I Love You

"So Terra, what are you gonna bring?" My cousin Michael and I were talking on the phone. I was leaving the next day to go to his house in North Dakota.
"Hmmmm.... should I bring my iPod?" I asked.
"Yes! I'm dying to hear some new songs!!"
"OK and I'll bring my clothes. I think that would be helpful, don't you?"
"Definitely. Around here, there's no skinny dippin'. 'Cept for the old folks."
I heard a little shudder in his voice. He talked like a total Hick. We cousins would make fun of him when he would come down here in California. He always wanted to go to restaurants that they don't have in North Dakota.
I loved him. He was a year younger than me, but he outgrew me over the last two summers. He made fun of me because of my height. Well, I was short. In fact, I still am. I'm five feet tall and I have brown eyes and brown hair. That's plain old me.
"OK, Mikey, I'll bring clothes," I said with a laugh. "Oh, hey, I gotta go. my mom's telling me to get to sleep so I can catch the flight in the morning."
"OK, can't wait to see ya!"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow. Bye."
"Bye."
I hung up the phone, zipped up my suitcase, and got into bed.

The next morning I woke up excited. The morning seemed to drag by. By the time we got to the airport, the plane was boarding, so I had to run. I kissed my family good-bye and headed off. I had made it just in time.
In tears I was thinking of how much I'd miss them. I was to stay during Easter vacation.
The trip took three hours. I finally got off the plane and looked for my cousins.
There, in a red T-shirt and jeans, was my cousin Mikey. He was tall and kind of bulky. He didn't act the way he looked though. He was the sweetest guy you could ever meet. There with his three sisters, Anna, Amy, and Katherine, triplets, and his parents, we hugged.
"So?" he asked. "How was the ride?"
"It was okay," I replied. "Next time I just won't watch the T.V."
"Why?" he wanted to know.
"They were playing movies of plane crashes," I laughed shakily. "I swear they were trying to scare me."
Later, when we got to his house, he gave me a tour.
"Here's the bathroom, because you'll need it.... and here's your room!" he exclaimed.
He opened the door and I started unpacking. By the time I was done it was about 5:00 pm.
He poked his head in my room. "Come on, it's time for dinner!"
It was so funny that he loved to eat. Actually, all guys love to eat, I'd learned. But Mikey was a growing boy.
As we were sitting at the table, his sisters all tried to talk to me at once.
"Terra, do you go to the beach everyday?"
"How old are you now? You're like 20, huh?"
"You're so short, did you shrink or did I get taller?"
"Okay girls, that's enough," Uncle Pete said. "Let her talk. So Terra, tell us how your family is doing."
"They're doing good. Dad was promoted at work so now he's the boss under like, the high boss," I said putting a spoonful of peas in my mouth.
"What does he do again?" Mikey asked.
"He's in construction," Uncle Pete replied for me. "Wow. That's a pretty high position. Good for him."
"Yeah," I said smiling.
"And how are your mom and siblings?" asked Aunt Marissa.
"Oh they're doing good too. The girls just got new bikes, so they're excited. And Jonathan has a girlfriend and he's been like wanting to go everywhere with her. We have to hold him down."
"Wow, you're brother sure is busy!" Mikey laughed.
"Yeah, I know," I replied.
That night, we talked for a little more and I went to bed. I was tired from the plane trip.
At about eight in the morning the next day, Mikey poked his head in my room.
"Hey, can I show you the part of our state that's beautiful?" he asked.
"Definitely. I know you've been talking about this for months."
"OK, we can make before breakfast if we hurry."
We told his parents where we were off to and left. Along with his sisters, he led me to a field where miles of grass lay and trees of all kinds surrounded me. At the end of the grassy part was a creek that led to a beautiful waterfall.
The sun was at a point in the sky where it made everything seem so peaceful. The birds were singing their spring song.
"Oh my gosh, It's beautiful!" I gasped.
We got to a part where it was a foresty type place. The creek was surrounded by trees of all kinds.
"OK Terra, I'll show you a special place," he said. "I'll be right back."
"Alright, I'll be waiting," I answered. He walked away with his sisters as they laughed about the "secret" place and soon became hidden by the trees.
I walked along the grassy field. There I saw the creek. I ran to it. There were some muddy parts, but as I passed them, I saw a puddle so deep it looked as if I could swim in it. I wanted to get a closer look, but I fell in. It was so deep.... I couldn't hold my breath any longer.....

I woke up in a dark alley. Street lights were dimmed and trash was everywhere. I heard cars and people talking in the distance.
"Oh, where am I?" I asked myself.
"Terra?"
I turned and saw Mikey laying on the floor beside me.
"Mikey! Oh my gosh! Where are we?" I helped him up. He was holding his head.
"I think I fell on my head."
All of a sudden, I saw trash move. I screamed. It started coming closer to me. Then, it grabbed my wrist.
"Let go of me!" I exclaimed.
"Who are you?" said the voice of a boy.
I looked closer at him. He was about sixteen, a year older than me.
"How did we get here?" I gasped.
"I was about to ask you the same question. I'm Jason."
"Uh, I'm Terra. Where are we?"
"California. Where else?" He finally let go of my wrist.
"Where in California? We were just in North Dakota, and now we're here where I'm supposed to live. Mikey, do you see what's going on?"
"Kinda. My head's throbbing too much to comprehend anything."
I looked at Jason. "This is my cousin Mikey."
I walked over to a lighter area. Jason followed.
"You were in North Dakota?"
"Yes, I was visiting my cousins," I explained.
"Look, all I know is that a whole bunch of people are missing. Who knows what'll happen next?"
"What do you mean, 'a whole bunch of people are missing'?"
"OK....are you alright? I mean, where have you been for the past few months?"
"I told you. I was with my cousins in North Dakota. I fell into a puddle and now I'm here!" I said practically screaming.
"You don't have to scream!" he yelled.
"Guys, stop please," Mikey begged, getting up.
"OK..... Who's missing?" I asked, trying to stay calm.
"You're gonna think I'm bogus, but.... the Christians are missing. I know it sounds weird, but my whole family is missing, and they were Christians. In the Bible it says there is going to be a 'rapture'. It happened." He looked at me to see if I thought he was crazy. Let me tell you, I was speechless.
"What year is it?" I asked, about to faint.
"2011. Why?"
That was that. I fainted.

I woke up and two faces were staring down at me.
"What happened?" I asked feeling the lump on my head.
"You were out for five minutes." Jason said. He got up and started walking towards the wall. "You can go now. Find your family."
"Wait," Mikey said. "If the rapture happened, that means we'd have nowhere to go. Especially me since I live in North Dakota."
"Wait a minute...you guys are Christians?"
"Yeah," I answered. I paused for a second. "How come you're still here?"
"I quit being a Christian a year ago. All my parents wanted was for me to go to church. I liked it at first. Then my friends from school influenced me to take pot. I took it. My parents found out and tried to home school me. I had to get more and ran away. I met people that wanted to take care of me. We were living here and drinking and smoking. I tried to go back home but my parents didn't want me back. So I came back here. About a month later, I heard about all the people missing. I knew about that in the Bible, so I went back to my parents' house. They were gone. And I could have gone with them if I hadn't been so stupid." He kicked the wall.
Mikey looked at me. I knew what he was thinking.
"Jason," I said, feeling sorry for him. "You knew what was wrong and you chose to go that way. Now you're dealing with the consequences."
"But how are you guys still here?"
"I don't know." I started to cry. It wasn't making any sense. How could God do this to us?
"Look, if you have no place to go, you can stay with me."
He looked at me in the eyes. His eyes were so pretty. They were a greenish-gray color. And mine were just plain brown. Looking at him, I noticed his hair was black. And it was a lot longer than I thought. It was a kind of skater haircut.
He was really cute. He was also about a foot taller than me. I felt little compared to him. But wait, I thought. He could still be doing bad stuff. And there I was thinking that he was cute. He could have been a murderer for all I knew.
Mikey could tell what I was thinking. He saw the little click.
"So, what do you say?" Jason smiled. That made me smile.
"Well, I guess you're the only person we know now...." I looked at Mikey. He nodded his head. "Sure."
"Cool."
He walked us over to his "crib", as he called it, which was the other side of the alley, and made a place for us. I was pretty disgusted by the rats and cockroaches.
That whole night I was thinking about what had happened. How would I get home? How did I get here? Why am I here? God, don't You love me? Why are You doing this to me? I finally fell asleep to the sounds of cars and people yelling.

"Hey, wake up!" I heard.
"What?" I got up and saw Jason opening a trash bag. "OK.... what are you doing?" I rubbed my eyes. I always looked horrible in the morning.
"I'm looking for breakfast," he said casually.
"Ew! Gross!!! Why don't you just fry a rat! Yuck!" I was disgusted.
Mikey had just gotten up and was staring at Jason.
"Oh, no I tried that yesterday. That was nasty."
"Ewe!" I shivered. I got out of my "bed" and felt my back pocket. "Hey! I've got money! I've got twenty bucks. Let's go to McDonald's or something."
"OK!" Jason jumped up. Mikey rubbed his eyes and got off his bed.
"Guys, bring something back for me. My head's still hurting." He laid back down.
"OK. What do you want?" I asked, trying to fix my hair.
"Get me a Big Mac combo please."
"Sure." We were about to leave but Jason turned around.
"Hey, be careful. Make sure you don't walk off anywhere by yourself." Mikey nodded his head and closed his eyes. We were finally on our way.
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something," I said, looking down.
"Sure, what?" he replied, leading the way.
"Ummm....Do you still, you know....smoke and drink and do drugs?"
"No. I had to stop. Besides, the guys that were dealing died in front of me. It made me understand that I'll die too."
"That's good. I'm glad." I smiled at him. He smiled back. Oh, how I hoped he liked me. I wondered if he was hoping too.
When we got to McDonald's, Jason ordered a Big Mac Combo. I ordered a McChicken Combo. Meanwhile, we talked.
"So you really fell into a puddle?" he asked laughing.
"Yes! I did," I pretended to be offended.
"OK, fine. So tell me about your life. I told you about mine. I don't know anything about you, besides that you were at Mikey's house and fell into a puddle. And your name."
"Well, OK. I live in Los Angeles. I have a two sisters and a brother. My sisters are twins. Brooke Lynn and Clarissa. They're 12. Then my brother is Jonathan, and he's 13. Then I have my parents and friends. I go to church and I'm in high school. What else do you wanna know?"
"Well, do you have a boyfriend or a best friend?"
"Yes. My best friend's name is Antoinette."
"How about your boyfriend?"
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"Really? I'd think a girl like you would."
"What do you mean, 'a girl like you'?"
"Well, you're pretty and you have a good personality. I just assumed."
"Oh.... thank you," I said blushing. "Oh and um Mikey has triplet sisters and you know, a mom and dad. And a dog Sparky. Just in case you wanted to know that." I felt kinda embarrassed. Yet... comfortable.
The more I spent time with him, the more I liked him. But I had standards. I would only be interested in a guy if he loved the Lord with all his heart, had a fun and outgoing personality, and if he was cute. I had Jason under the last two categories. I mean, I didn't know if he was a good Christian guy.
"So, are you gonna finish those fries?" he asked.
"You are not----- you know what, go ahead. I'm full anyway."
"Are you sure? Because I was just asking."
"Yes, I'm sure. I know how much guys eat. And I don't know how long it's been since you have had a decent meal," I assured him, passing the fries.
"Let me tell you something Brown Eyes, you definitely know how to make a guy happy."