"This has been the best day of my life," I said to my best friend Leo. I, again, repeated what I said in my head, I'm ecstatic. As I sat down at our lunch table with Leo I noticed that he had a pained look on his face and wondered what was wrong.
"Are you okay, Leo?" I asked which seemed to startle him. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you," I said half laughing.
"It's fine and yeah I'm okay, I guess it's just this stupid test I have to take." Leo said with a fake smile plastered on his face. I could tell he wasn't being honest but he obviously didn't want to talk about it so I didn't stretch the subject.
"That's cruel of them to make you test on the last day of school," I replied.
"It's another perk of being in advanced placement classes," Leo said which seemed to lighten the mood. "Anyways, you wanna come over and practice for our soccer game tomorrow?" He said sounding pretty happy to get back on his feet and play.
"Your foot must be healed I'm guessing."
"As good as new, well hopefully," he responded with a goofy grin.
"I wish I could practice but I can't, my mom said she had a surprise for me when I got home." I explained eagerly hoping that I could go home already.
"I got you something for your birthday, Morgan" he said slowly as if he wasn't sure with what he was saying. Then he reached his arms behind his neck and undid his necklace. He folded it in his hand then looked at it for a moment. "I'm giving this to you." The necklace wasn't the most fancy but it was girly which made me wonder why he always wore it. I used to tease him about it but now he's letting me have it. I know this must mean a lot to him because he never lets it out of his sight, but I didn't want to take it from him. I also didn't want to sound rude so I thanked him for it and put it on.
"Thank you Leo it's beautiful." I said which was not close to a lie. The beautiful moment was ruined when the bell rung.
The rest of the day didn't even compare to lunch.
I walked out of the building with Leo and talked about tomorrow's soccer game. Leo eventually split up and got on his bus and I kept walking, finally I was headed home. I walked faster than I normally did and didn't bother putting music in because I knew the walk was only a couple minutes. The whole way their I wondered 'Is she throwing a surprise birthday party for me' or 'are we going to go somewhere with the family' but my favorite thought and the one I wanted the most was 'is my father returning from the war?' I've been wondering for many months when he will come back.
Now I could finally get my answer. I slowly turned the knob, then I entered and my mother was right. I was definitely surprised, but not the way I had hoped. I saw my mom in tears and two big men dressed in army uniforms by either side. 'Please tell me I'm having another nightmare' I cried to myself. The two men noticed me and answered my thought. I was not imagining this, my dater is dead. They left the house after giving the terrible news. I looked at my mother who was facing the ground with tears rolling down each cheek. I couldn't bare seeing her like that and I began to cry and just felt so sad and angry at dad for making mom feel abandoned. I ran to my mom and wrapped my arms around her. We just sat there, on the ground for what felt like an eternity, but time really didn't matter anymore, nothing really did.
It was about midnight when I got up off the ground and moved sluggishly to my room. My birthday went from amazing to a tragedy within a few minutes. I lay on my bed eyes wide open thinking about my dad. "Why did you have to leave us like that?" Looking into my moms eyes made me feel many different emotions. Sadness, heartbroken, abandoned, but mostly anger towards my father for leaving us and making me have to see mom suffer like that. Then all I could feel was guilt for being angry towards him. Eventually my eyes gave way and welcomed the dark. I fell asleep.
I woke up about thirty minutes later than I should have. I totally forgot I had a game today. I quickly got dressed in my uniform and ran down stairs to grab something to eat. No about five minutes I was out the door and headed towards Leo's house, so he could drive me to the game. We were practically neighbors so I was there in a couple minutes after leaving. I rang his doorbell and put on the best fake smile I could manage. He answered the door and looked at me closely.
"What's wrong Morgan?" He asked softly. "Why have you been crying?"
"It's fine seriously, I'm fine" I said stuttering a little.
"I've known you for more than ten years, I know when something is wrong," He said gently.
"My... My father died in the war." I was all I managed to say.
"I'm sorry Morgan" he said calmly which should've helped me but kind of made me mad.
"Why are you being calm, Leo. I just told you that my father was killed! You're acting like absolutely nothing happened! But I guess you wouldn't know about losing anyone because you're life is perfect!" I said which I immediately regretted. It was much too harsh but it made me feel a little better. I looked at Leo and he was looking back at me, actually at the necklace. He had the expression of a lost puppy on his face.
"That necklace... It was given to me by my mom." Leo looked down and I could see a tear roll off his cheek. "She... She was diagnosed with cancer and was given only a couple months to live. My father and I were devastated but my mother acted calm, like she had known for a while." He paused a minute and wiped the tears off his face, then he smiled. "She always had the biggest smile on her face, if you were a stranger you would've thought she had won the lottery, she was just so full of life. My dad decided we would take a family trip and that was when my father and I got her this necklace."
He pointed to the one I was wearing and I just stood their in shock. I dropped down to the floor in tears and realized that he went through what I had went through, actually worse. I barely even knew my father but him and his mom were as close as mother and son could be. I couldn't stop crying, I hadn't known this about him and I never knew he was this strong. I wiped away my tears, "Thank you, Leo, for everything." I said just now realizing how much Leo really meant to me. To my surprise Leo just knelt down next to me and wrapped his arms around me holding me tight. He may have said something but I couldn't hear, I was busy crying. He let go of me, I wish he wouldn't have but I learned that I should be thankful for what I have and not to be greedy. My life isn't as bad as it could be, I still have my mother, and I still have Leo.
