The Widow's Journey

Chapter 1

"Promise you'll come back in one piece?"

"Yes, well.. I may or may not be missing an arm or a leg, but you know- Harry, don't cry, I'm joking. I promise I'll make it back safely. Promise you'll wait for me?" The sound of Christopher's voice only made the tears spill faster, it was hard to tell how long he would be gone for and I was afraid I may never hear his voice again. As he lifted my chin to look into my eyes one last time before he disappeared a single tear slid down his cheek, without thinking too much about it I reached up and carefully wiped the tear away, allowing a sad smile to cross my face.

"I love you.. Did you know?" I whispered before I heard the suctioning sound of the bus doors opening signalling that it was his time to leave. Chris simply nodded and pressed his lips to mine one last time before mumbling an 'I love you too.' I watched as he left me standing there at the gas station bus stop, he had already gotten on the bus but I couldn't bring myself to move from my spot. My hands were pressed against my face as I breathed in deeply with hopes to calm myself, but the scent of his uniform, dusty and old from resting in the closet, was stuck to my hands. He waved at me as the bus drove away from the station, only causing my heart to shatter even more. Why was it so hard to say good bye? I mean, he promised he would be back.. And he would. I knew it.

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"Are you sure you're okay? I know it was hard.. Especially after.. You know." My mum said through the speaker of the phone. I let out a deep breath and reached down to press my hand against my stomach.

"These things happen.. I'll be fine though, I go back to work at the factory in a few days, I can take care of myself." I murmured. My mum had called me after I got home, she always did anyways, but things had been hard these past two months.

"You know you can come stay with me until Chris gets home, right? It gets lonely around here, I miss you." I sighed out softly, closing my eyes as I let my hand remain on my stomach. I almost expected to feel the soft kicking of a child, but I didn't, that feeling was long gone. It had been for the last two months, leaving me devastated.

"I can't just leave my home.. I can take care of myself.. I'll be fine, I'll call if I need something." I insisted. I hated that my mum babied me sometimes- I am a grown man, and even though I was going through things at the moment I'm strong enough to take care of myself.. Or I'd like to think I am.

"Alright, I'm coming! Give me one minute, Gem!" I heard my mum yell through the house on the other line. Gemma was home visiting from college and apparently she needed my mum for something or another. "I'm sorry, Harry, I've got to go. Gemma is going to destroy my kitchen. Call me this week, sweetie. I love you." Mum said before she hung the call up. I sighed and put the phone down on the kitchen counter, feeling lonely and bored already. This was going to be a long deportation, and that meant that I was going to be alone for a very long time.

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It had been two days already since Chris left and I was just going to work today at the factory. My step-father, Robin, owned the factory and he insisted that while Chris was away I work there as sort of a helper. I was nervous, because first of all I didn't know what to wear, and I hadn't worked in about a year and a half. As far as an outfit goes I decided on a simple blue button down shirt and a pair of normal jeans. That was acceptable.. Right?

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Everyone seemed to be looking at me when I made it into the factory, and I had already clocked in and gotten a badge with my name on it. I saw a man with a worker's uniform on and I took a deep breath before making my way over to him, putting a smile on my face.

"Do you know where Brad's office is? I'm supposed to be here to help him, or assist him is more the word.. I've never been in here before." I spoke to him. Brad was the man my step-father assigned me to work with, or for. The man had a badge on his uniform that read 'Tyler', but he didn't seem like he was interested in talking to me, more like he was appaulled that I even asked him for help.

Tyler just shrugged a little and crossed his arms over his chest. "Didn't know we were getting a new worker. Anyways, Brad's office is down that corridor, make a right, then it's just right there, the only door on that end." He answered, but he seemed to make that statement sort of sketchy. I simply nodded and offered a polite smile before I went off to the direction he pointed me in to find Brad's office, but that wasn't what I found. Instead I found a room full of letters that were being press stamped, and the room was absolutely FULL of paper. I sighed and shook my head. Of course he wasn't going to help me.. So eventually I sucked it up and found Brad's office myself.

When I knocked on his door it seemed like someone had been waiting for me to get there, because the instant I knocked just about the door swung up and a man with a big weird smile was standing there. "Hi! Harry? I'm Brad." The man introduced, reaching out to firmly shake my hand. I was surprised at how happy he seemed, it was sort of scary and sketchy, but I'd take that over someone being rude to me.

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I wasn't used to waking up at 6 AM every morning, but this was the third day that I've been doing it and I was sort of getting into the flow of things. I was still currently under "training", which meant I was being taught the basics of being an assistant. I was learning about what the company did, what my job was when I was directed to send out emails or notifications, and then the rest of whatever my job would be. I'm expecting a letter from Chris soon, because with each deportation he will write to me only days after he is gone. I already had my letter ready to send back to him in response for when he wrote to me first.

At work when I got there I reported straight to Brad's office, and he was waiting there for me at his desk. I took a seat in the leather chair in front of his desk with a small smile.

"Morning, Harry. I don't have much for you today. I suppose you can send out a few notifications or type out a few emails, but other than that you can hang around." Brad said, and it wasn't long after that he fled from the office. I sighed and sunk back in the chair, that's usually what I always did. The "training" I was under didn't involve much training after all. More so learning how to type up the emails from the company properly and those things.. My job wasn't the most interesting, but I'm getting a better start than those working in a fast food joint starting out. So it was a pretty boring job.. But I could handle it for now.