An Unfinished Secret
The lights all around Chris blind him. He
tries to recall what had happened that night.
Only a few hours earlier his life had held such
promise…
It was the day after the big game and Chris
was preparing for the Homecoming Dance and the
night ahead.
"What a night I had last night!" he
whispered to himself. He had scored three
touchdowns last night. The last one came with
forty seconds left in the game and gave his team,
the Holton Tigers, a three point lead. Not bad
for his last Homecoming game, he thought. When
the game was over and the Tigers had won, Chris'
teammates lifted him onto their shoulders and
carried him through the onrushing crowd and into
the locker room. As he remembered the night
before, he smiled.
He buttoned the last button on his shirt.
Then, he tied his tie and sat to put on his
shoes. He did this with a ceremonial tug on the
knots as a signification of his readiness for the
dance. Even though he was completely prepared for
the night, his stomach still fluttered as he
thought of his secret.
He checked his watch. Only 6:41. He had nearly
twenty minutes to wait for his girlfriend,
Amanda. Thinking of her made his mind shift
momentarily to his secret and then back to her
again.
He still remembered the first time he had seen
her.
It was the first day of school during his
freshman year. Chris was meeting new people now
that the town's smaller schools funneled their
graduates to Holton High School. The exact moment
stuck in his mind like a picture taken with the
sharpest camera imaginable and blown up a hundred
times.
He was sitting in the lunchroom talking to his
best friend, Drew, about the freshman football
team. They couldn't wait to put their mark on the
high school team. The he had seen her.
She was putting a dollar bill into the vending
machine in the corner. Her blond hair hung down
to her shoulders and when she turned with her
juice in her hand, the hair swung gently about
her face. She brushed the hair away from such
perfect blue eyes, they almost seemed clear. From
this moment on, anyone who asked Chris if he
believed in love at first sight was answered with
an immediate and emphatic "yes".
Despite his feelings for her, Chris couldn't
bring himself to talk to her. Contrary to his
confidence on the football field, he was very shy
around girls.
One day, Chris mustered up the courage to ask
Amanda to a movie. She accepted, even after he
nearly spent five minutes stuttering out the
invitation.
Their first date went better than Chris could
have hoped for. He could remember almost every
moment of the time they had spent together since
then. The memories were nothing but great. The
nervous, scared feeling in his stomach as he
leaned towards her searching for the first kiss
to the first time that he told her he loved her.
Chris also remembered the exact moment that
the secret came about and the day, only weeks
before Homecoming, that Amanda's parents
presented her with a brand new sports car
commemorating her full scholarship to Duke
University. The look on her face when she saw the
car with its red ribbon upon red paint stuck in
his mind. He replied with an immediate
"no" when she asked if he cared if she
drove them to the Homecoming Dance.
The honk of a horn brought Chris out of his
trance and he looked through the window as Amanda
was walking up to the door.
She looked so beautiful in her sequined blue
dress that for a moment Chris could not move. His
feet stayed glued to the carpet as his stomach
was filled with the same feeling that he felt
that day he first saw her in the lunchroom.
When Chris pried himself from the floor and
walked down the stairs, he posed for pictures
with his parents. During one of the poses, he
whispered into Amanda's ear, "Have I ever
told you that I loved you?"
She smiled because, of course, he had many
times. And he smiled because he was comforted by
the fact that the feeling was mutual.
At a stoplight on the way to the dance, Chris
leaned over and kissed Amanda, as he was known to
do sometimes. He placed his left hand on her
elbow and lightly touched her cheek with his
right. He kissed her with all the intensity that
he could gather. His lips pressed against hers
and they might have never parted if the car
behind them hadn't blared its horn.
At the next stoplight, Amanda leaned over and
kissed Chris, as she was known to do sometimes.
She gazed into his eyes for a moment and smiled.
Then she kissed him gently on the lips and rubbed
her cheek against his. The physical kiss ended
but Chris could still smell her fragrant scent
and he kept his eyes closed for a few extra
seconds.
The dance was all that they had hoped for.
They cherished every dance together as if it were
their last. Neither would ever forget the way
that the other looked under the light on the
dance floor.
The only people that were surprised at the
choice of Homecoming King and Queen were Chris
and Amanda, who accepted their award with their
natural modesty. While on the stage, Chris could
only think of his secret.
After the dance, Chris' memory began to get a
little bit fuzzy. They had gone to a party at
Drew's house only a few blocks away from the
dance and were celebrating. There was alcohol at
this party, as there was at most of the parties
in their town. Along with their other nuances,
Chris and Amanda were known to drink a little but
never known as hard-core drinkers.
Chris took his third can of beer, since he
wasn't driving, and went into the other room to
find Amanda. He could no longer hold his secret
to himself and he had to tell. The thought of it
filled his mind and made his stomach curl up in a
ball; such is love.
Amanda was sitting on a couch talking to her
friends, holding a can of beer. She said that she
only had this one and a wine cooler, but Chris
had suspicions about the four cans sitting on the
table. He dismissed these cans a moment later as
her friends' drinks.
Chris walked up behind where Amanda was
sitting and put his hands on her shoulders. She
knew his touch. He bent forward and whispered his
message into her ear. He didn't go into great
detail; he only told her that he needed to talk
to her. She immediately knew what he meant and
she reached for her car keys.
Amanda could tell that Chris wanted privacy.
Evidently, he had something important to talk to
her about. There was one place that they always
went to when they needed to be alone and talk. It
was a place not far off in the woods that
overlooked a large pond. Once, Chris had told
Amanda that he loved her while they sat there.
She put her head on his shoulder and he wrapped
his arms around her. Before she fell asleep, she
told him that she loved him too. They stayed that
way until he awoke her at sunrise when the light
reflected off the pond and turned the water the
same shade of gold as Amanda's hair.
Chris thought of his secret.
The last thing that Chris remembered was the
car floating into the other lane on the way to
their special place. Amanda, being too slow to
react due to the alcohol, could not swerve in
time and he looked towards her face as they
struck an oncoming car. She turned towards him
immediately before impact. He looked into her
eyes. She looked into his. In the headlights of
the oncoming car, they looked like they had
looked on that dance floor. He reached for her
hand but couldn't find it.
Chris shifted his weight under the lights and
lightly kicked a beer can that lay upon the edge
of the road, looking innocent enough. He had been
spared the majority of the impact of the crash
and had no injuries but a cut along the side of
his face.
"That's….that's…all that I can
remember," he sobbed to the police officer
with the notebook.
Over the officer's shoulder, he could see the
other officers zip Amanda's body up in a dark
bodybag and in his right pocket he fingered his
secret-the velvet covered case that held the
engagement ring he had bought and planned to give
to Amanda.
|