my lip.
"It can't be that bad."
" It's Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus." I laughed as I saw her choke in an attempt to hold in her laugh.
" Okay, that is pretty embarrassing."
We talked until the streetlights came on as we sat cross legged in the grass. It was one of those talks where the whole world stopped. It didn't feel real. It was as if we would wake up in the morning and all the memories from that moment would be gone. At around ten o'clock, my mom called me home and from then on forward we became best friends, even though we have had our ups and downs along the way.
                                    ***
I fell in love with her when we were twelve. We were at her aunt's house for her twelfth birthday party. Her whole family was there and so were her two friends, Maliyah and Lilliana. It was mid July, so the weather was sunny and hot. The pool was open and the older girls were sprawled out on lounge chairs sun tanning on the deck, while the younger kids and I were in the pool. The adults were all down on the porch at least 100 feet away, so we were in complete control. Harper had on a bright orange swimsuit, which contrasted very nice with her skin that was perfectly tan. She always tanned nice in the summers.
"Harper!" I yelled.
"What do you want, Jeremiyah?" She asked, annoyed.
"Come in the water. Stop being boring."
"I'm tanning. I will later." She put her sunglasses back on her eyes. I walked over to the edge of the pool closest to where she was sitting. I hoisted myself up on the ledge and got out of the water. I slowly approached her and picked her up out of the lounge chair.
" Jeremiyah Hansen, if you don't put me down right now....!" She screamed in panic. I tripped over a blue pool noodle that was sitting by the edge and Harper and I both fell into the water, creating a big splash that splashed both Maliyah and Lilliana on the opposing end of the deck. As we both returned to the surface, Harper looked at me and her angry expression turned to pure joy.
" That was actually really fun!" She laughed. I smiled back at her, examining her wet hair, golden brown eyes and perfect smile. Her laugh was contagious. At that moment I knew I loved her, but of course I never told her. It would only cause problems.
                          1 and ½ months later