"I can't believe you're gone
You still live in me"
As I was rummaging through my drawers, emptying the contents and separating them into organised piles of "charity items", "rubbish" and "items for keeping", I found a precious keepsake. My photo album, which contained treasured photographs of my family and friends. I bravely flicked through the album, searching for one particular photo, and succeeded within seconds. It was a picture of two young girls, around the age of eight, posing for the camera by the sea in Alicante, Spain. The tallest girl had flowing, shoulder-length curly chestnut brown hair, dressed in a navy and white spot top with white pedal pushers. She was clutching the shorter girl's hand in a protective manner. This girl wore a blue flower printed dress and a beautiful smile. The attractive girl's blonde hair was tied in a sleek ponytail with a blue flower bobble, matching her dress perfectly. This was Haley.
Continuing through the album, I felt my eyes well up with tears, but I desperately fought them back. There were dozens of photographs of Haley and I together, some with our other friends, some from school excursions, some from parties. I was amazed at the amount; I couldn't recall when the majority of them were taken. However, I knew exactly who had taken these photos. My father. He was a budding photographer and was constantly eager to capture as many unforgettable moments as possible on his prized digital camera. I now appreciated his pictures more than ever; they contained all my cherished memories of Haley. I then realised I had reached the final page in the album, the last photo of Haley and I, and wept.
"Julie! There's someone at the door for you!"
My mother's cry from downstairs roused me from a dreamless sleep. I must've fallen asleep while I took a break from looking at the photographs. Leaping off my bed, I dashed downstairs and met Brianna at the door.
"Hey, I was just wondered if you fancied going for a stroll? Maybe along by the beach?"
I accepted the offer; I figured I'd benefit from a stroll out in the salty air. I needed a respite, if only a temporary one, from those painful memories of Haley that the photographs had refreshed.
Brianna is one of my close friends, she's really loyal and I've appreciated her friendship so much recently. She's a shoulder to cry on and someone who I can trust with my life. The best aspect of her though, is that she's very understanding. I can spill all my feelings without having a doubt that she won't understand why I feel that way. However, she hadn't heard the full story of what happened to Haley and decided it was about time I faced reality and freed myself of the burden I had carried for so long.
It was understandable under the circumstances…