Never Forget

Chapter 8 (Joshua)

The entire day the two of them were inseparable. Haley loves Krista. They were laughing, giggling, and holding hands all day. It started to get dark and Haley's parents were ready to go. "Come on Haley, it's time to go." Her mom said. "Nooo. I wanna stay with Krista!" Haley yelled. She wrapped her arms around Krista's leg and wasn't budging. Krista bent down to pick her up and put her on her hip. "I know you don't want to go but mommy and daddy need to go get some sleep. So do you." Kris said. "But....what if I never see you again?" Haley said and her eyes started to get watery. "Awww sweet heart, you'll see me again."
"When?" She said. Krista looked up at me to get me to help.
"How about this. I'll pick up Krista first thing tomorrow morning and I'll take her to church so you can see her." I say. Krista looked at me relieved. "Yeah. I'll come to church tomorrow and see you." Kris says. "Promise?" Haley says.
"I promise." Kris says and gives her a big hug before sending her off with her parents.

"She's such a sweet girl" Krista says.
"She is. It took me months before I could even get her to say hi to me." I say.
"Really? She was talking my ear off."
"Well...you're something special and I'm not the only one who sees it."
She blushes and looks away. "Krista, you're amazing." I say and she turns to look at me. "Your amazing too J"

"Hey Joshua." Mrs. Anderson says. "Hello" I reply.
"I'm glad you and your friend could come. Did you guys have a good time?"
"We did."
"Good. Can I ask you two for a favor?"
"Anything Mrs. Anderson"
"Can you guys help clean up? It would be greatly appreciated."
"Of course we'll help you."
"Thank you sweet heart. You can start by picking up the trash. Then you guys can help put away the tables and the chairs."
"Alright."

Krista and I grabbed trash bags and picked up trash around the yard. We took all the tables and chairs and put them in the garage. I noticed Ricky was still here. I walked up to him. "Hey, you have a ride home?"
"Yeah Jake is gonna take me."
"Alright."
"So is she your girlfriend or...?"
"No she's not. We're just friends."
"But you like her."
"I'm not even gonna lie. I like her a lot."
"Ooooh Joshua has a girlfriend. Joshua has a girlfriend." Ricky said mockingly.
"Yeah yeah whatever Rick. Ima go, I'll see you at home."
I walk towards where Krista was standing but she wasn't there. I guessed she was inside so I went inside. I looked all around until I found her in the living room.

The living room had one couch and two large book shelves filled with books. It also had an acoustic guitar that Krista was playing. I stood at the doorway watching her. She didn't even realize I was standing there. She started singing softly to the song she was playing. I didn't recognize the song but she sounded so beautiful. "Hey." I said. "Oh hey." She said.
"I see you play the guitar."
"Yeah a little. This one is so beautiful."
"You have a nice voice."
She smiled. "Thanks."
I sat down next her on the couch.
"Did you have a good time?"
"Yeah. I had fun."
"That's good."
"So does your brother have a ride home?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. It's just you him and your parents?"
"Yeah...well...just my dad."
"Oh....what about your mom?"
I got really quiet and I started looking at my hands. I haven't thought about her in so long. "Oh...I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up like that. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to" she said.
"No it's okay. I'll tell you."
"Okay." she put down the guitar and shifted in her seat slightly. 
"Well I was 15-years-old and it was a Tuesday evening. My brother and I had gotten home from school and we were arguing about something. To this day neither of us remember what it was. We were going to complain to my parents so we went into their room. They weren't in there. My brother went to go check the bathroom and the way my parents room was set up, you can see into their closet before you get to the bathroom. Ricky said "J. Look." I walked over to their closet and all of my mom's things were gone. We just stood there staring. We didn't know how to feel or what was going on. All we knew is that it wasn't good. Ricky said "She's gone." And that was the last thing he said for a while. We were both so confused because our parents always got along so well. We walked out of their room in silence. I tried calling my dad but he didn't pick up. I decided to order us a box of pizza for dinner. Ricky was 12 at the time and I had never seen anyone so out of it. He just stared into space for the rest of the night. I had to tell him to eat and to shower and to get ready for bed. I even tucked him in. Even when I turned off the light, he just lay in bed staring into space.

"After I cleaned up and put him to bed, I went in my room and I cried. I've never cried so much in my life. Then I started to pray. I asked God what I should do and He told me to take care of my brother and my father. He said that they needed me to be strong for the both of them. He told me that He loves me and that I was more than capable of doing what it is He has called me to do because He has made me capable. After I prayed I felt a peace unlike anything I've experienced before. When I was getting ready to go to sleep, Ricky came to my door and just stood there for a little. I figured that he didn't want to sleep alone tonight so I moved to the other side of my bed and motioned for him to come so he slept beside me. I decided that we both had a long night and that we shouldn't go to school the next day.

"The morning after, I woke up before Ricky and I went to the kitchen. I heard the garage open. My dad walked in and looked at me sadly. "Hey son" is all he said. I told him to get some rest and I made food for the three of us so they wouldn't be hungry when they woke up. My dad and Ricky went through a bad depression. It took weeks before Ricky could even say a full sentence. My dad didn't stay depressed though, instead of moping around all the time he started to pray and read the bible more. He became a better father to us, a better man in general. It always amazes me how God took something that was meant for bad and turned it into good. If my dad turned to anything other than God when things got hard, I wouldn't have been where I am today. His decision changed my life for the better.

"A couple years later my dad sat me down and took out this shoe box. The shoe box had my mom's wedding ring and a piece of copy paper that had writing on it. He said that ever since mom left we never really talked about it and he felt like it was the time to talk about it. So I found out that for years my mom felt bored with us as a family and she wanted a more exciting life and she ended up having an affair with some guy from the city and she ran away with him. When my dad read the letter that day, he left the house, hoping that he could find her. He looked for her all night until he ended up in the city at his sisters house. He told her what happened and he broke down. His sister told him that he had to pick himself up and go home to take care of me and my brother. She said that it was okay to be sad for a while but it wasn't okay to stay sad. My dad loved my mom move than anything in the world. I've never seen someone love someone else so much in my life. My dad got though it and I'm really proud of him for it."

I looked up at Kris and she had tears in her eyes. "J, I'm so sorry. That must have been so hard." She said. "It was hard but God got me through it." I smiled sadly at her. I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders because I've never told anyone that story and now I feel free somehow. Krista dried her eyes and we got up and walked to the car and went home.