Our Dying Day
Chapter 1
In Los Angeles, California, Kevin Davidson sat in his 12th story apartment thinking back on the past day. The one memory that stood out in his mind was at dinner with his girlfriend Abigail Shaw.
They had just finished dinner and Kevin had just pulled a small black case out of his pocket. Inside was his entire future. He was beginning to sweat as he was getting nervous. He hadn't been talking very much that night.
"Your too quiet babe," Abby said looking at Kevin.
"What do you mean?" Kevin asked looking up into the smiling face of Abby. She was, in Kevin's mind and in a lot of guy's minds, a 10. She had tan skin and was skinny but not too skinny. She had brown hair with a little blonde in it and she also had beautiful green eyes.
"I mean you haven't really been talking tonight. Is something on your mind?" Abby asked.
"Actually there is something on my mind," Kevin said as he stood up and walked to the side of the table and knelt down on one knee. He lifted the little black case so Abby could see it and opened it. Inside was a diamond engagement ring. Abby put her hands over her mouth in excitement.
"Abigail Shaw," Kevin said. This was the most nervous time of his entire life. "Will you marry me?" Once the words came out of his mouth a weight then hit his shoulders. Thoughts flooded his mind. What if she said no or what if she didn't want to be with him after the way he seemed to distance himself from her.
Finally the weight left.
"Yes," Abby said. "Yes I'll marry you Kevin." She came off her chair and flung her arms around Kevin and kissed him.
Kevin then slid the ring out of the case and onto Abby's finger.
"Are you daydreaming again babe?" Abby's voice shocked Kevin out of his thoughts about the day.
"Yah," Kevin replied as he turned around and saw Abby in the doorway to the bathroom wearing a towel around her. "What's up?" He asked as he stood up and walked over to her.
"I've been thinking babe," Abby said as she looked down at the engagement ring. "I think we should go back home tomorrow and get married there since our families are there."
"I agree and I can get tickets to Cleveland for a flight tomorrow," Kevin said.
"Good we should start packing then," Abby said.
"I thought we could do something else right now and pack tomorrow," Kevin said then he and Abby began to kiss.
"Sounds like a good idea," Abby said as her towel fell to the floor.
After taking a flight to Cleveland and staying the night in a hotel Kevin and Abby drove through the quiet side streets of Geneva, Ohio.
"Do they even know we're coming?" Abby asked from the passenger seat.
"No," Kevin replied. "I hope they aren't doing something that we would interrupt."
"Do they know about us?" Abby asked. Kevin began noticing a bit of nervousness in her voice.
"It's going to be fine babe," Kevin replied as he grabbed Abby's hand and put in his own. "My parents are going to like you and so are my friends."
"It's not that that I'm worried about," Abby said. "It's my parents that I'm worried about. I haven't been able to talk to them in a while." Kevin noticed that Abby's voice was beginning to get emotional. He knew that she was beginning to worry how her parents were doing.
"It's okay to lose contact with your parents for a little while when you're busy with school and your job like I've been," Kevin replied. "I've only been able to talk to people via e-mail because I'm so busy anymore."
Abby let out a sigh and smiled. "I guess you're right."
A few minutes later they arrived outside Kevin's parent's home when Kevin noticed that his friend David's car was in the driveway.
"I think David is visiting," Kevin said as he pulled the rental car into the driveway behind David's car. Kevin then began to wonder why David would be visiting his parents when David never really talked to them before.
"So I guess that's one less round we have to make to tell him," Abby said as she and Kevin began to get out of the car.
They walked up to the door and Kevin rang the doorbell.
"Why don't you just walk in?" Abby asked.
"Because I don't live here anymore," Kevin replied. "And I'm trying to surprise them and not get the cops called on me."
The door then opened and Kevin's mother, Renee, appeared in the doorway.
"Hey mom," Kevin said.
"Kevin!" Renee said very surprised. "Come in," she said as she moved out of the way and allowed Kevin and Abby walk into the house. As Kevin looked around he noticed much about the house had not changed since he left 6 years before. "Look who's here!" Renee then yelled as she escorted Kevin and Abby into the living room where Kevin's father, Michael; his sister, Chelsea; and his best friend David were all sitting around talking.
"Kevin!" Chelsea exclaimed as she stood up ran over to her brother and hugged him.
"Hey Chelsea," Kevin said. "How have you guys been?"
"We've been fine," Michael replied. "The question is how have you been."
"I'm doing great."
"Why didn't you call us before you got here?" Renee asked as she pointed out a seat for Kevin and Abby to sit and talk.
"Because we wanted to surprise you guys," Kevin replied as he and Abby sat down. "And this is Abby."
"Hi," Abby said to everyone.
"So this is your new girlfriend," David said. "I hate you so much."
"Actually that's why we came," Kevin said. "She's not my girlfriend, she's my fiancée," He said as Abby showed everyone the engagement ring. "And we want to get married here in Geneva."
After a few minutes of taking all the information in the conversation began again.
"When did you get engaged?" Renee asked.
"A couple days ago," Kevin replied. "We are going to stay here for a couple of months and get married sometime in there."
After an hour of catching up on some things David asked Kevin to go to the back yard with him so they could talk.
"What's up?" Kevin asked as they walked outside.
"First, Abby is… DAMN!" David said. "Second, I wanted to talk to you about Amanda."
Amanda was Kevin ex-girlfriend and one of his best friends.
"What about Amanda?"
"She's had some problems since you left," David began. "Let's just say she's had a rough time in the last 5 years."
"Like what?" Kevin asked beginning to worry.
"Two years after you left her mother died in a car accident," David said. "Then two weeks later her father committed suicide."
"Wow," Kevin said. "How did she take it?"
"Well," David said. "She got into some drugs and alcohol. Me and Shaun have been able to get her off the heavy stuff but."
"I can't believe it," Kevin said.
"Yeah," David said. "I think you should talk to Shaun a little more but I think seeing you might help her."
"Thanks for telling me Dave," Kevin said as he turned and began to walked into the house.
Abby then appeared in front of him after he entered the house. "Have you thought about where we're going to stay while we're out here?" she asked.
"Why?"
"Because I sort of told your parents we would stay here," Abby said.
"That's fine, but I have to go," Kevin replied. "I need to go see an old friend."
"Okay," Abby said. "I'm guessing you want to go alone then."
"Yeah."
"No problem," Abby said. "I'll just stay here and learn some embarrassing things from your past."
"Have fun. You'll have plenty to talk about then," Kevin said then he walked out the front door after saying bye and got in his car.
5 minutes later he arrived at Shaun's house.
Shaun then walked out the front door before Kevin could shut the car off. He walked over, opened the passenger door, and got in.
"David called ahead and told me you wanted to see Amanda," Shaun said. "Let me just say she's not the same person you left here."
"I kind of expected that when David told me what happened."
"Great," Shaun said. "David told me that you came here with someone. Is that true?"
"Yah," Kevin replied. "I came here with my fiancée Abby."
"That's not a good thing to tell Amanda right now," Shaun said.
"Why not?"
"She's still in love with you and that will crush her with everything else that has happened," Shaun said. "Just don't tell her anything about bringing Abby or having a fiancée."
"Whatever," Kevin said. "Just tell me where she lives."
30 minutes later they arrived outside Amanda's apartment building and walked in.
"I'll go in first and you stay by the door until Amanda says you can come in," Shaun said as they got to her apartment.
"Why do you act like she's a fuckin' psychopath?" Kevin asked beginning to get frustrated.
"Because I don't want her to get hurt anymore," Shaun replied. "I just want to make sure she's okay before you see her." He then opened the door and walked into a normal looking apartment.
They walked down a hallway and Kevin saw the living room and kitchen. Off the far end of the living room Kevin saw that there was a bedroom.
Shaun then turned to him when they got to the end of the hallway. "Stay here until I find Amanda." He then turned right out of the hallway.
"Hey Shaun," said Amanda's voice from the bathroom.
"Hey sis," Shaun said. "I brought someone who wants to talk to you."
"David?" Amanda asked.
"No," Shaun replied his voice was a little shaky, as if he was afraid of how Amanda was going to react to seeing Kevin again. That made Kevin a little nervous about how she was going to react to him.
"Who is it then?" Amanda asked. "Is it A.J. or Nick?"
"No," Shaun said then Kevin heard them walk out of the bathroom and Kevin walked into the living room. He turned and saw Amanda for the first time in 6 years.
She was shorter than Abby and a little paler than her but she was also skinny and very pretty. She had short blonde hair down to her shoulders with black tips and green eyes.
"Kevin," she said in a very surprised voice with a surprised look on her face. "Why are you here?"
"I'm here because I wanted to see you," Kevin replied as he walked over to her. "Hey Shaun can me and Amanda talk alone please?"
"Yeah," Shaun said as he left the apartment. "I'll see you later."
After the door shut Amanda and Kevin sat down on the couch.
"So what have you been up to?" Amanda asked.
"Not much," Kevin replied. "The real question is how have you been?" As he said that he noticed cut marks on Amanda's wrists and tried to ignore it for now.
"What do you mean?" Amanda asked. Her tone indicated that she was starting to get irritated.
"David told me mostly everything that happened since I left. Why didn't anyone call me about your parents?" Kevin asked. "Why didn't you call me? I would have been here the next day."
"Kevin don't," Amanda said looking away from Kevin. "I don't want to talk about that."
"Sorry, but why didn't you contact me after all of that happened?"
"I didn't want to disturb you and your perfect life in L.A.," Amanda replied looking back at him.
"What do you mean my perfect life?" Kevin asked.
"Every time I talked to David after he talked to you he said you were so happy in L.A.," Amanda replied. "My life was perfect 6 years ago. Then you left and my life began to crumble down around me."
"I asked you to come with me," Kevin said. "Why didn't you?"
"Because I had to move on with my own life," Amanda replied. "I needed space. We both did."
"Why though?" Kevin asked. "I know we needed space but that doesn't mean we aren't friends anymore. I mean we were friends before we got together so why not be friends afterwards while we were in college."
"Because we needed lives that were separate," Amanda said. "I just couldn't tell you. I don't know, but I just couldn't tell you."
"That's it?" Kevin asked. "You just couldn't tell me. Your life was falling apart and you couldn't tell the one person that loved you more than anything else in the world."
"It doesn't matter what happened in the past," Amanda said. "I'm fine."
"Bullshit!" Kevin yelled. He then grabbed Amanda's wrists and showed her the cuts. "Does this look fine to you?!"
Amanda tried to get her wrists out of Kevin's hands but he wouldn't let go.
"A few of these are fresh!" Kevin continued. "How can you call yourself fine when you're doing drugs, getting drunk all the time, and cutting?! This is not fine!"
Kevin then let go of Amanda's wrists and stood up. Tears then began to form in Amanda's eyes.
"I tried my best," Amanda sobbed. "If you cared so much why didn't you come back before now?" She then stood up and walked into her bedroom and slammed the door. "Get out!"
"I wish I did," Kevin muttered to himself then he walked out of the apartment.
Shaun was standing on the other side of the wall opposite the door. "What did you guys talk about?"
"Why the hell didn't you tell me!?" Kevin yelled as he past Shaun and began to walk out to his car.
"She didn't want me to," Shaun said as he followed Kevin out of the building. "I only had the best for her in mind."
"Really," Kevin said as he turned around to face Shaun. "The best for her in mind? What kind of fucked up world is your mind in Shaun!? How do you call that what's best for her!?"
"Fuck off Kevin!" Shaun replied. "You weren't here. You have no idea what it was like."
"Don't put this on me Shaun!" Kevin yelled. "You know that if you would have called me I would've been here in a heartbeat! Don't put this on me! This, all of this is your fault, not mine!"
Kevin then got in his car and left Shaun in the parking lot.