A life to Remember

At the lake

The lake. The three of us discovered it a while ago one day after school. I must have been like five or six. It's a lake surrounded by forest. I don't know why, but whenever I'm there I just feel so calm, and I'm sure Chloe and Chad would agree. I haven't been there in ages, it's not really the fact that it's a long drive (because you could basically walk there.) it's iust that I haven't had the time lately.

I hopped over the gate (jeez that's getting hard to do) and started the quarter mile journey through the mixture of pine trees and palmettos.

We had basically worn a path through the forest over the years so it wasn't much of a challenge.

Finally I found myself in a opening. A six year old could not appreciate the real beauty of this place, but now that I'm older, it's just so amazing.

I found Chad, lying on his back on a patch of grass, just staring at the clouds.

I slowly went over and layed next to him

"Hi." I began.

"Hi." He responded.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yeah, I come here a lot."

"You do?" I asked, sitting up.

"Yeah." He said, looking at me.

"I came to talk to you." I said, pulling a piece of grass from the ground.

"Bout what?" He asked.

"You....Us...." I said, looking at the sky again.

"What's there to talk about?" He asked.

"Ok fine, then what about this baby?" I said, putting one hand on my stomach

"What about that baby?" He asked squinting at me.

"Chad, I want to know for sure that when this baby's born, you're gonna be here for her. Because I'm not gonna let her get attached to you, just to have you leave when she's five." I raised my voice.

He got up, and gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry." He said.

That's one of the things I love about Chad, he can't stay mad at me.

"I care about this baby almost as much as I care for you." He said, still hugging me. "And I'm going to be in her life till the day I die." He said, pulling back.

"So what's wrong then?" I asked, wiping a tear from my cheek.

"You're leaving." He said, staring back at the sky.

"Just down the street." I reassured

He grabbed my wrist and lightly rubbed over the scars, as if to remind me what happend.

"He changed." I said, pulling my wrist away from him.

Chad still looked uneasy.

"I'm a big girl Chad, I can take care of myself, besides you can come over and visit me whenever, and I can go over to your house, it's just that, I need some time alone, in my own house." I finished.

"Ok, if that's your decision, than I'll support it." He said, and but I could tell that he didn't mean it
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