The Lost Ticket

At my eighteenth birthday celebration, my cousin gave me a half-scratched lottery ticket as a coming-of-age gift. When he realized I'd won twenty dollars, he suddenly demanded to buy the ticket from me for two hundred thousand. Something about it felt wrong, and I refused. Then he snapped. Like a man gone mad, he cursed me, wishing me dead, and in front of all the guests, shoved me off the balcony. Dozens of people watched, including my own parents, silently condoning him—joining in, shouting that I deserved to die. And then I opened my eyes… and I was back half an hour earlier. My cousin sneered, tossing the lottery ticket toward me, speaking the same familiar words.

In our five years of marriage, my husband, Derrick Wickham, bails on me 99 times for his childhood sweetheart, Jessica Harson. This time, after he stands me up, I find two plane tickets to Frantines in his office. "I was planning to surprise you for our anniversary. Since you've already seen them, we'll just meet at the airport," he says icily. I eagerly pack and get myself ready, arriving early at the airport. I wait from the wee hours of dawn till the late hours of night, but Derrick fails to show up. Then, I see a post on Jessica's social media. "It's my birthday today. Though he doesn't have the time to go on a trip with me to Frantines, I forgive him because he brought me to the amusement park instead!" In the past, I'd have called him, crying and demanding answers. But this time, I'm truly done.

Before entering the SAT venue, I suddenly realize that I can't find my admission ticket at all. That's when my rival, Sara Foster, texts me. "You're still dreaming of taking the exam, huh? Why don't you take a good look at what this is?" I see ripped pieces of my admission ticket floating on the water in the photo. I start trembling violently at the sight. Just as I'm about to ask Sara why she ruined my ticket, I see another text message from my childhood friend, Josh Hooper. "Remember when I told you to get into Calder College just so you could keep me company there? It's all a prank. I've given up on my guaranteed admission spot so that I can attend Westbrook University with Sara. "I was also the one who took your admission ticket away. I was worried that you might ruin my relationship with Sara by badgering us, so I've decided to make you repeat your senior year." That's when the exam bell rings. I can no longer hold myself together, so I slump to the ground in a fit of despair. The moment my vision blurs with tears, a live comment appears out of nowhere. "What are you crying for? Remember the guaranteed admission slot that Josh has given up on? According to the rules, it has been passed to the one ranked second, which is you!"

A romantic/sad story of a young woman that has big dreams, believes she can do anything until she met him. When she met him, she fell in love way to hard over heels until she found out that he had a family after so long of them being together. She had walked away from him, being "the one that got away" and left town to find a better place until she found out that she was pregnant with his child. She gave herself two choices; abortion or keep it and either way she tells him or not. Will it kill her from the inside or will she live her life how she wanted with the kid or not. The ending is an twist sad/happy story of the little girl after years of finding out who her father was, does the same thing he did with her mother. Her mother became ill and passes away, making her feel she's all alone until she finds a young man to help her figure things out, only to make her worse about herself until an old friend of her brother's pass, finds her falls in love with her and helps her get better for herself and what her mother would want her to be.

On the Memorial Day weekend, Mason Hayes, the student my wife, Abigail Sullivan, had been sponsoring, insisted on riding with me back to his hometown. My car was small, the drive was long, and the trunk was already packed. There was no way to fit another adult, so I turned him down as politely as I could. That night, Abigail came home and stayed quiet for a long time before finally saying, "He ended up walking along the highway. His feet were torn up." I frowned, trying to make sense of it. "It's a holiday weekend. There are Ubers everywhere. He could've booked one in minutes." She nodded softly, the same gentle expression she always wore, and poured me a glass of water. I drank it. The next thing I knew, everything went black. When I opened my eyes again, I was standing under a brutal midday sun on an empty stretch of highway. Abigail leaned into Mason's shoulder, holding her phone up as she livestreamed. There was a faint smile on her lips, but there was nothing warm about it. "You said getting around was easy, right? Why don't you try walking home yourself?" The livestream was packed. The chat flooded with messages, people placing bets on how far I would make it. I looked straight into the camera, ran my tongue over my cracked lips, and said, "Done enjoying the show? Now come and pick me up."

I had a habit. Whenever I had a meal, watched a movie, or took a cab ride, I would always save an empty seat next to me. I believed that Theo Anderson would suddenly appear in the city I lived in to surprise me. However, throughout our long-distance relationship for the past three years, he never visited me. Not even once. I hence prepared our wedding by myself, and I fell sick because of that. My hands were trembling when I sent him a text message. [I’m having a high fever, and I don’t have any medicine at home.] Half an hour later, he responded. [So? What do you want me to do? Do you want me to grow wings and fly over to your place with medicine? I’m still reviewing a proposal. You should just contact the delivery services.] I could not even lift my fingers because of the fever, so I slowly drifted into unconsciousness. When I woke up, I saw my best friend, Eleanor Reid, with teary eyes. She passed a glass of water and a pill to me. “You’re too patient with him, that’s why he’s bullying you. If it were me, I would’ve already thrown a fit.” Two weeks later, Eleanor also had a high fever, so I immediately wanted to rush over to take care of her. However, she posted a photo online, and there was a man’s hand holding a spoon in the photo. [I’m sick, but thankfully there is a knight in shining armor who flew over 500 miles to take care of me.] I recognized that hand. Theo was wearing a watch that I had bought him after saving up for six months. I suddenly understood that it was not because he was busy that he could not be by my side. It was because he did not want to come over. Since that was the case, I no longer had the need to save an empty seat for him anymore.