My sister's smiled dimmed, but our eyes stayed on each other. She seemed to understand.
After I finally finished both halves I went upstairs and showered and changed into whatever t-shirt and jeans my mom didn't pack for me. Then I grabbed a hand-me-down sweatshirt from one of my brothers. Noticing a couple of people in the front yard with vans from news channels I decided I would go through the backyard then use back streets.
"Mom," I called out, not sure where she had gone. "I'm going for a walk."
"Okay, Nick, I'm making your favorite dinner tonight."
"Okay," I replied, my voice was still weak; I didn't have to worry about cooking anymore.
With my hands shoved deep into my sweatshirt pockets I meandered with heavy steps with no real direction in mind. Children were getting off buses as I cut through backyards. I could hear laughter. Would I ever laugh again? I missed Rachel's laughter, she had an amazing smile. Had…
My stomach dropped, causing the French bread pizza to feel like stones in me. My hair touched my eyelashes which was even long for me, I should trim it when I got home, maybe annoy my sister to help. She might help with my hair once again.
The sun made the day feel warm, a gorgeous spring day; Rachel would never see another spring again. I could picture her loving to sit outside with a book enjoying the sun's rays. A lump formed in my throat. I stopped dead in my tracks. I was in the playground at the elementary school. How did I get here?
The park was empty as I made my way across the greening grass towards the swings. Here was where this all began. That one day in kindergarten I gave her a swing next to me. Rachel was even nice then, and quiet. Oh how I missed the easy carefree days of the swings. I stood before the very swing that I had on that day. I wondered if things would have been any different if I had moved over just one swing would Rachel and I have been so connected? What was I thinking? A swing couldn't have that much impact over a person's life. I sat down on the rubber seat with my hands on the metal chains. Slowly I started to swing a little till my feet were no longer touching the ground. Reaching height, my head fell back as my eyes closed absorbing the very much needed sun from a long winter.
"Is this swing taken?" a small voice behind me inquired.
Turning my head to see who was speaking, I nearly fell out of my swing. Digging my heels into the dirt I stumbled out of the seat. There stood Rachel in jeans and a tank top. A cast was sticking out of one of the sleeves of her sweater. Her blond hair was down and a headband kept the hair out of her face. She was smiling as her eyes had dark circles underneath.
"Hey, Nick."
With hesitant steps I made my way over to her not believing that she was in front of me. I had heard the beeping of her flat-lining heart. The nurses took me out of her room. "You're supposed to be dead," I whispered dumbfounded.
Her smile grew. "They shocked me and put me on a heap of meds so I only got out this morning," Rachel explained, she took another step closing the gap between us. She reached up so that her arms were around my neck.
"I didn't think I'd see you again," my voice was breaking up as I still waited for her to vanish.
"I tried calling you, but I didn't have your cell number and your house number wouldn't go through."
"My dad unplugged the phones because we were getting so many calls from reporters," I replied gulping afterwards. "I didn't know what I was going to do without you."
"You don't have to worry about that anymore, I'm not going anywhere," Rachel's voice was warm. "I promised you I wouldn't leave you again."
I grinned finally. "God I love you, Rachel."
"I love you too, Nick."
I bent down and captured her lips in mine, and it felt almost as if it was the first time. Full of excitement, I wrapped my arms more around her and lifted her off the ground. A giggle escaped from her. Rachel pulled her face away slightly so that I could look into those jade eyes once again.
"So are you ready to swing?" Rachel asked keeping our eyes locked and tilting her head at me.
"With you, I'm up for any adventure that comes our way."
Acknowledgments
I started to write Project US my freshman year of high school in 2004. It first started out as a story that I would post chapter by chapter on a website that my friends in high school would read as I went along. I would get feedback from them. There were a few other stories before I wrote Project US, but this became my first real big project. This was the first story that I was getting any feedback on, helping me gain some confidence. Over the years whenever I had writer’s block I would work on Project US to get back into the right mindset.
The beginning has been rewritten, parts of the middle were fixed up, and the ending was changed. My friends have been a big help in this story as I used them to bounce ideas off of and I was given advice. I was not sure if I would ever really publish this story because it was my project for so many years. My friends Jess, Danielle, and Amy have experience the story since the beginning or close to it. They have seen Project US through the whole journey, and I thank them for putting up with the questions, the many drafts, and my yammering.
Sharon was nice enough to beta read Project US before I was sure when I
