-Kate**I stood in the middle of the kitchen, staring at the phone, anxiously waiting for him to call. Surely he hasn’t forgotten? My mind began to wonder back to the day when Joel and I sat in his music room. I had tried to tell him that I wanted to give our relationship a chance before he whipped me off the piano bench and took me to our waterfall. Suddenly, the phone rang a pulled me out of my revere.
“Hello?” I tried to make my voice sound indifferent.
“Hi, ma’m. I was wondering if you would like to try our terrific new product-”
Click.
Just as I was about to storm upstairs and forget the fact that I was suppose to have a date tonight, there was a knock on the door. Anxiety rose inside of me, as I tried suppress the thought that he actually might be here. I peeped out the window, and sure enough it was him. At the sight of Joel my heart began to pound even louder and my palms started sweating. How nice. A ticking heart and wet hands. I opened the door.
“Hello, Kate.” Joel said, holding up a single pink rose.
“Aw, Joel! Thank you.” I smiled up at him, and saw that his eyes were red. I completely forgot about the sweet gift and only wanted to know what was wrong with him.
“I’m glad you like it,” he said, but his voice faltered.
“What’s wrong?” I grabbed the flower, and pulled him inside.
“Nothing. Where are your parents?”
“In the living room. And don’t tell me ‘nothing’. I know something’s wrong.”
“Not now,” he whispered. At that moment, my parents walked in.
“Hello, Joel. How are you doing?” My dad asked, shaking his hand.
“Great.” Lie. “You?”
“Can’t get any better! I thought you were going to call before you came over?”
“I decided to pick her up early and surprise her.” Joel said, but his voice was dull.
“Wonderful. Well, you kids go have fun. Be back before ten-thirty tonight.”
“Will do, sir.”
As we walked to his car, he began to hum my favorite song. Moonlight Sonata.
I listened closely to his voice, and the way he reached from octave to octave with ease. Why was he so musically gifted? He caught me staring at him, and he gave me a little smile that made me frown. Something was definitely wrong.
“Now will you tell me what’s going on?”
“Not now, Kate. Be thinking about where you want to go to dinner.”
We drove in silence for a few moments, until I realized that we weren’t headed towards town.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“To my uncle’s house. I need to pick something up. Is that alright?”
“Yeah, sure.” I studied his face. Something was not right.
When we pulled into the driveway of his uncle’s house, two pit bulls came running out. Their black and white fur was muddy and their snapping jaws were not friendly.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back.” Joel said, as he yelled at the dogs to stay away from his car.
I watched him go inside, and shut the door behind him. Five minutes went by, and he was still inside.
Another five.
Another five.
Another five.
Tired of waiting, I decided to see what was taking so long. I got out of the car, and walked towards the house, shooing the dogs away from me. I knocked on the door, and no one answered. I figured they were just talking and didn’t hear, so I cracked open the door to see Joel’s lifeless body lying at my feet.
