Memories on Strings

Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Of course, with all great memories, bad memories come with them. Not fights or bad things, just moments of reality setting in.

I remember the first time I drove by Mallory's house and I saw a for sale sign on the front lawn. It was real, she was leaving us. Soon the house would be someone else's and passing by would just be a painful memory of the past.

I remember when I dropped off my friend Olivia, who live up the street from Mallory. The flash of the open house sign directed at her house was enough to make my eyes water and my heart ache.

I remember arriving at softball one pleasant Saturday afternoon and seeing Mallory in the parking lot with her dad. I asked why she was there.

She replied, "my sister has practice now. And we have an open house so we had to go somewhere else."

Another piece of my heart was ripped out and fell to the ground. I said goodbye and walked away just like I knew I would do in just a few short months, but that time could be for forever.

I remember walking home with Mallory and Olivia one day as we talked about high school. Olivia was telling me about how they have dance as an elective at the high school. We thought it would be fun to do it together.

I turned to Mallory and said, "Yeah, Mal. You could do it with us!"

The look on her face suddenly snapped me back into reality. She couldn't. She would be hundreds of miles away from our dance class. From our school. From our life.

I remember writing poems in English with our teacher suggesting that we could write about something sad, like the loss of a friend or family member, if we had something like that to write about. I did. As she said that Olivia and I looked at each other with pain in our eyes both thinking about the same person. I wrote my poem about losing a friendship, my friendship with Mallory.

The poem went like this:

A Relationship Ruined

What happens to a relationship ruined

Does it drift away

Like a ship on the sea?

Or falter like a coward

And then flee?

Does it crash like a car?

Or remain damaged

Like a permanent scar?

Maybe it just ceases

Like a dead end

Or does it mend?

I remember talking in school about high school classes with presentations and counselors. Everyone constantly reminding us that's they would make high school as fun and easy as possible. All reminding me that no matter what they did, it wouldn't be nearly as fun without my best friend. It wouldn't be easy those first months without her by my side. Laughing with me. Making memories with me. In my life with me.