Going Away And Never Coming Back

I listened as the phone rang and rang. After the fourth ring, someone picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey it's Lucy, is Wayne there?"
"Yeah just one second."

I listened as I heard a bit of a commotion in the background and the phone was handed over. "Hello?" A deep voice said into my ear.
"Hey, it's Lucy."
"Hey"
"We still ok to go to the dance tomorrow?"
"Uh yeah, just let me check with my dad."
Again words were exchanged in the background.
"Sorry I can't, I'm going to Winnipeg."
"Winnepeg? Ok, when are you coming back?"
"Um...I'm not. I just found out..."

I was shocked, I felt tears pushing at my eyes as I heard his words. No. He couldn't leave, no.

I could tell my voice was shaky, but I spoke into the phone anyways, "Can I see you? Like, tonight?" I could feel a wet tear falling down my cheek as I spoke. His answer came shortly after my question, "Definitely, park in ten minutes?" I made some kind of mhm sound and hung up.

I went to the bathroom and washed my face quickly. Then I didn't even bother grabbing a sweater and I went outside and walked to the park.

He was there already. He was standing by a tree and pulling bark off of it. I went over and as I got close he turned, the crunch of the leaves had given me away. The first question out of my mouth was, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I was biting my tongue as hard as I could to avoid crying, but I could feel the little buggers stinging behind my eyes and my tongue was starting to hurt.

"Because I didn't want to say goodbye and I only found out when I got home, it's an emergency move because my mom got a job there and she wants to be there." Fair enough, I thought. For fear of crying, I just nodded. "Let's walk." We walked together down the path that was covered in leaves. We talked about past events that we had shared together.

The time we had played basketball and some crazy woman had come and taken our ball for no particular reason, when we'd gone to get it back she'd thrown it at us and ran away. At school we'd done a flag project together and on the way to school one day when we were walking, we had to use the flag as an umbrella because it was raining and New Zealand was ruined.

The things we talked about made me laugh and remember our good times together. When we made our way down the skinny path to the river, it reminded me that he was leaving and not coming back. We went quiet for a while until we got to the river. We watched as the sun was setting, it would be dark soon but despite my curfew, I wanted to be with him for as long as possible. "I'm going to miss you a lot." I whispered as I sat on a log, he sat beside me and put his arm around me, "I'm going to miss you too, but I'll call and we'll talk on MSN whenever we can." It did make me feel a bit better but still, my best friend was leaving and not coming back, how's a girl supposed to feel?

I squeezed closer to him, "I just don't want you to go, you're like my brother..." I pressed my face into his chest and started crying all over again, not just crying, but sobbing. My body shook with every sob as he hugged me tighter. I looked up at his face and saw that he was crying a little bit too. I tried to calm down and just sat there, pressed against him, soon my eyes just ached from crying and wiping them repeatedly. He still held me tightly and I appreciated that, he always knew what to do when it came to me.

We got up to leave because it was already pitch black outside. We could barely see and we stumbled along the rugged path giggling as we went, mainly because every few minutes there would be a sharp cry, then a crash and a boom of laughter. Despite the fact we were both miserable, we could still have fun.

When we got to my house, he hugged me again, and said into my ear, "You know what I'll regret the most about leaving? Is that I never got to tell you I love you. I love you Lucy, and I promise I'll visit as much as I can, but only if you promise me one thing." I nodded and even in the dark he could still feel the movement on his shoulder where my head was. He took his arms off of me and held my hand, "Will you promise that you'll love me and never forget about me." I hugged him again, "I'll never forget you, and I'll love you forever." When we pulled away, he came at me again, this time, his lips collided with mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, loving the feel of his lips against mine, appreciating a true lovers hug. "Come to the airport tomorrow morning, we're leaving early in the morning." I got all the information I needed and hugged him again, then i went inside.

That night, I cried into my pillow, I couldn't sleep at all. It's just a nightmare, Wayne couldn't possibly leave, what would I do without him? By the time I fell asleep, I was weak from sobbing so much, my cheeks ached from the salty tears and my eyes were swelled shut.

I awoke a few hours later, dressed quickly and then went to wait for my ride to the airport. His dad came and picked me up and we headed to the airport. His mom and dad had been divorced for a long time, and Wayne was going to Winnipeg with his mom and two siblings. His dad's eyes looked probably the same as mine, red and puffy from crying. Which struck me as odd because his dad was so macho looking and acted so macho. I guess it'd be tough losing your three kids, especially when they're the only family you have left. It was silent the whole way to the airport.

When we got there, Wayne and the part of the family that was leaving were standing there, just waiting for his dad and I to arrive. His dad hugged all the kids and he started to cry again. But after about a half hour of hugging each one over and over again and giving those little daddy tips, he was done and went out ot the car, my guess was to cry some more. I hugged his mom, his sister and his brother good bye. Then they left Wayne and I alone.

I hugged him and held him tightly, this time even he shook with tears, he'd started crying when his dad said goodbye, now he was crying because of me. Tears flowed easily from my eyes until I was sure his shoulder was soaking wet. When we pulled apart he took off his chain, the only piece of jewelry he ever wore, it had been a gift to him from his grandfather and he never took it off, he handed it to me. "No, it's yours, I'll be fine." He opened my hands and put it in them, "Keep it, it'll help you never forget me." I smiled, "A necklace isn't what's going to make me remember you, I've got my mind for that, and I'll miss you everyday." He grinned, "Good, but take it anyways. And for god sakes, you never wear a sweater and you always get cold." I laughed as he pulled off his sweater, "Keep this too, and everytime I visit, you better have them." He grinned as I slipped the sweater over my head and he helped put the necklace on. The sweater was incredibly huge on me and I felt lost in it, but it smelled like him. We hugged once more and then when his mom called him, he left.

I went out to the car where his dad, whose eyes were even puffier and redder than before, sat waiting. I got in and he said we would survive. I just nodded and he drove me to school.

When I walked into my first period class, only a half hour late, I must have looked quite a sight. My eyes were red and puffy and there were still tears dried on my cheeks, and then there was the hugely baggy sweater that dwarfed me. I sat at the back of the class, eyes following me as I walked. They were wondering what was wrong, but no one said anything. One of my friends, Lilly, mouthed, "Are you ok?" I shook my head no and put my head down on the desk, I tried not to make a sound but tears fell again, I gritted my teeth to stop crying but I couldn't, I put my head up and took the bathroom pass.

That's where I spent the greater part of the day, in the bathroom crying, when I finally left, it was third period so I went down to my science class and sat there, attempting to look interested. When the bell rang, I went to gym, sat out while everyone enjoyed basketball, which hurt because Wayne's favourite game was basketball and I had loved playing it everyday after school. I blocked that out of my mind and when the bell rang, I fled and went down to the river where we'd said goodbye the night before.

I sat there for a long time, the wind blowing gently through my hair, my knees were tucked up under my chin and I wrapped my arms around my legs and buried my nose into the sweater. The river was beautiful. But it seemed less so for some reason, it had always been gorgeous when Wayne had been there. Always.

I got up, I couldn't be here, this was our spot, I shouldn't be here until he comes back. I walked home and sat on the couch, all of a sudden the phone rang, I jumped at the thought of it being Wayne, but it wasn't.

When the phone finally did ring and it was him. We talked for a good long while. Every night we talked on the phone, and if we couldn't, we'd talk on MSN. He was lonely and felt like an outsider at school, I was lonely because my best friend wasn't there anymore.


He lied to me though. He said he'd come back at the holidays and he didn't, but four years later, I called him in Winnipeg to tell him about my prom plans, I was going witha group of friends. And he wasn't there. His mom sounded like she was hiding something and quickly hung up when she could. I wondered why he wasn't there, probably he was out with friends or something.

A few hours later, the phone rang, my mom picked it up and smiled when the voice on the other end started talking. Then she told me to get in the car and come get something with her. We drove for a good while, until we got to the airport, I was confused but went along with it anyways. I got out of the car and looked around, suddenly my eyes spotted someone familiar.

He was tall, and his skin was a dark brown colour, his hair was black and went down to about his eyebrows and was kind of sticking up at the back. It couldn't be him. I felt a flutter in my stomach, and I went closer, trying not to look stalkerish, but I was curious. When I got closer, I realized it was him. I ran towards him, he'd seen me and was waving. I jumped into him and I'm surprised he held me up with the force of the hug I gave him. tears of happiness ran down my face and when I finally let go of him to take a good look at him, he was very good looking, I giggled when I looked at him and he gave me his confused look that I knew oh so well, "What?" I laughed, "Dude, you got hot!" He laughed and hugged me again, "You did too." Then he pressed his lips to mine and I realized suddenly that I had not been on a date ever, I had only ever kissed him that night, and I'd never had a relationship with anyone besides him over the phone and on MSN. I kissed him back and held him tightly to me. When we stopped, I just looked into his brown eyes, he hadn't changed, he was still the same old goofy Wayne.

So of course we went to prom together! And whether or not we lived happily ever after? Well, we're getting married in a few weeks, and we want a family together, I guess the happily ever after thing could happen.