I sat back in my chair. A tornado? In California?
“Hope he’s alright,” I said to myself as I stood up and stretched.
It was 11pm here, only 8pm in SanFran because of the time difference. Most normal people would at least be in bed by eleven, but by bedtime standards, I wasn’t a normal person. As a normal insomniac, I usually got in bed at ten or so and usually fell asleep about midnight. But tonight, I was talking to CaptainDad07, and it was worth it.
I looked around my small, cramped office. It was a small room, tucked in the back of my house. I worked from home mostly, and my work office was practically empty. The room held a desk, a chair, and a file cabinet. The rest of the room was covered in pictures. The pictures covered the walls, some overlapping each other. There were pictures of building, pictures of monuments, and pictures of landscapes. But there were also picture of people. Pictures of my family, friends, and lots of pictures of Ron, Vic, and me hung on the walls, but no pictures of Ethan. Just an empty space where they used to be.
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Ethan Andrews and I had dated for three years, we were happy, we were the “It” couple in our group of friends. We were on the track to possibly getting married, but something wasn’t right, and we both knew it. We both agreed that marriage wasn’t the best option for us, and we were finished.
I honestly didn’t cry as much as I thought I would. It was the best breakup that I had gone through. Vic came over afterwards and sat with me as we watched Monsters Incorporated, neither of us really paying much attention. My mind was occupied.
“You're thinking about him aren’t you,” Vic said quietly
“Hmm?” I mumbled, half-heartedly watching Mike Wasowski and Sulley bribe Boo with Cheerios, “What? Thinking about whom?”577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEyv8JKIne
Vic sighed a little, and I could tell that she was rolling her eyes.
“Ben,” she said quietly, “Are you thinking about Ben?”
My mind was racing. Of course I was thinking about Ben. Ben had occupied my thoughts since he left. I couldn’t forget him. Never.
“Yes,” I whispered, “I'm always thinking about Ben.”
Benjamin Anderson was the fourth person in our group of friends. He was tall, with dark hair that he kept long and then cut as soon as he had to go serve. He had gorgeous grey-blue eyes that hid behind his glasses. He was really smart, and he wanted to be a writer, but halfway through his freshman year at SCAD, his internal calling changed and he left to serve in the Army. 577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIWV7AWkNG
We dated for four years, from our senior year of high school to the day that we fought. I don’t even remember what we fought about, it was honestly stupid, but if cost us our relationship. Ben left that night, a 22 year old with a broken heart, and flew out of the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport the next morning. He didn’t keep in touch.
I regretted the dispute immediately, because it was stupid. And after I cried for hours on Ron and Vic’s shoulders, I wrote an apology letter to Ben’s email address. I didn’t beg him to come back, I simply acknowledged the fact that he probably needed a break, and that I was sorry for the argument and what it had cost us. I finished with a simple, “I love you” and left it at that. He never answered, I didn’t expect him to, but that was fine with me.
That was five years ago.
Now, I had a stable job, a nice house in Marietta, I volunteered every other Monday night at my church to babysit kids. I got together with Vic and Ron all the time and we hung out at restaurants, Six Flags, or just their house. They were planning their wedding which would take place in January. But every day, I thought about Ben, and I thought about everything we had witnessed together, and what he was missing here.
But that was in the past, and I'm sure he had a life of his own.
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Recently, I had met CaptainDad07 while talking to Vic online. He had accidentally chatted me while trying to find a babysitter, and we had continued to talk. We were good friends now, even though we didn’t know too much about each other. For example:
1) I knew that he had a 4 year old daughter named Meredith who wasn’t related to him by blood.577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq04rhKkPD8
2) I knew that he was a veteran who had written a few children’s books.577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJZgffxNrH
3) He lived in San Francisco California.
And he had just lived through a tornado. (Hopefully).
I knew that it was probably time for me to go to bed, I needed the sleep, but when I lay down, I couldn’t sleep. I was restless from the busy day. Lots of things had happened that were all mind-consuming. I think I lay awake for an hour and a half before I finally fell into a restless sleep.
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When I woke up the next morning, light streamed through my curtains. My clock read ’10:45’. Glad that it was a Saturday, I rolled out of bed and walked downstairs. My laptop still sat in my office, so I took it into the kitchen and booted it up to check my messages while I made breakfast. I had three messages from Vic, and two from CD. I clicked on Vic’s first, hoping for it to be something trivial. Of course, it wasn’t.
Vic: I just got an email from Ben.577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QGvGo51H6
Vic: Beth, answer me please.577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSD8CTkrLU
Vic: Goddammit Beth! Why aren’t you answering?!577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IP946tdIM
ArmyDaugher01: Jeez woman, I’m awake now. 577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPEcYllEEE
AD: Ben? What do you mean? 577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKbk5X7Llz
Vic: He emailed me last night, at around midnight, and said that he was coming back to Marietta.577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEI7ra74Ul
AD: Why did he email you? Why is he coming back? Do you think that he got my email?|577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9OVC3MgZfu
Vic: I have no idea, but I told him that he could stay with Ron and me until he got back on his feet, but he was really secretive about something and he said that he had already bought a house. 577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmDk1RP3kV
AD: ….577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhIuz1NRaU5
Vic: I know right. I kinda wanted to strangle him but I really miss him so I said that I was happy to see him again. He didn’t answer after that.577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFzUdAUcYu
AD: Wow. When did he say he was coming home?577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQICdFEm4lk
Vic: I think Saturday or Sunday.577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9eux4LxZVC
AD: *sigh. This’ll be really awkward.577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0w12ryx8LQ
Vic: Tell me about it.
Vic signed off, and I opened CD’s message.
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CaptainDad07: Tornado destroyed the house. I managed to save most of my stuff. Mera and I are fine, physically. She still has no idea what is happening. We’re moving to Marietta this weekend. Maybe we can meet up?
ArmyDaughter 01: Awesome, definitely we should meet up. I’d love to meet you. Where’s your house at?577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjO3ZKFY4qP
CaptainDad07: I have no idea, I know the address, but not the area.577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnH7y3dSuR
He gave me his street address.577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Zcqq4H32I
ArmyDaugher01: It’s pretty close to my house, in the heart of Marietta. Traffic will be really fun for you XD577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjooleidnu
CaptainDad07: Lord help me. 577Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegsbSd6VZp
ArmyDaugher01: Let’s hope he does.
CD logged off, and after checking my work email, I did too. After getting dressed, I sat down at my desk to finish a project, but my mind was still occupied. Ben was coming home. I was meeting CaptainDad07. Ben had a secret. He wasn’t contacting me. CD was moving a couple of blocks away from me.
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My life was about to get a whole lot more complicated.
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