Chapter 1: RIVER

“Today is the day!” I shout from the top of the stairs at 7 am on a Saturday morning. I’ve never been so excited about anything in my life. Today everything will change.

“River, you still have 5 hours before you have to be there. Will you relax.” My father hollers from the kitchen.

“Dad, you wouldn’t understand, it’s not everyday your only daughter graduates from high school.” I state while walking downstairs. I hear my mom chuckle and I know she is as excited about today as I am.

“River, have you packed your suitcases? You have to head to the airport as soon as the ceremony is over. I cannot believe you picked a 2 pm flight” my mom sighs from her seat on the kitchen island.

“Mom, I had them packed 3 weeks ago.” I giggle with excitement. I’m heading to travel around Europe for the summer before school starts in the fall. I got my acceptance letter from Princeton, and freshman move in day is September 17.

“I know River, I’m just worried you’ll forget something that you really need. Like your charger, or your passport.” My mom says.

“Don’t worry mom, I’ve got everything I need.” I say with a smile.

“Come eat, your food is getting cold. And you still need to start getting ready. God knows it’ll take you the whole 5 hours.” My dad says while reading the paper with a smile on his face. I slide over to him and kiss his cheek, while filling my cup with coffee. I grab a slice of toast and finish my coffee, I run back upstairs and shower. I shave my legs and think about what I’m going to do in Europe for 3 months. I’m so excited about this new chapter in my life.

I start singing at the top of my lungs. This is the best day ever. I’ve never been so excited about anything. This 11 hour flight on the other hand, I’m not so excited for. It’s great that I got good seats though. I worked at the local movie theater everyday to save money for this trip. And my parents helped a lot also. They want me to experience all the great things life has to offer. I just wish my older brother was here to see me go off into the world. My older brother Gage is in the Marines. He only gets time off for the holidays. I know he wished he could be here.

Gage is 3 years older than me. He went into the marines because he couldn’t figure out what life purpose he wanted. But he’s been in the service for almost 4 years now and he absolutely loves it. I hope he finds everything he is searching for. And maybe a girlfriend too. He hasn’t dated anyone since Rebecca broke his heart his sophomore year of high school. I really didn’t like her anyway. They were really good together in the beginning, they were inseparable and Gage was always smiling. They went on cute dates and they supported each other. Everything seemed to change after month 7, she became cold, and distant towards him. He wasn’t smiling anymore and he was always angry or yelling about anything and everything. Then one night after a party he came home drunk, mom and dad were sleeping so I helped him sneak in. He was crying and going on and on about something but I couldn’t understand what he was saying because he was a mess.

I got him in the shower, and made him a grilled cheese and gave him a literal gallon of water. He had stopped crying by then but he had a distant look in his eyes. He looked empty. So I knew I needed to help him as soon as I could get him to talk about what was going on, by this point I’m worried something terrible happened. And by his standards I guess something terrible did happen. He told me that he saw Rebecca and his best friend James having sex at the party they were all at. He said he lost it and started destroying things, and yelling. Rebecca started screaming at him, telling him that she didn’t want to be with him anymore, that she never wanted to be with him. She only wanted to be with him to be with James. And the whole time this was going on, James was just laying in the bed with a smug smile. Gage lost his best friend that night. He was never really the same after that and he hasn’t dated anyone since. I hope one day he realizes that it was never his fault, that all of the blame is on Rebecca and James and that he does deserve to be happy. He can definitely do much better than Rebecca. I learned that a week after the incident, Rebecca found James with another girl and she only found them because she found out that he had given her and STD. She literally shouted it as the other girl was laying naked in his bed, I guess karma got them both.

Gage enlisted his senior year, and that was the first time in a very long time that he had happiness in his eyes again. So I supported his dream because he did what he needed to do to find his happiness again. I miss him every day, and I’m constantly worried about him getting hurt. He calls me every chance he gets and that eases the worry a bit. I’m very, very proud of my big brother. I hope he’s home by the time I get back. I want him to see me off to college at the very least.

Don’t get me wrong mom and dad are me and my brothers biggest supporters. But they never believed in Gage’s dream to be in the military like they believed in my dream to be a lawyer. They want us to do safe and easy jobs. But that’s never really been our forté. We love to do things to irritate our parents, what children don’t? I just wish they could at least show a little pride for what Gage is doing. I takes a lot of courage, strength and guts to go to a place where all you know are the people you came there with, and put your life on the line for everyone around you. They make it seem like what he’s doing isn’t honorable, but he’s the bravest person I know, I want to be more like him.