Cherry Blossom

Chapter one: Remember

I stood in the middle of the road in the rain feeling the mighty roaring all around me as the wind gusted towards me as I felt short sharp drops hit my smooth pale face. It was a joyous feeling making me laugh as the rain poured down at me. The only thing that was on my mind was of Rebecca's letter that I got in the mail yesterday.

It was a rather cold and miserable day when I got a letter in the mail-box with my name on it. I don't often get mail. When I read the back of it I jumped with joy an ecstatic emotion filling my whole body, it was from Rebecca. I tore it open hastily and started beginning to read it.

Dear Darcy,

How are you doing?
I'm just doing great. I am happily settled in my new home. You should come and see it; there is a vast towering tree near my house you just have to see it for yourself.
There is also this cute cat that I see when I walk to school every day I sit and stroke it on the way home mostly talking to it about what it was like before I left Melbourne and all my friends.
It's almost spring and the cherry blossom trees are blossoming. I love the colors of it, whenever I see it I think of back in our early days at primary school when you first showed me a cherry blossom tree and the magical look of the snowy white blossom with a tinge of pink do you remember?.
School is a bit boring, I can't stand it when the teacher drones on for the whole lesson it just drains the energy right out of my body and I feel like spaghetti. Well I'm now about to head off for a walk down to the river. I hope you can write back as soon as you get this.

Rebecca.

When I had finished the letter I picked up the pen and paper and started to reply.

Dear Rebecca,

I thank you for writing to me I was overwhelmed to hear from you and about what you have been up to.
I'm doing great, I go to Parade College, I'm doing very well in all of my subjects, I anxiously do wish to come and see this vast towering tree of yours. I'm glad you love the colors of cherry blossoms.
I am free this weekend if you would like me to come then if that is ok with you of course. I now will close but before I do I will give you my email address so we can contact each other easily. Darcy7@hotmail.com I am looking forward to your next letter. Your dearest friend Darcy.

I folded the letter in half and put it an envelope and put it on my desk ready for tomorrow when I went to post it. I felt like posting it today but it is Sunday and post office is closed.

When I awoke at 10:30 am startled by my alarm, I rushed out of bed and hurriedly picked a pair of black jeans, a light blue top. I ran down the stars, grabbed my keys and left the house safely behind me. I didn't even think of having breakfast until I had posted the letter. I was so furious that I had set the alarm an hour later than I intended to. If I didn't run now I'd miss the postman, I thought to myself. I ran all the way there just in time to see the postman take out the bag of letters from the letter box onto his motorbike and I ran to him just in time before he left.

"Wait!" I yelled out a little too loud than what I wanted to.
He turned around and I saw his face clearly now. He looked like he hadn't shaved for quite a while his facial expression seemed that he was a little angry that I had stop him from his work.
"What do you want?" He said in a nasty voice.
"I just wanted to post a letter and I see that you're picking them up." I said it a little too soft and wimpy than I would have.
"Well - where is it then?"
"Oh sorry here it is." And I handed him the letter.
"Thank you." I said with a steady voice this time and I was pleased about that.
The postman didn't put the letter in the bag with the rest of the letters I saw him take out, he put it in a smaller pocket on his bike and then took off without another glance back at me.

When I got back home I found that it was lightly raining and I didn't even notice it at all until I was drenched but I didn't care. It was like my whole life stood still at that one moment, I had a whole lifetime and not even a second would go by. I never really got this feeling often but I spouse it's just because I haven't had someone who is such a great friend to talk to and be around, and to get a letter from her it was just so over whelming and I felt touched that she had taken the time to sit down and write about how she is going. I knew that she was happy there. The rain was so refreshingly cold as I stood in the middle of the road with my arms stretched into the sky, I turned round and round laughing out loud and just enjoying the cool rain hitting my face and running down my body all I thought was about Rebecca's letter, imaging how the huge tree would look like and how the cat would look like and if it was friendly.

At that point I also imagined the first time I showed Rebecca a cherry blossom tree and how her face just lit up like a dazzling sun. I never seen someone lit up like that only her. I smiled a huge grin at that memory I all ways did. That was my favorite memory of primary school everything else was pretty much something I don't want to look back on.

I used to get teased on and I always got blamed for doing something I never did at all and that made me so cross with them, if someone had taken someone's pen or pencil case they would blame me or I would be the first person everyone would look at. The worst and my most embarrassing and horrible memory in primary school was when we were at a school camp in grade four and we had gone up to Canberra, we went to Australia's National Science & Technology Center, there was a souvenir shop. A group of us went in with a teacher called Mrs. Dott, I was looking at some fish toys that glowed up and changed to all different types colors when you pressed a button and I really liked it and was fascinated with it and the teacher saw that I was fascinated with it and when I was about to leave the store she grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around and accused me of stealing the fish toy because I hadn't bought it. I told her I didn't but she didn't listen and told me to empty out my pockets in front of everyone even the store owner. when I emptied out my pockets all I had was a ten dollar note, keys, and some rubbish paper and no fish toy that I was accused of stealing, when she had realized that she had made a huge mistake and embarrassed me in front of everyone in the store she just said "put them back in your pocket" then she just walk off without a word of apology to me or the shop owner for wasting his time and making me feel that I did something wrong and left me standing there too embarrassed to even walk so I just looked down at the floor. From then on I really hated her with a passion I didn't like her before but she made me really hate her so much, I will never forget that day when I got accused for doing something I didn't do.

"Darcy Wilson will you come in side at once! Or you'll catch a cold."
"Yes mum" I said a little annoyed that I got interrupted.
I stopped where I was and walked of the road and onto the house.
My mum's name is Natalie and she is the youngest of three kids, my uncle and aunt are awesome people.
"Change into some dry clothes, I don't know why you would stand in the rain and get drenched like that." She said.

"Sorry mum." I lied. She seemed a little pissed off at that Remark.
"You're not sorry so don't say it when you don't mean it." She said.
"Sorry." I said again without thinking.

"Honestly Darcy, how many times do I have to say it, to get it through that thick skull of yours?" she said
I walk up stars to my room and shut the door softly behind me and remember I needed a towel to dry myself, I opened the door and walked back down stars to the bathroom and grabbed an orange towel and headed back to my room and little pissed off that I had to walk up to my room then back down to get a stupid towel and back up the stars and to my room.

When I had dried myself I left the wet towel and cloths on the floor and just headed towards my computer and switched it on, it beep when it started up and slowly came to life. I have had so many viruses on that darn computer it just slowed it down so much its takes forever just to check my emails and search for information on Google.

I logged into hotmail and checked my emails. I had four emails in my inbox three of them were junk mail asking if I wanted to be a member of a chess club and I didn't want to so I deleted them. The last email was from a company asking if I wanted to photograph their upcoming performance. Of course I would its quick money I can get for doing a couple hours of taking photos. I replied saying that I would charge sixty dollar's for the job and if they were happy with that and if they said yes then I would work out the times and where I would have to go to take them.

Once I had finished I hit send and close Firefox and shutdown the computer.

"Darcy can you hang out the washing please?" Natalie said in a calm voice
"Hang on a sec mum I'll be out in a tick." I said. I grabbed my iPod and headphones and hit play and went down stars to take out the laundry.

My house was a white two-story house with a beautifully huge garden where sometimes you could get lost if you didn't know your way around. Sometimes when I want some peace and quiet I go down to the middle of the garden where there is a seat in front of a small lake where birds and ducks and even sometimes if your luck you will see a flock of white elegantly graceful swans fly down and rest on the lake.

I have taken many photos when they do come and I have a superb one by its self its smooth feather wings tucked in looking sad that its swimming by itself like an ugly duckling but it look more magnificently marvelous then the rest, I thought maybe everyone despised him for being more beautiful than the rest of them.

When I was young I used to think the garden was forest of the most splendid plants I had ever seen and I roamed around it playing games that I was a prisoner who just escaped and running for his life, of course I was really running away from mum and she always found me hiding in some bush in the end. My father used to work a lot so I don't often see him during the day but at night he comes home for dinner and then all he wants to do is sit in front of the TV and blob out that's what he says. But on weekends we would play chess together and he always beats me but I still will never give up, one day I'll beat him. I don't really like to boast, but I do think I am a good chess player. I remember somehow I became chess captain for my school, it was held at Melbourne High School, when we got there they told me that I wasn't going to play because we had all years sevens and I was year nine at the time, if I entered they would have to play anyone from year seven to year twelve. When they put the names down no one realized that our school would be playing every year level and when I did find out it was too late to play. All I did was watch our team play and after the round had finished I would tell them where they went wrong and they would tell me how they think they went and where they thought they went wrong even if they won or lost. After the fifth round we had a lunch break, I told them we would have a game of chess where each person gets one turn to move a piece and tell why they did that move. I can tell you a lot of us did get angry if one of us made the wrong move but I told them if you have nothing nice to say then not say anything at all. Our school came second just behind Melbourne High.

I had finished doing the laundry I felt like I really needed to go for a walk or even a run. The music I was listening to was Kanye West, Homecoming I just felt my heartbeat to the beat of the music and it just made me want to take a run. I didn't tell my mum that I was going for a run I just went for a run.

My suburb is Ivanhoe and I live on Saint Elmo st. Ivanhoe is only twenty minutes from the city and my parents told me that it is a great place to have a home because we have several primary schools and high school, and nearby is La Trobe University so dad tells me that we are in a very great position.

I was running up Lantana st since its hill I was a little puffed out. I was rounding the corner when suddenly out of the blue I run straight into a motorbike; I don't know what the hell a motorbike would be doing on the footpath. but when I got up and looked at who I ran into, I was quite surprised to see the postman I had given my letter to yesterday.

"What the hell were you thinking you stupid brat? The postman said, "You should look were you going."
"I'm So Sorry." I put on my acting voice hoping that he would think I'm genuinely sorry which I was not. He run straight into me he should be looking out for people since that is where we walk and run. He should be on the dam road. And I would be dammed if I were so rude to someone like that my mother would kill me.
"Sometimes sorry is just not good enough." He said.

"Well maybe if you weren't such a rude person you would know that in this case sorry is good enough, what do you want me to do give you a box of chocolates and a bunch of flowers and say oh here you go this is for me being such a stupid brat and running into you like that" I thought to myself and chuckled at that thought but I wouldn't say that to some loony like him.

"What's so funny?" He said in a nasty voice
"Oh nothing, nothing, now and what can I do to say I'm sorry?" I said, I didn't want to say that last part about helping this self absorbed man
"You can bugger off that's what, but don't think I will forget about this boy!"
"Well I am sorry even though you don't think so" I said with a firm voice
"Don't back chat me lad" he said still in a nasty voice.

I walked off pissed off that he could be so rude. I decide I felt like having a coffee, I walked down to the main street and I walked into the coffee shop and I could hear to people arguing to each other behind the counter and a very angry costumer whose name I found out later to be Mr. Jones was waiting for his iced coffee when the employee made a huge mess and the hiss boss scowled furiously at his clumsiness.

The man in front of me turned around to me and said something to fast that I could not catch and he waited for a reply
"Pardon sir what did you say?"
"What do you think of this." He turned his neck to one side making sure I would know what he was trying to say. The question took me by surprise. I didn't know what to say I hadn't been here for more than two minutes.

"I'm sorry I'm afraid I have not been here long enough to answer that question."
"Oh I just assumed you were here entire time, sorry how rude of me.
My name is Oliver." He extended his hand out to me and took it cautiously.
"I'm Darcy." I said with a stern voice.
"I haven't seen you around these parts." He said.
"Oh I live around here; I just don't come here too often" I said "What school do you go to?"
"I'm and exchange student, I go to Kew High" he said with a gleam in his eyes.
"Wow! What country do you come from?"
"I'm from Germany." He said.

"How long are you staying in Australia for?" I said. Oliver looks like he really pleased that I'm talking to him, I wonder if people over there even talk to strangers.
"About two years then I go back and do university." He said with a smile, I smiled back.
"Do you want to go grab a coffee somewhere else?" Oliver said.
"Yer sure, I know a place that's just down the road from here" Oliver smiled a cheesy grin this time properly because he didn't expect that I would say yes to him.
We left the shop with the two still arguing at each other I didn't really take any notice to what they were saying anyway. I hear it all the time when mum and dad rant and rave at each other mostly just for small things, I have just learned to ignore it.

While we were walking down to another coffee shop I asked Oliver if that was his original name.
"No it's not I used to be called Adalgar but when I started high school I decided I wanted to be called Oliver" he said with a calm look on his face like he had been asked that question hundreds of times before and knew what to say each time without thinking of what to say.

Oliver looked down at his watch, "Oh crap I have to go I'm so sorry I'm going to be late for my guitar lesson, here is my hotmail." He got a piece of paper from his jacket, "Do you have a pen?" He asked me in a polite tone. "Yer." I reached into my pocket and withdrew a pen. "Here you go" I said "Thank you" Oliver said meaningfully
Oliver then wrote in a very neat writing Oliver_roxs_your_world@hotmail.com, I wish I could write as neatly as he could.

When I got home and just closed the door mum called out to me "Darcy? I need you to come into the lounge room for sec please" whenever mum said it in a polite way means that something happened involving me which meant that I was in trouble. I turned off my iPod and took out the earphones and placed them on the side table in the corridor next to the front door and walked into the lounge room where my mother was sitting down with dad's arm around her. I could see tears trickle down her cheeks and to hide that she was crying she wiped them away quickly. "It will be alright honey." Dad said I could see my wanted to be strong in front of me but she was failing at that. "Sit down Darcy." She said trying to hold back a flow of tears and cries. "What's wrong Mum, Dad?" I look at mum then at dad and back to mum, "Are you alright to say it honey?" She wiped the tears that ran down her face, "Yes I'm alright I can do this." But I knew as soon as she said what she was going to tell me she will break down. "Darcy, y-o-u-r, your grandmother has passed a-w-a-y." Nothing could then stop my mum from crying her heart out.

I was so close to my grandmother. She was one of a kind I loved her so much she taught me so much, she taught me how to cook, how to sew and most of all I really remember was she took the time to teach me how to play cards when I was young time and time again she taught me the rules the tricks and what you would do right from the start of the hand. She was like my bigger sister someone who I looked up to.
I will never forget her. When I heard it come from my mum's lips I at first thought she was joking and even then I still didn't believe it, grandmother Hildy was so full of life she was bouncing, every where she went, she bring her joy with her and if you were near her you couldn't feel sad or down you always felt happy always.

I just can't believe she is really gone. "She can't be dead." I screamed out "NO NO NOO!!! IT CAN'T BE." I didn't know what to do anymore I was just stunned, I could feel I was on the brink of crying but I didn't care I lost someone who was so close to me, so special, so wonderful. Mother wiped her tears and stood up and came over to me "come here baby I know how much she meant to you." I tried fight the tears from flowing down my face but I knew it was going to come but I didn't want to cry in front of my parents I just wanted to be alone. My mother didn't bother wiping her tears anymore I could see my father was hurting in side but tried not to show it to me. mum stood up and stretched out her arm but I pushed her away and cried out " just leave me alone" I ran out of the room and ran up to my room and shut the door as hard as I could trying to keep my anger from hurting someone. I learned on the door and let my defenses down, letting the river flow from me down to the ground. I slid down the door just thinking that grandmother was not dead "SHE'S NOT DEAD." I screamed out as loud as my lungs could take it, "She can't be." I sobbed into my hands.
But who am I kidding she really has gone, gone to a better place at least.

The next week I didn't go to school. All I did was weep and sit in my room looking out through the window and just admiring the birds and nature itself. Watching people hurriedly driving or walking past. That week I learned how much you really miss someone that is not there ever to be seen again or talk to ever again. You don't really know how much you miss them until they're gone.

Mum knocked softly on my door, "Can I come in darling?"
"Yes mum." I said trying to hide that I had been crying but I knew that my red eyes would give me away; she sat on my bed next to me.
"Darcy tomorrow is grandmother's funeral, would you like to make a speech to her so she can hear it up from heaven?" I nearly broke in to tears again but I wanted to be strong for grandma I know she will very proud of me if I write her a fear well speech.
"Alright I will write something for her."
"I'll let you alone then I'll be back to check on you soon ok?" Sometimes I think mum is stronger than she appears even when she is crying. She left the room and shut the door behind her; I could hear her go down the stairs. That night I spent hours upon hours just thinking what I could write that would be, I want to say to her for the last time.