The beginning of July came and suddenly I was very busy.  I had orientation in Columbus, two jobs to juggle, and Justin was leaving me for the Navy.  Orientation was stressful.  I had so much to do in two days and my mom decided that it would be a good idea to bring my brother along.  My mom and I had planned it to be MY weekend.  We were going to go to MY favorite restaurants and scout out all the good shopping areas in the city.  This would be the last time we would be able to spend some good quality time together before I was going to leave for college.  Well because my brother was there we couldn’t go to any of the restaurants I wanted to go to because he “doesn’t like that kind of food.”  He also threw a big fit when I wanted to drive around the city.  He didn’t want to move to the back seat even though I was the one who needed to be able to see where we were going.  On the way home from orientation my mom and I got into a huge fight about how the weekend turned out.  I ended up getting out of the car about an hour from Fairmont and refusing to get back in.  I was being childish but I was trying to make a point.  I did not like that fact that my younger brother was suddenly more important than her only daughter who was going to college in two months.

 Things with my family just got worse.  Justin was leaving in two weeks for the Navy and he was having a going away party.  My parents refused to budge on my insanely early curfew of 10:00.  They didn’t see why I needed to be out any later than 10. I had never gotten into trouble for breaking curfew or had any run-ins with the police.  My parents had no justifiable reason for making me stick to such an unreasonable curfew and I was mad about it.  I went to the party and left in just enough time to get home before curfew.  I tried to reason with my parents to let me go back to the party but they wouldn’t let me.  I talked to Justin the next day and apparently he made an incredibly emotional toast to all his friends right after I left.  It made me so mad that my parents made me miss such an important thing in my life. Justin and I were inseparable for the next two weeks until he left.  We went up to Pittsburgh to go shopping and saw dozens of movies.
 

On one of our many movie nights Justin, Malinda and I sat down and watched Urban Legends.  I was not thrilled about this because me and scary movies do NOT get along.  I hate being scared. I’m sure it stems back to some awful childhood memory, but movies that COULD actually happen are the worst.  Urban Legends fit that description perfectly. I spent most of the movie with my head buried in Justin’s shoulder.  Afterwards I was terrified and instead of going to bed I got the bright idea to watch TV.

“On this 50 mile stretch of I-45 there have been a string of unsolved murders…”

Thousand of thoughts ran through my mind, but mostly I was just terrified.  My mind came up with hundreds of situations and I knew I would never be able to sleep unless I figured out which 50-mile stretch of I-45 they were talking about. I mean that interstate went all the way through to Dallas.  I was sure they weren’t talking about my area of the road.  I figured I could just watch the show, they would tell me it wasn’t in my neighborhood and then I could go to sleep.

After the commercial was over they showed an area where 4 teenage girl’s bodies were found.  I recognized those woods immediately.  They were the ones I spent many afternoons in throughout my childhood.  I was terrified and as I watched more of the show I began to piece things together.  The creepy guy that came looking for his cows owned the ranch behind our house and had actually been taken to trial for the crimes.  He was Trent’s boss.  Trent loved him; I remember the way he used to talk about him like he idolized him.  Even though he was acquitted I was sure that he was the one.  For days I was terrified.  I couldn’t fall asleep for hours and when I drove at night I kept all the lights on, afraid that he had brainwashed Trent and now they were both coming to kill me.  I realize how irrational I was being, but I was terrified.  To this day I can’t walk through woods even during the day.

When the time came for him to leave Malinda and I made him white chocolate chip cookies with red icing-his favorite.  I took lots of pictures and hugged him goodbye knowing I wouldn't talk to him again for at least 2 months.

After Justin left things calmed down a bit.  After a nice little talk my parents extended my curfew an hour and I developed a routine.  After work I would go over to Malinda’s house and we would chill, or go see a movie, or go swimming.  Things were going great until Malinda got the bright idea to call Tommy and invite him over.  I never thought he would come, and when he showed up at her doorstep I started flipping out.  I didn’t know what to do.  I couldn’t handle it.  I called Robert and like always he gave me great advice.  He said that unless I confronted Tommy about everything that happened I would never be able to move on.  Unfortunately I couldn’t bring myself talk to Tommy about all the pain he caused me and instead I sat in her house for 30 minutes while Malinda stood on the porch and talked with Tommy.

 The next day was emotional day for me.  I couldn’t believe how seeing Tommy had turned my life upside down again.  I knew that I would never be able to get over it and move on with my life until I listened to Robert and confronted.  I was actually able to carry on a civil conversation (with the help of Malinda) for two hours.  All my friends were so proud of me when they heard the news.  While me and Tommy never directly talked about our failed relationship it brought me closure to be able to be in the same room as him without going crazy.

 Soon after that crazy night at Malinda’s house Josh came back from the summer camp where he was working.  I hadn’t seen him in two months but we were inseparable once he returned until he again had to leave me for the Air Force.  Josh and I had gotten really close and when it came time for him to leave it was even harder than saying goodbye to Justin.  All my boys had left me.  What was I going to do at college without them?  This was the first time I really felt anxious about going away to school.
 

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