The Calling
"Keely darling, you can't just lock yourself in your room, please hunnybun, come out now.", Mrs. Teslow was begging her daughter.
It had been three days since her daughter's boyfriend, Phil Diffy had left. Apparently, their family had to move to some other state, she didn't know which. Keely had come home and locked herself in her room…she hadn't come out since.
Mrs. Teslow was very worried for her daughter; she knew how much she loved Phil. She remembered when they first became an actual couple; they should have a long time ago already anyway.
"Mom! Mommy!", Keely shouted out as soon as she stepped through the door to their house.
"What is it dear? Did something happen? Are you Ok?", Mrs. Teslow asked, looking at her daughter for any injuries.
"I'm great. I'm more than great, I feel wonderful! Phil and I are officially a couple!", Keely shouted out in one breath. She had a grin on her face so wide that Mrs. Teslow was surprised her jaw was still intact.
"Oh, hunnybun that's great! I knew it was only a matter of time!", Mrs. Teslow was so ecstatic for Keely, Phil and her were just so adorable together.
She decided to bring Keely on a three-day cruise, let her sort her thoughts out. Hopefully, it would make Keely feel better.
"Keely, hunny. Pack your bags; we're going on a cruise. Haven't you always wanted to go on one? Come on, come out and start packing", Mrs. Teslow pleaded.
Finally, Keely came out of her room, eyes red and puffy. Her hair a mess, she whispered softly to her Mom, "Ok".
For the first time in three days, Mandy Teslow smiled.
It was past 1 am, and Keely couldn't sleep.
She knew her Mom meant well, and she desperately wanted to feel cheerful, for her Mom's sake. But she just felt even sadder, she missed Phil. A lot.
Every time her eyes closed, Phil's face popped up in her head. Memories of good times spent together played in her head over and over again. Like a romantic comedy. If only it had a happy ending.
Oh, how she missed him. His boyish grin, his weird quirks. She especially missed having him around to cheer her up. Like how he did with the tanner situation. She loved how he forgave her for not trusting him. She loved how he could put a smile on her face with just the simplest words. She loved him. So much.
"Hey, you alright?", Phil asked, concerned.
Receiving no response, he took the hint. "Got it, I'll leave you alone."
He was about to walk away when Keely spoke up. "How come you're not saying I told you so."
"Why would I say that?", Phil asked.
"Because you were right!", Keely shouted incredulously.
"It's not something I wanted to be right about."
"I said all those horrible stuff to you." Keely hated how she had treated him. How could he possibly not be angry with her?
"What? About being an immature jerk? Oh no, I get that all the time. My sister says that, friends, parents, random people on the street. Hey, it's the immature jerk, what up?", Phil said jokingly.
Keely laughed. Phil always knew how to cheer her up.
"How can you stand there and not be mad at me", Keely asked looking at him.
"Cause you're feeling lousy, friends are supposed to be there when that happens", Phil explained sitting down beside her.
"Well, I do feel pretty lousy.", Keely agreed.
"Yeah, I think life's gonna make us feel like that sometimes. Probably a lot. But I think we're pretty lucky."
"Lucky?", Keely asked curiously.
"Yeah, we got each other's backs. We always will."
"Always.", Keely repeated.
"Well, that's how I'm planning my future.", Phil said to her, reassuringly.
She felt really lousy now, but this time, Phil wasn't there to comfort her. He said that he would always have her back. He lied to her. He wasn't there this time. He wasn't here.
The more she looked down, the more mesmerized she felt by the ghostly waves.
She had come to the deck to clear her mind. The cool northern wind in her hair felt really good. Her salty tears fell into the ocean, lost forever. She looked down and sighed. The waves seemed to be calling out to her. They seemed to be calling for her.
Keely looked at Phil's disappointed face; she knew he felt ashamed that he caused his family to be stuck here.
"Yeah but I didn't mean for our whole family to get stuck here"
"Maybe it was meant to be…", Keely said. And she really believed it.
She didn't believe it anymore. They weren't meant to be, they never had a chance.
"Oh my god! Man overboard! Man overboard! That girl just jumped!"
Fin
Author's Notes: Well, that's it. Poor Keely, don't you just hate Lloyd for fixing the time machine now? I wrote this up somewhere around December last year. I was on the deck of the cruise at 2 am staring at the waves. Scary. Then this story just came to me and I ran back to the cabin to write it down, I think. Funny how I'm only posting this now. Please review!
