Let me take you back to a long time ago. okay so it wasn't that long ago, not at all actully. I remember it like it was just testerday. it was cold, and rainy, much like the one that i am looking at right now. The grounds are muddy, the windows are graffitied with droplets of rain, and the walls are shyaking from the harshh gusts of wind, making me feel as if I am in the middle of an open feild in a small one roomed shack made of twighs, threatening to break with one more gust of wind in the wrong directions. The cold in my body that no amount of warmth could replace. Many sad stories start this was, but for once, it was as if the weather understood what that day was about, and with a twisted sence of hummor made it just that much more miserable.

Instead of sitting in my room as I am now, however, I was staring out the passenger side of my fathers blue truck watching the scenery go by. A elder woman wearing a rain bonnet, covering her white curly hair, which was also cover with a bandana. A fireman in full fire fighting gear, black tee-shirt and heavy black pants with a yellow strip down the side of the legs that are about six sizes to big, that would fall to the ground if not for the thick black supspenders holding them up. We stopped at a red light. I was looking at the 'welcome to sea bright' sign, knowing I was only a little ways awy, I got a little happier. I looked at my father and gave him a sad smile. He smiled back and squeezed my hand before focusing his sight back on the road. I looked at the tellow traffic light, swinging from the gusts of winds, hanging from a heavy metal pole that was keeping it from crashing down onto the asfalt.

The light turned green and the car started to move again. I looked at the window yet again watching the scenery go by, knowing that this was probably going to be one of the last happy moments I'd have in a while, bet yet, Ii wasnt happy at all. my father then pulled up to the too familyiar three-story yellow house. the windows looked like two empty eyes staring out into the ocean infront of it, as if it knew along with the weather. what a gloomy day this was going to be. there was a flag pole next door, hoisted to the very top was an American flag, threating to tear from the ropes, making heavy flopping noises, getting weighted fown by the water it wad absorbed from the rain, adn the wind dared it to stay upright, pulling it tightly into the fimliar rectangle shape only to collapse into a wet pile of cloth, then bring it back up and so on.

I felt a weight in my chest, pulling my hood over my head and opening the car door, the salt air hitting my face making me nauseas. I never did like the smell of the sea. i swung my legs over and stepped out of the truck. my father told me that he would come pick me up around eight o'clock, I thought to myself, 'thats not enough tiem to say goodbye' but knowing it wouldn't matter to him, I just nodded and closed the door and beagan to make my way up the back porch. I made my way up the back steps, one...two...three...four...five...odd number for a flight of stairs. I pushed the thought out of my head and kept walking. I made my way to the door, and with a shaking fist knocked once lightly. after a few moments i beagan to think that maybe he didn't hear me or maybe he had, and knowing it was me, didn't answer, wish for me to leave, both of us knowing deep down how hard it was going to be to say goodbye, again.

But just as I was about to get out my cellphone to call my dad, I heard footsteps on the stairs, then the clcik of the lock, then the door was opened to reveal a familiar but not so friendly face. I asked him "what's wrong?". He replied with a nothing kind of shrug, then gestured me to come in, as I stepped in, the warmth enfolded me. Dispite my wet hoodie, he brought me into a tight embrace, just like always he wrapped his arms around my upper body, and I responded by wrapping mine somewhere around his middle. We stood in the doorway, an inessential, benumbing draft making us both siver. We broken apart and as he shut the dood I took a look at what he was wearing. I was in jeans, converses and a teeshirt under my hoodie, and he was wearing his 'stoned again' tee-shirt, loss fitting jeans, and flip-flops. I took a second to look back down and see if my eyes had deceived me. But he was indeed wearing flip flops. I smiled at his choice of footwear on this cold day.

He startede walking away, up the stairs. I had fallowed him as we walked into the kitchen. He offered me choclate chip cookies. I told him I'd pass, he just shrugged and shoved another in his mouth. I reminded him about his diet, he told me he hadn't started yet. I laughed as he jumped onto the conunter. We bagan to talk about the letters he had written everyone. I joked about being mad that I hadn't recieved one. He has told me that he wrote close to six letters for me alone, but couldn't put how he felt into words, and that was the first time he had told me that I was his best friend. It felt like a privilage, and I didn't care about not receiving a letter, hearing him say it was better than any letter he could ever write me.

He hopped off the counter and went to open the fridge, pull out the milk and get a glass. He pouted himself some and then placed the carton on the counter as he jumped back up not caring if he left it out of not. I offered to put it away. As I did, i ended up hitting the upper shelf as I was putting the milk back onto the shelf I saw him grab it from. As I hit the self, the cap popped off the cartoon. I giggled and ops, and he told me that he did it all the time, jumped down from his seat on the counter, grabbed the little blue cap that was still rolling on the lanonium and place it back on the counter and we headed upstaris.

After we conquered the stairs, we turned a sharp right, he opened the door and there was his little brother sitting on the bed with his back against the wall reading a book. "Get out of my room, go read downstairs." He told his brother, to which his brother replied that it was also his room, "I don't care, leave," he said grabbing his arm and pulling him out the door, shutting it and turning around to face me. "so what you wanna do now?" i replied with a 'I don't know' and walked over and sat on his bed which was littered random abandoned and discarded articles of clothing, I'm guessing unremembered apparel from when he took his shower, explaining why his hair was still wet and plastered to his forehead.

he sat down at his desk and turned on his Zune, pumping music through the some-what small, but still pretty big room. then the phone rang, he turned the music down and answered the phone. He barely said a word, but soon hung up. "Anna's crying" he said in a null-in-viod voice, "I told her to call back when she calms down" he continued. I asked why and he explained that he didn't want to head anyone cry, because then he would. I responded with a question that I already knew the answer to. "Is that why you'r so angry?" he nodded, him and i both knowing, doing the same thing. Covering one emotion with another, we both laughed sadly.

After a few hours, and barely any packing done (which was why I went there in the first place) we were in the car on the way to Ruby Tuesdays. I had called my father to inform him he would not need to pick me up. Eric was shaking beacuse all he was wearing was his usual thin, long sleve shirt. He was sitting between his brother and me, talking to his father and step-mother in Poruguese. I couldn't understand anything, so I just sat back and stared out the window yet again. That's what my life felt like... Looking from the outside in, just watching whats going on, or at least it felt that way.

We finially arrived at the restaurant. We walked inside and followed the lady to our table. We looked out and laughed as we saw a man sitting on the couches, which was our normal 'hang-out-spot'. We sat; he and his father on one side with his father in the isle, his step mother infront of his father, Jackie next to her, and I across from Eric. We started talking, his brother being the typical little brother, interrupting us at random moments just to be annoying.

We noticed that we had gotten crayons, so we started to draw. none of us could draw very well in crayon but we tried out best. Laughing at the sickening excuse for Spongebob Squarepants I had drawn, we finially had the thought to ask our waitress for a pen. She handed us one, and out drawings became more distinguishable. After a while we got bored and our food showed up. I got a regular burger, and he got a deluxe burger, which ironically was smaller then mine.

After we had eaten, he got a text from our friends, asking us to come out and talk to them because they were also there.We exucsed ourselves from the table and went off to find our friends. We found them infront of Macys. They handed him 3 giant choclate chip cookies, which had been so smashed they looked like one huge cookie, and he ate it as if it was. He put it infront of my face and i took a bite, he did the same to our friends and they mimicked my actions. Soon we were walking to our hand-our-spot. We sat; me on the edge of the couch, him next to me and our two friends on the other side of him.

But all to soon, his cell-phone started ringing and his father told him it was time to go. Our friends walked us back to the restaurant, and waited with us until his father emerged from the door. We bid a final goodbye to our friends; one of us going to see them the next day, as the other ould not. We walked outside, the fridged air hitting out face, making them sting from the numbing wind. He took off running to find the car, I fallowed him, but we were unable to find the car. It was actually a couple cars over, so we ran, and then waited for his father to unlock it.

The ride home was all to short, and fairly quite. Knwoing these were some of the last few moments with him for a while, I took every second as a blessing, just having him sitting next to me made me happy, even if we were both unhappy of what the next few minutes would force upon us... Saying goodbye, no more chances to say it, not face to face. We pulled onoto my street, pasted five houses, and stopped infront of mine. I turned to him, a tear in my eye, but very thankful that it was dark so he couldn't see. I pulled him into a tight hug as he huggle me back. I poened the door, not caring about the cold. "I promise, I'll get online as soon as i get there", he said. I nodded and said goodbye. I began to walk up my driveway, onto the pathway leading to the door. I heard the car start to drive, I turned around andw atched until they were at the end of the street and turned left. I went to the door, turning the handle and stepping into the warm house. Maybe it won't be that bad, even if it is, he's my best friend and nothing could change that. Nothing.