Wendi Callaway Assignment 1
142 Alaska St. Yvette La
Pierre
Wills Point, Texas 75169 February
10, 2001
#WE78646 1500 words
Promises
By Wendi Callaway
In less than two weeks, I would be sixteen—on August 21st… It was the beginning of my junior year in high school. I knew it was going to be a good year, too. My future looked bright. And there was Cody, of course, my high school sweetheart. We had been together since the 9th grade. In my dreams, he was very much a part of my future. My friends used to say we looked so cute together. They said they could never envision us not together. We just seemed to fit. He was going to be a senior that year. I was proud to be his girl. Everything was going to be so wonderful. Having him in my life seemed to make turning sixteen even that more special, in that I had someone to share my happiness with.
I had this dream that on my birthday, Cody would take me to a nice,
Callaway, page 2
Assignment 1
#WE78646
romantic restaurant. We would eat by candlelight, with soft music. He would have the waiter bring out a cake, covered in candles. We would dance under the moon, holding each other close. Then, maybe we would take a stroll on the beach, hand in hand. When the night was over, he would drive me home and kiss me goodnight, ever so sweetly…
August 21st was approaching. I had overheard my parents mention something about a party that weekend, and I wondered if it was for me. They seemed really secretive about it like it was suppose to be a surprise. I acted like I didn’t know anything was going on. I even pretended like this was going to be just another ordinary birthday. But deep inside, I was so excited! I could hardly wait until the weekend, to be sixteen.
Two days before my birthday, I was sitting in my bedroom, writing in my journal. It was getting late; I was beginning to dose off when the phone rang, startling me. It was Cody. He sounded upset, depressed. I asked him what was wrong. He told me he needed to talk to me, asked if I would meet him somewhere. I knew my parents would never let me leave at that hour, so I asked him if he could come there and we could talk on the patio. He said he would be there shortly. After he hung up, I got this sickening feeling in my
Callaway, page 3
Assignment 1
#WE78646
stomach suddenly, like something was really wrong. I didn’t know what to think; all I could hear was the sadness in his voice, echoing through my head. I rushed downstairs and waited for him on the patio. Minutes later, he drove up. I just stood there as he got out of his truck. The next thing I knew he was holding me, tightly, for what seemed like forever, like he couldn’t bear to let go. When I asked him what was wrong, I noticed he was crying. The only time I had ever seen him cry was when doctors thought his sister wouldn’t recover from a car accident a couple years before. Remembering this, I got scared.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered in my ear. I could feel the nervousness in my stomach. Cody told me that they were having a big party for his father that weekend, in celebration of his new promotion.
Momentarily, I felt relieved. “That’s wonderful, Cody! I was starting to worry. You sounded so upset on the phone.”
He took a long, deep breath. “My dad’s promotion is a huge honor,” he said, “But it means he has to transfer to the home office.”
I just looked at him. “Where’s that?” I asked.
He hesitated, slightly longer that time, and I could feel my quickened heartbeat… “Pennsylvania…” he muttered softly as he held me close to him.
Callaway, page 4
Assignment 1
#WE78646
There was another pause. “Almost eighteen hundred miles away from here.”
The longest silence lingered between us, as his words echoed through my head and my emotions screamed to burst out of me. I didn’t want to ask my next question, but I had to know. I didn’t want to hear the answer he was to inevitably give to me. “Are you moving away?”
Cody bowed his head in reply; my eyes flooded with tears. “I love you so much,” he said to me, “I don’t want to leave.”
“Then don’t,” I sobbed. By that time, I was clinging to his chest, weeping openly. I could sense the emotion in his voice, and feel the love in his arms. His soft lips gently touched my forehead, my eyelids…as he moved to kiss the tears from my cheeks.
“I have no choice. I have to go. But after Graduation, maybe…”
“Graduation? That’s a whole year away! What am I supposed to do without you?”
“I’ll come see you on holidays. I’ll call you all the time… It’ll be okay, Sweetheart; it’s just for a little while…then we’ll be together again.” He tried so hard to be calm and reassuring, but I could still sense his pain. All I could think about was the possibility of never seeing him again, and just how real this
Callaway, page 5
Assignment 1
#WE78646
was. Rarely did long distance relationships ever work out. The only hope we faced now was that we had a history together. Without that, we would be so lost. Our past and our love would be the only things that could ever bring us back together one day. I had to believe in the strength of love, but the mere thought of being alone, without him, was way too overwhelming for the moment. I could hardly think about the next month, much less a year from then…not through all my confusion and tears. In that moment, I held him so tightly, with the intention of never letting go. My sobbing subsided a little, long enough to ask Cody when all of this was going to happen. “A week from Saturday,” he answered. “We’ve already started packing.”
“A week? But that’s too soon!”
“My dad’s company wants him there as soon as possible. They have already made arrangements for us to move next weekend. I know this is sudden, but it wasn’t up to me or I would have done things differently.” He was obviously as upset as I, if not more so.
“This is not fair!” I sighed. “This is not the way things were supposed to happen. This year was going to be so great… but now…”
“I am just as angry as you are. We have a week… We have your
Callaway, page 6
Assignment 1
#WE78646
birthday to celebrate… We will make the best of this, like we do with every situation… It will be okay.” He sounded so reassuring. Through all of this, I had forgotten about my birthday. Suddenly, turning sixteen was not important to me.
“Some birthday,” I replied, pausing briefly. “I’m sorry. That sounded selfish, didn’t it? I didn’t mean for it to. It’s just that…”
“I know. It’s okay.”
I tried to force a smile through my tears. “We have a week. Let’s make it wonderful; let’s make it the best ever.”
“And your birthday will be the best ever!” He smiled. “I will always love you. You do know that, don’t you?”
That night faded into dreams of confusion, filled with scenes, which may never come to pass. I couldn’t be sure; all I could do was hope that his promise to love me forever meant as much to him. When my sixteenth birthday arrived, he faithfully kept his promise to make it the best birthday I’d ever had. Even during that following week, I believe Cody and I became closer than we had ever been before. He made me realize how important his love was to me,
Callaway, page 7
Assignment 1
#WE78646
and how some things in life should never be taken for granted.
After that next weekend, he would be gone. As I stood with him at the train station and kissed him goodbye, shivering from the chill in the air, I handed him a sealed envelope. “Wait until you are on the train before you read this,” I said. “Keep it with you always and whenever you are lonely, read it and think of me.”
“I will,” he whispered, and then he held me in his arms. “Don’t you ever forget how much I loved you…” Those were the last words he said to me, and those words will race through my soul every time I think of him… Don’t ever forget how much I… loved you.
The envelope I gave him contained a poem I had written for Cody so he would never forget me…
I’ll Never Forget
I’m not sure I can do this
Because being here alone without you
May be the most difficult thing
I will ever have to go through.
As if it was only minutes ago,
I remember the day you moved.
Just how much I really loved you
Was the one thing your leaving proved.
Now that you’re gone away from me
I’m lonelier now than I’ve ever been.
Callaway, page 8
Assignment 1
#WE78646
Will I have to suffer much longer?
Will the pain of your leaving ever end?
I’ll miss the things we should’ve done;
I’ll never forget how I cared for you.
Please remember I’ll always be here.
And know that what we had was true.
THE END
