My Last Words

It was the end of me. One decision. One complication. No, it was nothing illegal that I had done, but I am trapped. I am Jared Downs.

I saved her. No, she was not my lover. She was my best friend. It was just like any other day. Samantha, the person in my life who made life itself worth living, and I were spending time together. We strolled through the park. Some birds flew overhead.

“Do you think birds ever get scared when they fly so high?” Samantha asked as we sat beneath the tall oak tree.

“I don’t know,” I said. I let out a small laugh, “but you ask the most interesting questions.”

“You like my questions!”

“I can’t deny that.” I just smiled and laughed.

We had some bread crumbs left over from out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that we had for lunch so we decided to throw them into the pond with the ducks.

“Thanks for the sandwiches, Jared. I’m glad we spent time together today,” she said. She smiled.. It was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.

“Do you want to go anywhere else?”

“I don’t know.. Where can we go?”

I thought about it for less than two seconds.

I said, “We’re not too far from Disneyland. Do you want to go? We can also go to California Adventure and Downtown Disney if you’d like.”

She replied hesitantly, “I’ve never been to any of those places before.. Is it fun?”

“I think it is. So is that a yes?” I asked hopefully.

“Well……”

“Please? It’ll be fun! I promise!”

“Mmm... Okay, sure. Let’s go!”

She smiled at the thought of going to Disneyland. I smiled at the thought of spending long-lost time with her. You see, she moved to Maryland about a year ago and I had not seen her since. She was visiting California for about a week, so I kept today free just for her.

It was a long drive to Disneyland in traffic. There were many visitors because it was summer. It took us about an hour to get there, park, and enter into the amusement park, but I knew that it would be worth the wait.

"Wow! This place is huge!" She said. She was so excited to be here. She turned to me, smiled, grabbed my hand, and pulled me toward Main Street and she froze as she watched a trolley go by. She saw Goofy and Donald Duck a little beyond that and a horse and carriage a little further back. She looked overjoyed.

"Well you seem happy,” I said with a chuckle.

            She laughed and said, "Yes!" and smiled some more.

We spent the rest of the day there. At about six, she said she was hungry.

"Let's get some dinner at this Italian restaurant I know. You'll like it," I said.

She smiled and nodded her head and agreed to go to the Italian restaurant.

            We walked back to my car and drove out of Disneyland. We were driving for about ten minutes when my car decided to stutter.

I pulled over and told Samantha, "Sorry, my car's been acting up lately. Do you mind if we take the bus?"

            "No, I don't mind," she said with a smile.

            Nothing seemed to be able to wipe that beautiful smile off of her pretty face.

It took only five minutes for the bus we needed to arrive. We hopped on and found two seats, only four rows from the door. As we were sitting, I noticed this man who sat just one row ahead of us. He was acting jittery, for lack of a better description. He was a tall man with a frightening disposition. He wore baggy pants that looked like they were years old with a shirt that looked very well worn. He also wore a brown jacket that was clearly big on him. Jocelyn noticed him too and began to get frightened. She looked over at me, and I could see pure horror in her eyes. I had never seen her so scared before. What was I supposed to say? What was I supposed to do? I said and did the only thing I could have done. I whispered to her, "It's okay.. Everything will be okay," and I reached out my arms, and held her tight.