Cyndi was walking on the sidewalk thinking of her day. She had been at work since 7:30 am and it is now 6 pm at night. Not much happened at her job on that day. Cyndi didn't see the handsome stranger that was walking on the sidewalk across the street but he noticed her. He smiled when he saw her. He thought that she looked familiar but couldn't place where he knew her from. Tim grew up in a small town in Iowa. Tim's family owned the hardware store there. The town was called Allsop Iowa. Tim's family still lives in Allsop but he hasn't been home in a long time. He had wanted to get out of the little town life since he was old enough to know he wouldn't go anywhere if he stayed. Cyndi was also from a small town in Iowa. Cyndi was from Laraville. Her family owned the movie theater there. Laraville and Allsop were only 45 miles from each other. As Cyndi made her way home she thought of her family in Iowa. She loved going home to visit but was not able to recently because of her job. Cyndi lived in a big city named Lodging City. Cyndi was the Assistant Manager of a big restaurant there. The name of the restaurant was Code Breaker. It was one of the most popular restaurants in Lodging City. Cyndi loves her job and finds it hard to take a vacation. Just as Cyndi gets to her home she receives a phone call from her mom telling her that her father was sick. As soon as she got off the phone with her mom she called her boss. Her boss said to take all the time she needed that he would make sure that everything is taken care of. Cyndi picked up her phone one last time and made a reservation for a plane ticket to get home. Her plane wasn't leaving until morning so she decided to have some dinner then call it a night. Across town Tim was thinking of the girl he saw across the street. He knew her from somewhere but he still couldn't place her. Tim then decided to call his mom to make sure everything was ok. As the phone was ringing he remembered what time of year was approaching. He realized that the 20th anniversary of his twin sisters death was just next week. He had decided right as his mom had answered the phone that he was going to go home and spend some time with his family. He told his mom his plans and talked a little about his dad and the problems he is having then hung up the phone and called the airline to get a plane ticket. His plane wasn't leaving until morning so he got some dinner and read some of his book. He eventually fell asleep and woke up early enough to get to the airport.
The next day Cyndi made it to the airport early enough that she had extra time to relax. As she sat waiting to be able to board the plane she was looking around at all the different people. As she was looking around her eyes saw someone she hasn't seen in a long time. 20 years earlier her best friend died in a car accident. She had met her best friend at a school event. They both were cheerleaders but from the opposite teams. She had just met Rachel and knew instantly they were going to be best friends. Rachel had this was about her that made everyone around her was to be her friend. After the game Cyndi went over to Rachel and introduced herself and as Cyndi predicted they were fast friends. Cyndi and Rachel spent every weekend together from that time on. Right up until the night Rachel died. Rachel was on her way to Cyndi's house for the weekend and a drunk driver had swerved into Rachel's side of the road. Rachel was killed instantly. Rachel's family didn't blame Cyndi but Cyndi blamed herself. See Cyndi begged Rachel to come to her house that weekend because Cyndi had a crush on Rachel's twin brother and she couldn't face him. Two weeks before Cyndi slept over at Rachel's and talked in her sleep. She had confessed how she felt about Rachel's brother and she thought he heard her. As Cyndi was thing about Rachel she hadn't noticed that the lane was being loaded. Suddenly Cyndi heard the loud speaker say her plane was being loaded. Cyndi got up and got in line to board the plane. She finally got to her seat and sat down and relaxed. She started thinking about Rachel again like she did every day since she died. As Cyndi was thinking about Rachel Tim was wondering why the girl he saw across the street looked so familiar. As he was thinking about her his eyes wondered around the airport and he saw her again. He thought about his family and his sister and everyone associated with them. He remembered his sisters best friend and two weeks before his sister had died. It was late at night and he was walking past his sisters room and he heard her friend say that she had the biggest crush on him. He knew she was talking to his sister and didn't know he heard but that didn't matter. He had feelings for her also. He was going to tell her how he felt if she had stayed at their house like she was suppose to but that was the weekend his sister went to her house instead of her coming to theirs. That was the weekend his sister died. The more he thought about her the more he realized that the girl he saw walking on the sidewalk was her. Yes that was her that was Cyndi… the one that got away.