The Cave

        Ryan was your typical Californian guy who loved to surf. He had amazingly dark brown eyes and jet-black hair, however, his smile was of the brightest shade of white. People just simply couldn’t help to smile every time they saw him; he seemed like the perfect eighth grade guy.
He often volunteered to clean up in small beach near San Diego, California. He liked cleaning up there because the people there were careful enough to not to leave any kind of trash behind. Whenever he was finished cleaning up, he would go into a small cave that was extremely hard to get to and not many poeple knew about it, or so he thought. One day, he went to the cave to relax for a bit, but there was quite a pleasant surprise there. A girl, he had never seen before, was there reading a book. She seemed to be about his age, she had long dark brown hair braided to the side, and she wore thick black glasses. He stood there sorta in shock and watched her read for a little while.
        Then, he cleared his throat and made his presence known and simply  said “Hey.” She looked up a bit startled by the interruption.
        “Oh, s-s-sorry, I didn’t mean to –umm--”
        “No, I’m sorry. I didn't mean to bither you it's just that I've never seen you before,” he told her.
        “Oh, I just moved here several days ago. I didn’t know you came here. It’s a really nice spot to read actually,” she said rather quickly. However, she still got her point across.
        “Yeah I i see wher'e your coming from," he said while looking towards the ocean. "My name’s Ryan. What’s yours?”
        “Hello, my name’s Pamela or Pam, for short,” she replied.
        Ryan, tired of standing at the entrance, moved into the cave and sat next to Pam. They talked for a while and he somehow felt as if he’d known her forever, like she was the perfect girl for him, even though all he knew about her was her name and that she liked his little hiding place. At times he felt lost for words but somehow he was able to keep the conversation going with her. He learned that she had just moved to California from New York because her parents wanted to start their lives over from scratch. Pam hadn’t met anyone in California and had been going to the cave for the last couple of days to escape her own lonely reality.
        Several days later, Ryan had to tell someone his about feelings for Pam. He wasn’t quite sure if they were normal and like always, his best friend, Carlos was there for him. Carlos was the most confident guy in the entire world. He wasn’t the type of guy who thought he could do whatever he wanted to be better and more powerful than other people, he was the type of guy who believed in himself and he always trusted his instincts. He always walked his head up high, even when he was having a horrible day.
        Ryan told Carlos everything that happened the other night at the cave. Carlos listened to the whole story before he told Ryan that he had a crush on Pam. However, Ryan didn’t think he had a crush on her, he thought he was in love, but he didn’t argue with Carlos. Carlos had the word ‘confidence’, written on his face.
        Everyday, just before sunset, Ryan and Pam would meet each other at the cave and hang out for a little bit. Sometimes they would talk on and on for hours or on other days they would just sit there and forget about everything outside the cave and enjoy the magnificent sunset. Every time Ryan saw Pam, his love for her would grow just a tad bit. Until one day he decided to officially ask her out on a date.
        They decided to go to the movie theatre at the mall and watch a movie. They walked on and on at the crowded mall. They went into a little shop that sold very unique bracelets made of natural seashells; Pam got him a simple necklace with a shark tooth. She told him that she loved him with all her heart and that she wanted to be with him for the rest of her life. He told her the same thing and bought her a beautiful necklace with softest and brightest seashell you could ever imagine. From then on they walked around the mall holding hands having the time of their lives. They didn’t go overboard with gifts for each other, instead they promised each other to be there for one another, but who’d have known of what was about to happen.
        When Ryan got home, he immediately called Carlos and told him everything about the best night of his life. After they had finished talking, Ryan went to the kitchen to get a late night snack when he noticed his father sitting at the table drinking coffee.
        “Oh, hey Dad. Isn’t it a bit late to be drinking coffee,” he asked.
        “I need to tell you something son,” he said. It wasn’t something he did often; actually, his father wasn’t the type of guy who had ever had serious conversations with other people, so this had to be important.
        “Yeah Dad.”
        “I just got a job promotion in Colorado and we have to go tomorrow in order for me to get to my first meeting on time. I’m sorry, I-I overheard what you were telling Carlos. I really am sorry but it’s something I’ve been working for several years now, it means a lot to me.”
          “W-w-what?! No Dad, we can’t just leave like this. I-I lived here my whole life and I think I just met the girl of my dreams and now I have to leave her?” Tears were threatening to fall.
          “Don’t worry son, you’ll find other girls your age to hang out with in Colorado,” he said.
          “No Dad, you don’t understand. I love her. You never learned to love anyone in your entire life; you just married Mom so that you could take all her money… I wasn’t even supposed to happen,” he exclaimed.
          “Take that back,” he yelled back. “I’ve done everything I could to give you a decent life. I work late everyday just to have food on the table every night. And here you are telling me that I don’t love you. You are the reason I still live, the reason I want to keep living.”
        “I’m sorry Dad, but this is too much for me I’m going to my room.” He said while turning around. Walking into his room not knowing what to do, he punched a hole in wall before crying out all the pain in his heart. There was a river of freely flowing tears on his face that continued to fall until eventually he fell asleep. He dreaded waking up the next morning, though. He knew that he had to tell Carlos and Pam that he was leaving.
        I feel like I’m saying good-bye forever. Carlos is like my brother and I’ll never be able to see him after I move. Then there’s Pam, the love of my life, the girl that seems like the last piece of the puzzle called life. There aren’t any other words to describe her. She’s perfect. The next day, Ryan walked towards Pam’s house; rain was threatening to fall; adding to his already somber mood. He knocked on the door and waited. Then Pam opened the door. There was a sparkle in her eyes that said everything; she was glad to see him again.
How am I supposed to say this to her? I just promised to be there for her and now I have to tell her that I’m leaving?
        “Hey,” I said.
          “Hey,” she replied.
          “I need to tell you something very important. Yesterday was the greatest night of my life and I’ll never forget it no matter what. I know we promised to always be here for one another but, I’m afraid I have to break my promise.” By now Pam, looked like she was about to die, almost as if her heart was about to be ripped out her body. “I love you, Pam. I’ll always love you. Today, I have to take a train that leaves for Colorado. I promise to come back every summer just to see you again, to talk to you.”
          “I thought this was going to be a new beginning, but I was wrong. You’re just like all the other guys that don’t care about anyone. I should’ve known you weren’t worth it. At least you’ll always know where to find me, though. It’s the same spot where you found me the first time, and maybe the spot where you’ll find me the last time, too,” she said, trying very hard not to let tears fall out of her eyes.
          “I love you,” Ryan said as he walked out of the porch on his way to Carlos’s house. His dad was in a car looking for him and started yelling at Ryan to get in the car so that they wouldn’t miss the train. Ryan got to the car and asked about his things and his dad told him that he had taken care of everything. Ryan not realizing that he was actually leaving; never said good-bye to Carlos and it was the one thing he regretted the most about leaving. He wasn’t even brave enough to ask his father to give him a couple seconds so that he could officially say good bye to him. Carlos was confident that Ryan would never leave without saying bye, but he was wrong; his instincts failed him for once.
          Pam never forgot that one moment when Ryan said “I love you.” She hoped and wished every night that she would see him again. She truly loved him, with all her heart. One day, when she couldn’t handle the pain of being lonely and depressed all the time, she went into the cave and carved out the words “I LOVE YOU” on the wall. Then, with the same knife she cut her wrists so deep that blood was the only thing you could see, it poured out like water would out of a hose. With her own blood she wrote the word “Ryan” and then, she went out to the rocky shore and jumped into the water. Her body was found several days later.
          Next summer, Ryan went back to San Diego. First, he went to Mr. Confidence’s house, but he wasn’t there; apparently he moved to another town or something. His mood, already lowered to the point where he could just shoot himself, wasn’t helping much when he went to Pam’s house. Her parents were there and they told him she wasn’t there. They didn’t tell him anything about what had happened; they just gave him an envelope that had a letter that Pam had made for him. Ryan didn’t open the envelope; he really wanted to see Pam again. He wanted to tell her that his love for her didn’t fade a single bit, that he missed her with all his heart, and that she was the reason he survived living away from all his friends. He started feeling a bit worried that something might’ve happened to her and ran towards the cave.
        There they lived happily ever after in a place called heaven.