Dear Samantha,
In your hands is a letter from me. You don't really know me and I wish I had the chance to get to know you better. Throughout this letter I will tell you events leading up to my death-this will give you hints as to who I am.
I grew up in Seattle, went to school in Seattle, made a very good friend in high school. Anna-Louise Verdreat, a gorgeous young woman-with brown curly hair. We were good friends, told each other everything, from our crazy parents all the way to every single secret we had hidden from the world. Little did I know, one summer, things were about to change…
"Why do you have to leave?" I asked the pretty girl who was packing clothes and treasured belongings in a suitcase.
"My father is forcing me to move to Los Angeles," she said and I could see the tears forming in her eyes which she blinked away forcefully.
I loved this woman, and there was no way I was going to lose her all the way to LA. It was too far away, it was heart-breaking, no, heart crushing. I took her small hand and held it firmly.
"But, surely you don't have to obey him," I say, I must admit, I was always a bit of a rebel during those times. "I mean, your eighteen for God's sake! An adult now!"
"He disagrees," the girl said pulling away from me.
"Well, he is your dad," I say and chuckle. Mr Verdreat had always been the 'hard-task master'.
"I think you should just go," Anna-Louise said quietly and turned to face her window. I had often climbed through that window, it was always the way. Doors were very… overrated to my way of thinking.
"I don't want to 'just go'," I said and realized I was still kneeling before her on the floor.
"It's easier that way," she said and turned to face me again with a sad smile forming. "You know you much I hate 'goodbyes'."
"No," I said. "No, there's no 'goodbye." I say firmly.
"George please," she said and now the tears fell slowly down that fair face of hers.
"I won't let you go," I say defiantly. "I never ever will let you leave Seattle… you can't leave me!"
"I have to, my father…" she began but I shook my head.
"Father, schmather," I say and then raise my voice. "I still won't let you leave!"
Anna-Louise sobbed a little louder and I had never seen it before, she was always such a strong young woman, always. I knew I loved this girl, I knew I had to stop her from leaving me and all the good memories we had shared behind. She wasn't leaving, she wasn't just packing up everything and moving away for good, where I would never… see her… again…
"Please George," she sobbed. "Let me go."
"Never!" I shout and stand up suddenly, sort of scaring her a little. She takes a slight jump backwards.
"Don't make this any harder," she said and made no attempt to wipe the tears away. "Then it already is."
My dear Samantha, I let her go. Like a complete, well 'not-a-man' I let her leave Seattle and move on to bigger and better things in Los Angeles. I was empty, I felt like nothing in this world would ever cheer me up again. The sunshine had disappeared along with my hopes, dreams and ambitions. I stopped everything because she had meant that much to me. I stopped living and began dying inside. My heart, I feared would never love again. I went back to college in the fall, I tried everything to forget her, really I did. Nothing worked, nothing happened until that one winter morning…
"Oh my God," I say to the woman I had just ran into on the ground. "I'm so sorry, here let me help you."
"No, I'm fine thanks," she said curtly and stood up on her own.
"Are you sure you don't need a doctor or something?" I ask and touch her arm lightly.
"Ugh, no," the girl said and blinked blankly. "Stop with the chivalry, alright?"
"Sorry," I say and notice I haven't removed my hand from her arm.
"Get your hand off my arm!" she says threatening and I immediately obey.
"Sorry again," I say and look into a pair of cold blue eyes-and it wasn't because of the cool winter breeze passing by.
"Geez," the woman said, and walked off leaving me in complete dismay.
That woman became my mortal enemy and day in, day out she would hit me, punch me, kick me, call me names and just be… physically aggressive towards me. However I felt a certain pull towards her, quite unlike my love for Anna-Louise. I actually stopped thinking about her when I was with this bully of a lady. She was quite unlike my first love, or if I can even call it that. Samantha, I tell you now, you know when you're deeply in love. However spending more and more time with Kassandra Bruckon I wasn't sure that this was the case.
"Hey nerd," she said plopping down beside me. I was in the middle of reading a book, not a text book a comic book.
"Hey demon," I say flashing a grin towards her. It was our thing we had going on, a true… frenemship?
"Whatchya doing?" Kassandra asked me and then snatched a small photo that I had placed as a book mark in the back of the book. "Who's this?"
"Oi," I say and snatch it out of her hands quickly. "None of your beeswax missy."
"What are you," she scoffed. "Six years old? I just want to know who that girl is."
"Why are you so worried?" I ask with a devious smirk.
"I'm not worried," she said quickly.
"Jealous?" I ask and raise my eyebrow.
"Eww, no," she said screwing her nose up. I found myself thinking that it looked cute. Whoa! I didn't think that about this girl-Kassandra.
"If you must know, it's Anna-Louise," I say and tuck the picture away.
"I see," she said looking down. What was with her sudden quietness?
"She moved to Los Angeles before I had a chance to…" I say but then stop. Why was I telling her this?
"A chance to?" she asked, and I saw a hint of something I had never seen in those sparkly eyes of hers.
"I don't want to talk about it," I say and slam my comic book shut. It was still a sore point, even if it had been three years.
"Please," she said now pouting. Geez, what was with this girl today? First she insults me and now she's begging like some… clingy girlfriend…
"Alright fine," I say and take a deep breath. "I fell in love with her."
"You did?" Kassandra said and then laughed. "Oh I get it, you told her this so then she ran off because she couldn't stand being loved by a geek."
I stand up suddenly and cause her to fall of the back of the bench. "It's nothing like that!" I say angrily.
"Okay," she said sarcastically, getting up and rubbing her head. I saw a glisten of shiny gold through her blonde hair. I shook my head trying to get the thought out.
"I don't know why I bother telling you anything," I say suddenly and a catch her crumpled expression before she turns away from me and runs off. Oh man! Why me?
I run after her, I don't know why but I do and I can't find her anywhere. She's gone, disappeared just like my one true love, Anna Louise Verdreat.
I don't see Kassandra for a couple of days, and it does seem like she has disappeared off the face of the earth. Until I see her hanging around a pond, standing against a tree and feeding some ducks in the pond-yes the college had a pond with ducks in it. I walk over to the girl and take some bread from her. She doesn't seem to notice me, but I don't really care. I had found her at long last.
"You know, I've always liked this pond," I say out loud, sort of startling her. "So quiet and peaceful."
"It was," she mumbled. "Until you ruined everything."
"When did I ruin everything?" I ask in surprise.
"You know," she said and finally turned to face me. "I thought you and I were…"
"Were…?" I ask, prompting her to continue.
"It doesn't matter," she said and turned to face the water again. "We're just the same as everyone else in this crazy mixed up thing, called life."
"What's life without being crazy and mixed up?" I ask her and I don't know why but I pick up her hand slowly.
"Boring," she said and smiled at me. Her breath taking smile, her perfect blue eyes that just made me want to kiss her. But I didn't until she startled me out of my thoughts and she pulled me to face her front on. "Kiss me George." She said quietly.
I leant down slightly and placed my lips on hers gently pressing against them and felt a million jolts of electricity speed my heart-rate up. This was what life was all about.
I proposed to that woman, a couple of months later and she accepted with no hesitation. We always had our fights, we always disagreed but one thing we had in common was that feeling of love toward one another. Promise me one thing, Samantha, when you are all grown up and ready to experience that feeling of love, I promise you it will be the most wonderful magic you can ever know and that you will seize the opportunity and never let it go.
"I'm nervous as heck," I say to my best man.
"Don't be," he replied with a grin. "It's gonna be all worth it in the end."
I knew he was right, Steven Benson was always right. Although he had already married Marrissa.
"Steve my man," I said gripping his shoulder as good friends do. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," he said beaming and then pointed to where a glorious vision of a white dress and golden curls was gliding towards us through the garden.
The wedding was over and so was the honeymoon. Our life as a married couple began, and I'm not so pleased to recall, it began with a fight.
"I demand you tell me!" she screamed through hurt and frustration.
"It's just a letter," I say throwing my hands up in the air.
"Yeah, a letter from… 'her'," she says, sticking her nose into the air.
"Anna-Louise was my best friend, and I think I'm entitled to read my best-friend's letters," I say with a frown.
"Fine, read your 'girlfriend's letter, see if I care," she says in a tone of hurt.
"She was never my girlfriend," I say suddenly and feel a slight pang but remember I have a gorgeous wife. "You know you're my one and only."
"Yeah, does 'she' know that?" asked Kassandra.
" 'she' does know that," I say and then I add, "because 'she' is married now."
Her eyes go wide and she immediately runs to me, begging for my forgiveness which I reply by kissing her longingly.
So my best friend, Anna-Louise Verdreat or should I say Anna-Louise Shay married into a wealthy family, and her husband Colonel Shay was in the navy. I felt happy for her, and didn't feel one bit jealous of the man, since I had Kassandra and nothing would change that, nothing in the whole wide world.
"I'm sorry George," the doctor said shaking his head and my wife held my hand with tears in her eyes. We were expecting our little baby girl any day now. "You have a week, at best, to live."
"No!" gasped Kassandra suddenly and burst into tears and I held onto her, tears blurring my vision now.
"We're putting you in a ward here in the hospital," the doctor said.
"Can't you do anything? I ask quietly.
"I'm afraid not," he said sadly. "The cancer has spread too far now."
"Oh lord," Kassandra whispers and sobs into my chest and I absently stroke her arms gently.
A couple of days later I was feeling weak and couldn't do much except lie in the hospital and wait for… my time to come… I read the bible to pass the time and I saw my girl, my one true love, my wife come in. she was looking very pregnant by now. I smiled at her and I remember the sadness in her eyes. But none the less, the strong woman I remembered from when we were in college came back and she smiled at me.
"Our little one is kicking more than ever," she says to me and takes one of my hands and places it where I can feel the baby kick. It gives me strength to smile a little.
"Darling Kassandra," I say weakly. "I love you, I will always love you… never forget that."
She moves my hand from her belly up to her teary face, she cries into it silently. "I love you George," she says, almost whispering. "I brought a friend for you."
"How's the patient," some familiar voices called out and appeared Steven, Marrisa, Anna-Louise and what must have been her husband, Colonel Shay.
"Thank you for all coming," said a sad Kassandra and held my hand not wanting to let go.
That fateful afternoon, I said my final farewells to all my friends…
"I don't like goodbyes," Anna-Louise said all teary and chocked up. "Remember?"
I manage to smile a weak smile. "I do," I croaked.
"I'm sorry," she said and tears were running down her face. "…for everything."
"Hey,' I say weakly. "It wasn't your fault."
"You're a good man George," she said quietly and kissed my cheek. "You always were my best friend."
My final hour was spent with my darling wife, Kassandra and our unborn child. There wasn't anything else that could have made me as happy as that did.
"It's time," the doctor said, entering.
"Please, just one more hour," begged Kassandra and started crying again.
"I'm sorry," he shook his head sadly. "I'll give you one more minute." He walked out of the room.
"Kassandra," I say, my voice barely a whisper now because I felt the sleep take me over.
"Oh George, don't leave me yet!" she said and kissed me longingly. "Please stay with me! Please!"
"I am always with you," I say and I manage to place my hand on her chest. "In here."
"I love you," she says.
"I love you too," I say weakly.
With those final words everything went black until I was floating toward a light, a brilliant but blinding light.
It was a summer's afternoon and people had gathered to my funeral.
"George Puckett, loving husband and father," a man said to the mass.
I looked down and saw Kassandra holding a beautiful baby girl in her arms and sobbing. Marissa was comforting her gently. I smiled as I saw Steven, Colonel Shay and Anna-Louise also patting my wife's shoulders to calm her down. She would be strong for everyone, including our precious daughter, I knew it.
"You miss her," a voice said.
"Lord, I only ask one request," I say talking to the spirit.
"What may that be?" asked the higher being.
"To send my daughter a letter…" I say.
My daughter, as your father, and as I bid you farewell now, you must know even though I cannot be with you right at this moment, I am always looking down on you from above, I will always be with you in your heart and I will always love you forever.
Your loving father,
George Puckett