Prologue
It was as if the earth had moved. The sky was shaking, so that all there was left were falling stars. I forgot all there was around me, everything or everyone I had ever seen or heard about just didn’t matter anymore. I had found her. My true and only love. But just like a falling star, it went as fast as it came. And then all there was left was emptiness. A big hole left inside of me. I will never forget her, she saved my life in every way a person can be saved. So this story isn’t really about me. It’s about her, and all that she was. Because what does it really mean to be happy? Is it friends? Is it family? Or is it love? I guess it’s a little bit of everything. Without people around you, you’ll just feel empty and sad. You’ll always feel like something’s missing.
It all started on a beautiful Tuesday. The sun was shining in the sky and the kids were playing in the streets. It was a beautiful Tuesday. Well, to most people at least. Right now I can’t help but wonder what would have happened to my life if I hadn’t picked up the phone or if I hadn’t gone to the park. Then I probably wouldn’t have met her at all. Then she would still be alive right now. Everything would have been different.
1.
Ryan Smith was a nice guy. He said hello politely to his neighbors, he’d help an old lady cross the road, he would even help getting somebody’s cat out of a tree. Yes, Ryan Smith was a nice guy. But even nice guys have their bad days. And this, this was one of those days.
Ryan Smith stood up at the same time as usual that day. He ate the same thing as usual, he watched the same TV program as usual. But that was the problem. He was tired of it, he was tired of doing the same things over and over and over again. All day, every day. He wanted something new in his life, something exciting. He wanted to go to bed, not knowing exactly what was going to happen when he’d wake up. And especially he wanted someone to share it with. Faith was on his side this beautiful morning, he just didn’t know it.
So he took a short, ice cold shower just to do something different that day. Just as he was about to go to work, his phone started to ring.
‘’This is Ryan.’’
‘’Hé Ryan, it’s Johnson. I’m just calling to say that you don’t have to work at the office today. As you know, today is the grand opening of the new park just outside of town. I want you to go there and write an article about it.’’ Ryan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His first big article! Now, that’s something new and something really exciting.
‘’Really?’’ He asked. ‘’Of course! I’m happy to! Thank you so much John! I’ll go there right away!’’ Ryan heard Johnson laugh. ‘’Well, well. Now that’s the kind of spirit we need more in this world! Good luck Smith. I’m counting on you.’’
Even though Johnson had hung up the phone, Ryan could still hear his voice clearly. ‘’I’m counting on you, Smith..’’ Ryan quickly grabbed a pen and his work map, made a couple of sandwiches and went on his way to the park.
‘’Honey? Honey, wake up!’’ Lauren Sullivan was trying to wake up her daughter.
‘’Come on Melanie, rise and shine! You’ll have to wake up if you want to go to the grand opening of the brand new park!’’ Melanie slowly, but surely started to wake up. ‘’Hmm..?’’
Lauren laughed. ‘’Now come on, you sleepyhead. Time to get up or else I will go without you!’’ Melanie quickly got up and jumped out of bed, feeling a bit dizzy. ‘’Okay, okay.. I’m up.. See? I’m ready to go!’’ Lauren looked at her eight year old daughter. ‘’Don’t you think you should eat and get dressed before we go?’’ Melanie looked a bit confused. ‘’Right.. That’s probably a good idea..’’ She started walking towards the bathroom.
‘’Oh, Tom..’’ Lauren thought. ‘’I wish you could be here to see what a pretty, little lady she is becoming..’’ Lauren quickly shacked the memory of her husband out of her head, and went downstairs to make breakfast.
By that time Ryan had arrived at the park. He was just searching for a parking place, but it was already full of cars. ‘’Oh, god.. It’s still a couple of hours to the official opening. Why is everybody here already?’’ He thought to himself. He felt his good mood slowly slipping away from him. Luckily, he had finally found what seemed to be the only parking place left, that wasn’t a half-hour walk to the park. Ryan never liked walking that much. He preferred driving everywhere.
Lauren wasn’t like that at all. She absolutely loved to walk, and so did Melanie. So it isn’t really a surprise that they decided to walk to the park, instead of driving there.
It was about eleven o’clock when they got there. The official opening started at one o’clock.
‘’Mom! Mom, look at me!’’ Melanie was jumping and running around in the grass, pretending to be a butterfly. ‘’Look mom, I can fly!!’’ Lauren looked at her daughter smiling.
‘’Just don’t go too far, okay? Stay where I can see you.’’ Lauren said, not sure if Melanie even heard her. She found a good place in the shadow of a big tree, where she sat down to read a little before the opening. She grabbed her old version of Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice. Lauren had read all of her books hundreds of times, but never got bored. Yet today she wasn’t feeling the excitement she usually felt when reading a book. She couldn’t even open it. She couldn’t help but think of Tom. She missed him so much, sometimes all she could do was stare out of the window, without even moving an inch. Wondering what If ?
She missed his smile when she did something clumsy as usual, she missed how his hair looked when he just got out of bed. But mostly she missed the way Tom used to looked at Melanie. It was a look full of love. Lauren had never told Melanie she was adopted, she just couldn’t do it. But even though Melanie was adopted, Lauren and Tom had always loved her like she was their own. The reason that they had never told her anything about that, was because of Tom. Tom was adopted as well, so he knew what it was like. He knew what it was like not knowing who your real parents are. He knew how it felt to always think what if ?
What if I was never adopted? What if I met my parents now? What would I do? What would I say? The only thing Tom had known for sure, was that he had a biological twin brother.
But he had never met or seen him. And now it was too late.
‘’Mom? Mom!’’ Melanie was standing over Lauren. Lauren quickly got back to reality and focused on Melanie. ‘’Yes, what’s wrong sweetie?’’ Lauren said worried. She had never seen Melanie look so confused and so excited at the same time. ‘’Mommy, I just saw daddy! Daddy is here also!’’ She said happily. Lauren couldn’t even say anything, she just stared at her daughter. ‘’What do you mean; you saw daddy?’’ Melanie didn’t answer her, but instead started pulling Lauren’s arm to get up. ‘’Come on! Get up! Don’t you wanna say hello to daddy? Don’t you miss him?’’ As Lauren slowly stood up she tried to make sense out of what she’d just heard.
‘’No.. He couldn’t be..’’ She thought to herself. Without even thinking about it, Lauren started to walk along Melanie to wherever she was taking her. Melanie looked up to Lauren.
‘’Look mommy! There he is! You see? I told you daddy was here too!’’ Lauren was so shocked by what she saw, that she just dropped her book on the floor. There, a couple feet away from her was sitting Tom. She couldn’t believe it, though it was right in front of her. It was Tom! It was a miracle, he was back!
2.
‘’Mommy? Mommy!’’
‘’Is she alright??’’
‘’What happened?’’
‘’Should we call someone?’’
‘’Kid, do you know who we can call for your mother?’’
‘’Mommy!!’’
Lauren slowly opened her eyes. She was lying in the grass, hearing voices she couldn’t quite understand. What had happened? Did she pass out? Tom! She saw Tom! Where was he?
Did he leave again? ‘’Tom? Tom, where are you? Tom?!’’ She looked around confused.
Who were all these people? ‘’Tom!?!’’ She tried to sit up, but someone stopped her. ‘’You should probably stay down for a while, you just passed out.’’ Lauren didn’t listen, she didn’t want to listen. She stood up and looked around. ‘’Tom, where are you? Tom? Where’s my husband!’’ She didn’t see him anywhere, he was gone. When everything was finally going well with her life, he showed up. And now he has disappeared again. She fell on her knees, looked up and started to cry. ‘’Please, please Tom.. Come back to me.. Please.. You can’t leave me here, not after everything I’ve been trough..’’ Melanie looked at her mother insecurely. ‘’Mommy? Daddy’s right here, but he says he’s not daddy…’’ Lauren looked at her. Beside Melanie a man was standing who at the same moment looked exactly like Tom, yet also was a stranger to her. It wasn’t Tom. Now that she looked closely enough she saw it. It wasn’t the man she’d known for all her life. It wasn’t the man she had married. And it sure wasn’t the man who had died in a car accident a couple years back and broke her heart. It wasn’t Tom.
The man sat down beside Lauren. ‘’Are you okay? I don’t know who Tom is, but it isn’t me. My name is Ryan Smith.’’ He looked at her with a worried face. All the other people had left already. She now was alone with Melanie and Ryan. ‘’I’m fine, thank you.’’ She avoided looking at him. ‘’Melanie, you want to go home or stay here for the opening?’’ Lauren asked.
‘’I want to go home, but I don’t wanna walk all the way again.’’ Lauren quickly thought what she should do. She didn’t bring any money, so they couldn’t go with the bus. She also couldn’t carry Melanie all the way. Her thoughts got interrupted by Ryan. ‘’I drove here, I can take you home if you want.’’ Lauren finally looked at him. He probably thought she was some kind of crazy woman. ‘’No, that’s okay. You came here to see the opening, it’s almost starting. You’d miss it if you take us back.’’ The poor guy kept looking like he had to do something, anything. ‘’No, no. It wouldn’t be a problem at all. It’s the least I can do.’’
Lauren looked at him thankfully. ‘’Well.. Okay, I guess. I appreciate it. Thank you.’’
Ryan smiled relieved. ‘’Okay, let’s go then.’’
It was as if the earth had moved. The sky was shaking, so that all there was left were falling stars. I forgot all there was around me, everything or everyone I had ever seen or heard about just didn’t matter anymore. I had found her. My true and only love. But just like a falling star, it went as fast as it came. And then all there was left was emptiness. A big hole left inside of me. I will never forget her, she saved my life in every way a person can be saved. So this story isn’t really about me. It’s about her, and all that she was. Because what does it really mean to be happy? Is it friends? Is it family? Or is it love? I guess it’s a little bit of everything. Without people around you, you’ll just feel empty and sad. You’ll always feel like something’s missing.
It all started on a beautiful Tuesday. The sun was shining in the sky and the kids were playing in the streets. It was a beautiful Tuesday. Well, to most people at least. Right now I can’t help but wonder what would have happened to my life if I hadn’t picked up the phone or if I hadn’t gone to the park. Then I probably wouldn’t have met her at all. Then she would still be alive right now. Everything would have been different.
1.
Ryan Smith was a nice guy. He said hello politely to his neighbors, he’d help an old lady cross the road, he would even help getting somebody’s cat out of a tree. Yes, Ryan Smith was a nice guy. But even nice guys have their bad days. And this, this was one of those days.
Ryan Smith stood up at the same time as usual that day. He ate the same thing as usual, he watched the same TV program as usual. But that was the problem. He was tired of it, he was tired of doing the same things over and over and over again. All day, every day. He wanted something new in his life, something exciting. He wanted to go to bed, not knowing exactly what was going to happen when he’d wake up. And especially he wanted someone to share it with. Faith was on his side this beautiful morning, he just didn’t know it.
So he took a short, ice cold shower just to do something different that day. Just as he was about to go to work, his phone started to ring.
‘’This is Ryan.’’
‘’Hé Ryan, it’s Johnson. I’m just calling to say that you don’t have to work at the office today. As you know, today is the grand opening of the new park just outside of town. I want you to go there and write an article about it.’’ Ryan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His first big article! Now, that’s something new and something really exciting.
‘’Really?’’ He asked. ‘’Of course! I’m happy to! Thank you so much John! I’ll go there right away!’’ Ryan heard Johnson laugh. ‘’Well, well. Now that’s the kind of spirit we need more in this world! Good luck Smith. I’m counting on you.’’
Even though Johnson had hung up the phone, Ryan could still hear his voice clearly. ‘’I’m counting on you, Smith..’’ Ryan quickly grabbed a pen and his work map, made a couple of sandwiches and went on his way to the park.
‘’Honey? Honey, wake up!’’ Lauren Sullivan was trying to wake up her daughter.
‘’Come on Melanie, rise and shine! You’ll have to wake up if you want to go to the grand opening of the brand new park!’’ Melanie slowly, but surely started to wake up. ‘’Hmm..?’’
Lauren laughed. ‘’Now come on, you sleepyhead. Time to get up or else I will go without you!’’ Melanie quickly got up and jumped out of bed, feeling a bit dizzy. ‘’Okay, okay.. I’m up.. See? I’m ready to go!’’ Lauren looked at her eight year old daughter. ‘’Don’t you think you should eat and get dressed before we go?’’ Melanie looked a bit confused. ‘’Right.. That’s probably a good idea..’’ She started walking towards the bathroom.
‘’Oh, Tom..’’ Lauren thought. ‘’I wish you could be here to see what a pretty, little lady she is becoming..’’ Lauren quickly shacked the memory of her husband out of her head, and went downstairs to make breakfast.
By that time Ryan had arrived at the park. He was just searching for a parking place, but it was already full of cars. ‘’Oh, god.. It’s still a couple of hours to the official opening. Why is everybody here already?’’ He thought to himself. He felt his good mood slowly slipping away from him. Luckily, he had finally found what seemed to be the only parking place left, that wasn’t a half-hour walk to the park. Ryan never liked walking that much. He preferred driving everywhere.
Lauren wasn’t like that at all. She absolutely loved to walk, and so did Melanie. So it isn’t really a surprise that they decided to walk to the park, instead of driving there.
It was about eleven o’clock when they got there. The official opening started at one o’clock.
‘’Mom! Mom, look at me!’’ Melanie was jumping and running around in the grass, pretending to be a butterfly. ‘’Look mom, I can fly!!’’ Lauren looked at her daughter smiling.
‘’Just don’t go too far, okay? Stay where I can see you.’’ Lauren said, not sure if Melanie even heard her. She found a good place in the shadow of a big tree, where she sat down to read a little before the opening. She grabbed her old version of Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice. Lauren had read all of her books hundreds of times, but never got bored. Yet today she wasn’t feeling the excitement she usually felt when reading a book. She couldn’t even open it. She couldn’t help but think of Tom. She missed him so much, sometimes all she could do was stare out of the window, without even moving an inch. Wondering what If ?
She missed his smile when she did something clumsy as usual, she missed how his hair looked when he just got out of bed. But mostly she missed the way Tom used to looked at Melanie. It was a look full of love. Lauren had never told Melanie she was adopted, she just couldn’t do it. But even though Melanie was adopted, Lauren and Tom had always loved her like she was their own. The reason that they had never told her anything about that, was because of Tom. Tom was adopted as well, so he knew what it was like. He knew what it was like not knowing who your real parents are. He knew how it felt to always think what if ?
What if I was never adopted? What if I met my parents now? What would I do? What would I say? The only thing Tom had known for sure, was that he had a biological twin brother.
But he had never met or seen him. And now it was too late.
‘’Mom? Mom!’’ Melanie was standing over Lauren. Lauren quickly got back to reality and focused on Melanie. ‘’Yes, what’s wrong sweetie?’’ Lauren said worried. She had never seen Melanie look so confused and so excited at the same time. ‘’Mommy, I just saw daddy! Daddy is here also!’’ She said happily. Lauren couldn’t even say anything, she just stared at her daughter. ‘’What do you mean; you saw daddy?’’ Melanie didn’t answer her, but instead started pulling Lauren’s arm to get up. ‘’Come on! Get up! Don’t you wanna say hello to daddy? Don’t you miss him?’’ As Lauren slowly stood up she tried to make sense out of what she’d just heard.
‘’No.. He couldn’t be..’’ She thought to herself. Without even thinking about it, Lauren started to walk along Melanie to wherever she was taking her. Melanie looked up to Lauren.
‘’Look mommy! There he is! You see? I told you daddy was here too!’’ Lauren was so shocked by what she saw, that she just dropped her book on the floor. There, a couple feet away from her was sitting Tom. She couldn’t believe it, though it was right in front of her. It was Tom! It was a miracle, he was back!
2.
‘’Mommy? Mommy!’’
‘’Is she alright??’’
‘’What happened?’’
‘’Should we call someone?’’
‘’Kid, do you know who we can call for your mother?’’
‘’Mommy!!’’
Lauren slowly opened her eyes. She was lying in the grass, hearing voices she couldn’t quite understand. What had happened? Did she pass out? Tom! She saw Tom! Where was he?
Did he leave again? ‘’Tom? Tom, where are you? Tom?!’’ She looked around confused.
Who were all these people? ‘’Tom!?!’’ She tried to sit up, but someone stopped her. ‘’You should probably stay down for a while, you just passed out.’’ Lauren didn’t listen, she didn’t want to listen. She stood up and looked around. ‘’Tom, where are you? Tom? Where’s my husband!’’ She didn’t see him anywhere, he was gone. When everything was finally going well with her life, he showed up. And now he has disappeared again. She fell on her knees, looked up and started to cry. ‘’Please, please Tom.. Come back to me.. Please.. You can’t leave me here, not after everything I’ve been trough..’’ Melanie looked at her mother insecurely. ‘’Mommy? Daddy’s right here, but he says he’s not daddy…’’ Lauren looked at her. Beside Melanie a man was standing who at the same moment looked exactly like Tom, yet also was a stranger to her. It wasn’t Tom. Now that she looked closely enough she saw it. It wasn’t the man she’d known for all her life. It wasn’t the man she had married. And it sure wasn’t the man who had died in a car accident a couple years back and broke her heart. It wasn’t Tom.
The man sat down beside Lauren. ‘’Are you okay? I don’t know who Tom is, but it isn’t me. My name is Ryan Smith.’’ He looked at her with a worried face. All the other people had left already. She now was alone with Melanie and Ryan. ‘’I’m fine, thank you.’’ She avoided looking at him. ‘’Melanie, you want to go home or stay here for the opening?’’ Lauren asked.
‘’I want to go home, but I don’t wanna walk all the way again.’’ Lauren quickly thought what she should do. She didn’t bring any money, so they couldn’t go with the bus. She also couldn’t carry Melanie all the way. Her thoughts got interrupted by Ryan. ‘’I drove here, I can take you home if you want.’’ Lauren finally looked at him. He probably thought she was some kind of crazy woman. ‘’No, that’s okay. You came here to see the opening, it’s almost starting. You’d miss it if you take us back.’’ The poor guy kept looking like he had to do something, anything. ‘’No, no. It wouldn’t be a problem at all. It’s the least I can do.’’
Lauren looked at him thankfully. ‘’Well.. Okay, I guess. I appreciate it. Thank you.’’
Ryan smiled relieved. ‘’Okay, let’s go then.’’
