Requited Love

Ch.1 Childhood Friends

It was the cloudless spring day, grass swaying in the wind, birds singing melodically throughout the breezy morning, and the beautiful sunrise that fooled me, for this day was the day that my childhood best friend would leave me.
"Em, Em! ...Emilia?
My 12 year old self spent the whole day looking around for my dearest friend. I never found her.
We would always meet up at this park on Saturdays when the school week had finally come to an end. There was a little bench in a small clearing just past the trail head that we would go to. Even when we were sick we would meet up here and stay here for hours. Most of the time she did the talking, I wasn't the most social person. Sometimes though we wouldn't talk at all, we would just sit there and enjoy each other's presence.
I remember the first time we met, we were in 4th grade, she had just transferred to my school. I was sitting in the back of the class while a group of kids were introducing her.
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"That's Janice, she doesn't talk much but she does really well with school"
"Honestly she freaks me out. She's like a monster, she just glared at people and she always gets perfect grades. She's actually supposed to be in fifth grade but her parents didn't want to move her. She doesn't have any friends. She always"
"Getting good grades and not talking much doesn't make someone a monster or whatever. You shouldn't say those things she's literally 10 feet away from us" she interjected.
"Fine, but like if you hang out with her your automatically marked as a nerd"
"How would you know, you just said no one hangs out with her"
"Whatever I'm just being nice and warning you"
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From that day on she would sit next to me in class and hang around with me during lunch and recess. I didn't really like her at first just because she wouldn't go away. I would always glare at her earning a soft smile back. Sooner or later I started answering a few of the many questions she threw at me. I got to know her better and we started hanging out outside of school. Of course I was forced to but I started to enjoy the time we spent.

When we were walking on that trail I mentioned, one day, we were trying to catch butterflies, Em saw one and started to chase after it. That's how we found that beautiful clearing.

The day she left I went home completely confused. Did she forget? When I got home though my question were answered, but the answers aren't those you would want to hear...
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Dear Janice,
I would of told you this in person but I had to leave asap. My parents have passed in a major car accident, me and my brother have to be taken to our back up care takers. My grandma and grandpa are in Taiwan  so that probably where we're headed by the time you get this letter. I know this is very sudden, I'm freaking out on the inside but I need to make sure me and my brother get to Taiwan safely. I'm really sorry I have to do this. I know your birthday is tomorrow so I did get you a gift. It should be in the envelope this came in. Happy 13th birthday! I can't come back until I'm old enough to take care of myself so it might be a few years before I come back. I promise to write to you, I wont forget. Again I'm sorry, please don't forget me, I'll come back as soon as possible.
Love,
Emilia Ling
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Tears fell from my eyes as I pulled out a bracelet with "Em" engraved in it. I'm guessing She had the one that said "Jan" on it. I cried that whole night. I knew that I couldn't let this hold me back, it hurt me to think about how much she must be hurting, she just lost her parents! I love her so much and all of this is happening to her, she doesn't deserve it. But I have to move forward, she'll come back eventually... right?