by Blair Burden
Chapter 20
The Final Day
Jordan took me to the city’s park that no one visited anymore. His masculine hands wrapped mine so perfectly as we found a clean area to sit at the top of the hill that overlooked Simon, Idaho. We stayed silent as the minutes went on—I wasn’t really sure why he brought me there.
I looked into his worried eyes, and then leaned on his shoulders, “Are we going to speak?”
“Do you remember this park?” he finally spoke.
The wind astounded me and I lifted my head up. “Yeah, it used to be so beautiful. What happened to it?”
“It eventually got old and no one seemed to cherish it anymore.”
“Just like everything else in life. No one appreciates anything until it’s gone.”
“Me and the boys used to come up here every Friday night and pop fireworks. Then, we got caught and police wrote us up.”
“Um, you guys were idiots back then too?” I giggled. “I’m just kidding.”
“Yup, that’s when we started hanging out at the bowling center.”
“So why are we here?” I said.
“To cherish it,” he said. “Well, rather for memories.”
“What memories, we’ve never been here together.”
“Yes we have, back when we all graduated from middle school. All the parents joined together to throw us an amazing picnic full of games and food. I remember that day like it was yesterday. You were happier back then and when we were in ninth grade, I wondered why you changed so much. It was like your evil twin.”
I closed my eyes, bringing back the vivid memory. Mandy had dyed her hair with blue streaks and I had red ones. I remember we wore the brightest pair of jeans, just to stand out because we hated dark colors—she had a hideous green pair and I had bright blue ones.
“Ha, I remember when Mandy’s pants got super wet and everyone said it looked like she had diarrhea. We could laugh about those things back then. And she would joke along and say ‘nope it’s my time of the month and I forgot the pads.’”
“Ha, I remember that,” he laughed. “Whatever it was on her pants, it looked like poop.”
I gently shoved him, “It was grass stains, silly.”
“Do you remember when Kyle was showing off and he tried to do a handstand to impress the girls but instead he busted his lip—”
“Oh my god, I remember that!” I laughed. “And everyone was calling him Angelina Jolie’s twin because his lip swelled up the whole day.”
“Ew it did! It was too funny.”
“Ugh, do you remember when my dad arrived and he began dancing like Michael Jackson. Seriously, who gave him the white glove?”
“Everyone kept on saying whose dad that was, and—”
“I would say ‘I don’t know’,” I laughed. “And I would go ‘oh my god daddy you’re so embarrassing.’ It was too funny.”
“You remember the dance party we had?”
“Mandy was the one who got everyone to dance. She even had me dancing by the end of the night.”
“Your mom had cooked a mean meal of that rice,” he said as he rubbed his stomach. “And my mom had started the karaoke booth and I swear she embarrassed me so much I wanted to cry.”
“Yeah, your mom should never sing,” I teased.
“Everything was so good back then. What happened?” Jordan said, turning serious again.
“Life happened. Don’t you wish you could go back in time and just reverse everything?”
“Yeah, go back to eighth grade and be happy again,” he said.
“But, then we wouldn’t be here.”
“Yeah, and now we have each other.”
I smiled, “So, are you still moving to California?”
Jordan rolled his eyes. “I'm not staying here if that's what you're asking.”
“Me either.”
“Where are you going?” he gasped.
“There is no point of me staying here. I felt as though I was holding Jennifer back. Her life is moving on, but mine isn't. I want to finish high school, but in actuality I won't be able to graduate. It's not like anyone cares really. If I die right now, no one would even remember me. I really have no point here anymore. I served my purpose by saving Jennifer. Now, I have nothing.”
“That's not true!” he snapped. “Cassidy, you're gonna make me cry and you don't want to do that. Of course, people are going to care.”
“Name one person...”
“Me, I'll care. You're upsetting me now.”
“You're one person! When Mandy died, thousands mourned for her.”
“You're not Mandy. You haven't even lived your life. You're supposed to grow up and go to college and make lifelong friends. Get married, have a big wedding. Have kids, then grand-kids. You're not supposed to give up now.”
I stayed silent, realizing how selfish I was.
Jordan traced his fingers over my scars. “I have this idea...” With a smile, Jordan handed me a pamphlet for a recovery center. I scanned through it, realizing the center was in New York. It was a free hospital setting that provided living and schooling for those who suffer with depression or anything else.
“What is this?” I said.
“If no one is going to get you help, I will,” he said. “I'll stay with you.”
“But...but...I cannot do this.”
“Um, you better! Cassidy, you're going to end up killing yourself one day. Why would you not take this opportunity? You have all the reasons to get help. Nothing here in Idaho is helping you to recover. If you stay here, living the lifestyle you're living now, you'll be dead before your twenty-one.”
“Well...”
“It's free and you can finish school there. When I was sixteen, I did community work there and it was probably the best experience ever. There are so many wonderful people there. You may not think your condition is serious, but it is. It's just going to get worse.”
“Will you stay with me? But, I thought you were going to California.”
“I said I will stay with you, Cassie. I'm not going to California.”
“Well, thank you,” I cried. “Thank you for actually caring.”
As it got colder, Jordan wrapped me in his arms as we watched the sunset fade into the night. At that moment, everything seemed right—nothing bad could ever happen. The end of the world could have been happening, but as long as we were sitting on that hill, nothing bad could happen to us. I did not believe there were someone left on Earth as amazing as him. I didn't have many people care about me and those who claimed they did, just made me worse. Not one person, went out of their way to knock me into reality and made me realize I have a life worth living. After saving Jennifer’s life I realized my purpose, but after dealing with everything in my life, I realized I had a long life to live—and I wanted to live every minute of it.
“So, will you go with me?” I said.
“Of course, because I love you, Cassie.”
“I love you too.”