Inevitable

Death. Death is inevitable. Its something that's one hundred percent guaranteed to happen and there's no way to stop it. Its a scary thing to imagine, but what's even worse, to witness it.

It was a typical day. I woke up, got ready, ate breakfast, and went to work. The day was slow, things weren't flowing as usual. It gave me plenty of time to think and the only thing on my mind was her.

...

We were headed to my aunt's house in Philly. As your typical fifteen year old teenager I wasn't so excited about the car ride over. It was summer, the sun was blazing hot, the air conditioner wasn't working, and I was bored. Although it was just a seven hour drive, it felt like days went by. We were supposedly going for my aunt's wedding but the day before her wedding, I over heard them talking about finalizing the paperwork to our new house. The next day, I was unsure on how to feel about the whole moving thing. I guess I didn't mind moving and start fresh. After all, I never had friends back home. But that quickly changed after we moved.

Catherine was my next door neighbor. At first glanced, we clicked. She came over to introduce herself to me while we were unpacking the moving truck. We spent that summer exploring the city, going to the "hot spots" in town. When school was just around the corner I thought to myself, "great, we probably won't spend this much time together anymore. She'll want to be with her friends and not with the new loser kid in town." But Catherine proved me wrong. It was our first day of high school and we helped each other look for our classes. We came to an agreement to always stick together in and out of school, so we made a " Rules to Stay Together" sheet. Rule number 1: ALWAYS check up on each other. Rule number 2: Wait outside the classroom if you get out before the other person. Rule number 3: Always sit together at lunch so we wont look like dumb lonely nerds. and Rule number 4: NEVER say goodbye, say Until Next Time. I never really understood rule 4 but I just went along with it. We went by these rules throughout the rest of high school and our relationship grew more every time. Until we went of to college. I decided to stay in Philadelphia while Catherine went across the country to California to pursue her acting career. We kept going by the rules until we became distant and rule number 1 wasn't the priority anymore. We stopped talking. Months went by and I would be expecting a text, a missed call, or a damn email but, I got nothing. I never received anything. I eventually gave up.

It was finally graduation day and I was pretty happy. Although I spent most of my time at the local coffee shop and wondering where my best friend was at all times, I still enjoyed college. We had a small party at my parents house for my graduation and I was excited to see everyone. For once I thought I was going to see my best friend. Her parents had told me that's her graduation wasn't until another 3 weeks so I thought, "great, she'll have plenty of time to come and see me for my graduation." I was wrong.

"Hey Josh! Congratulations on graduating. We are so proud of you," said Mrs. Wite as she and her husband were walking towards me. They leaned in for a hug and I greeted them. "Hey Mr. & Mrs. Wite. Thank you for coming," I said. "We got you a little something." She hands me a small bag and inside that bag was a picture frame. It holds a picture of me and Catherine when we first met. I smiled and asked, "Where is Cathy?" They both turn to look at each other, "we expected for you to know something about her." "Wait, you guys haven't talked to her?" We all stared at each other in confusion. "We haven't heard from her in weeks J. We thought you might've known what happened to her since you guys are good friends," exclaimed Mr. Wite. "We..." as soon as I was going to respond, my very hyperactive cousin walks in yelling. "Hey little cousin! Congratulations!" "Thank you," I said barely breathing from his big tight hug. I look up to look at Mr. & Mrs. Wite and they were leaving the room with a very concerned face. As I was trying to go after them, my cousin pulls me back. He exclaimed, "look cousin, I have the best graduation present ever." He puts two airplane tickets in my face. Two tickets to California.

After my graduation party, I looked for Catherine's parents every where but they were no where to be found. Later in the night my mom told me that they had to leave early to catch a flight to go see Catherine. I was confused as to why they never mentioned anything when we talked earlier. Was it something that I said? Did I worried them? Are they hiding something from me? The only thing I could think about was Catherine.