ENC 1101-B3 & B4: Writing for Discovery

The morning felt sticky and hot. It was mid June and the summer day couldn’t have been any more warmer. My parents had left town for business purposes. I couldn’t wait until the evening where I would be sitting under the moonlight at the nicest restaurant in town with my boyfriend.

After eating breakfast, I left to go on my way to work, a quarter past eight. My job found it was necessary to open the restaurant an hour early for preparation. Eight years at Natalie’s and not a day late. It was no surprise that I was honored as the most respected server there. My locals were always sure to visit me daily, but like most customers, I had my favorites. Pulling in about three hundred dollars a week, college was just a paycheck away.

The day slowly lagged on, nothing out of the ordinary, just a typical Tuesday afternoon.
Mike had plans to treat me to the Beachouse Café. It was our three-year anniversary.

Daydreaming about what the night had in store for me, I didn’t find anything else to take up my thoughts. My heartbeat raced un-normally from morning till night.

As soon as I closed out my audit, I sped home, running every light hoping to get home in time to prepare myself for the night. No parents, no worries, no problems. Spending a little over two hours to get ready, it was no surprise that everything about me was perfect. I was ready to live one of the greatest nights in my life.

Mike and I had the best relationship. We never fought, spent just the right amount of time together, and faithful to each other from day one. We had discussed marriage before, but nothing too serious. I had a feeling though that tonight was different than any other night.

Our evening at the Café was flawless; spending a little over two hundred dollars on the tab, I never felt so precious and special. The euphoria clouded my head as we danced barefoot in the sand under the moonlight.

“Babe, I know that we have been discussing marriage for a while now, and I think that I am ready to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Those were just the words I wanted to hear. My heart paced as the heat began to bubble in my cheeks.

“I have managed to really think things out, and that is why I have planned this night for us.”

Mike got down on his knees and asked me to marry him. People from all over the restaurant stared in awe.

As tears began to trickle down my face, I nodded incessantly, shaking while Mike slid the ring onto my finger. Giving out on me a couple of times, my legs shook uncontrollably.

The dinner ended perfectly. We headed back to the limo and drove home to my parents’ house on the bay. Since my parents were out of town, I couldn’t wait to walk through the door and jump all over my new fiancé.

We walked into cold house with all of the doors wide open. I didn’t understand how I had left everything so open and available to the public. It was very unusual, but it didn’t arise too much confusion out of me. Nothing was going to let this evening go to waste. Closing the doors and lighting some candles throughout the house, something made me want to turn the TV on and look at the local news.

“Andrea…are you okay??!! …Oh my god! What's wrong, I’ll be there in a second.”

I will never forget the look on Mike’s face when he found me. He claimed that my eyes had turned red and my face was pale blue. There was no way I could explain what had happened, I couldn’t speak, my teeth chattered as my lips shivered with fear.

“Oh my God…Oh my God…” was all that I could get out and mumble under my breath. Mike looked at the TV.

To his dismay, all he could see was ruins of plane wings and seats floating in an ocean of fire and debris. The plane that my parents had been traveling on had blown and engine and crashed into the artic ocean leaving no survivors.

Everything got blurry. Breathless, confused, and in shock, Mike worried if I was going to have an anxiety attack.

“Why hadn’t anyone notified me sooner, not one family member? I just don’t understand.”

That night I made Mike go home. I slept alone in my parent’s bed crying and screaming the whole night. I eventually fell asleep only to wake up repeatedly throughout the night in tremors.

“My parents are gone. I lost everything, my life. How am I going to go on? This isn’t happening, not to me.”

Even though I felt as if I was left with nobody but Mike, I came to find out that my parents had decided a couple months ago to leave me with everything they had; just in case something were to happen to them. The house and five point three million dollars added up to the total amount of possessions. I knew that I wouldn’t have to work for the rest of my life, and that I had a soon to be husband who loved me dearly. This didn’t ease any pain.

Five years later and not a day went by where I didn’t cry myself to sleep. I had lost the only two people that I felt closest to, and was left with everything that my parents had worked for. I worried that I would never be the same again. I knew that I would never be able to enjoy anything for the rest of my life.