The Day You Were Gone

It happened so fast. I always loved you and cherished you. We’ve always did so many things together. I was not ready for that day: the day when you left suddenly.

It all started in 4th grade, in the early Spring of 2007 when you were introduced to everyone in my class. I vividly remembered how you looked: a plaid dress of red and green, white knee socks, and shiny black church shoes. I could also remembered how you said your name for the first time:

“Hello everyone! My name is Jubilee Smith, and I want to be everyone’s best friend!”

The cheerfulness in your voice, your bright smile, just…. everything! You shined! Such a bubbly presence is enough to make any student want to meet you, including myself. The class was rather amused by your introduction, but the teacher was anything but amused. I watched as you skip to your sit in the second row, right in front of me.

Charles, my friend who sat on my right-hand side, nudged me and asked, “Are you gonna say something to her? I think we could invite her to the upcoming Fun-A-Thon coming in two weeks!”

“Don’t you think that’s too early to ask someone to go out with?” I said. “We were just introduced to her.”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure if she has any fri-”

Before Charles could finish his sentence, the teacher was glaring at the both of us. This was the sign to shut our mouths and prepare for today’s math lesson.

Soon, lunchtime came. Everyone in the school sat at their usual spots at the lunch table. Jubilee chose to sit with a group of girls two seats from where I was sitting. After I finished eating my peanut butter sandwich and drank down my chocolate milk, I took a quick glance at Jubilee and then looked away. Like, I really would love to talk to her and get to know her, but at the same time, I’m so nervous! I am known to fumble a lot when it comes to being social and meeting new people. However, this is a golden opportunity and there is no way I could ever mess this up!

So I turn to Charles and said, “Charles, I’m ready to make my move!”

Beaming, Charles gives me a nod and I stood up and went to Jubilee’s table. As I was getting closer to her table, Jubilee turns around and sees me. At that moment, I froze, unsure what to say. But surely enough, Jubilee had something to say.

“Hi there! Nice to meet you! You’re that boy who sit behind me! What’s your name?”

Wow! She’s really extroverted. But how can I overcome my introverted self and come up with something nice to talk about?

“Hello in there?” Jubilee said, interrupting my thoughts. I quickly snapped back to focus and said, “Oh, hey, sorry about that! My name is Marko. Nice to meet you.”

As I introduced myself, she noticed my Super Mario Bros. shirt I was wearing and asked “Are you into Super Mario?”

“Yes! It’s my favorite video game!” I exclaimed. “I love many other retro video games, as well as 80s and 90s music and shows.”

“Wow! You’re my type of pal!” Jubilee responded. “I never thought that we have many things in common!”

As I was about to bring up more about myself, the bell rang. It was time for recess. We all head out the playground. On the monkey bars, me and Jubilee kept chatting about our interest. Soon, Charles comes along.

“Hey, what are you too chatting about?” Charles asked.

“Oh, we’re just talking about our favorite Mario games,” I said. Then I turned to Jubilee. “Jubilee, this is Charles, my friend since kindergarten. He also loves video games.”

“Excellent!” Jubilee exclaimed. “Let’s be friends!”

“Also,” I added. “Have you heard of the ‘Fun-A-Thon Carnival that would be coming in about two weeks?”

“Hmm, I’ve heard rumors about it around the school,” Jubilee said.

“Well, it’s a lot of fun! There’s carnival rides, carnival games, sweet & salty foods, and even pony rides!”

“Wow, that sounds like fun! I would love to go with the both of you!” Jubilee said.

Well, what do you know! She immediately accepted our invitation! When the day of the Fun-A-Thon arrived, the three of us had the time of our lives riding on the flying swings, moving through the funhouse, and munching on cotton candy. This was only just the beginning of our fun friendship!

As years pass, we kept meeting with each other through middle school and high school. What was big for me that year was the Jubilee was bullied multiple times and I started to get stronger for her and told those bullies to back off. The bond I had for Jubilee was starting to go from platonic to mutual. I started to feel that we were meant for each other.

Charles also changed too, but not in a good way. He kept skipping class, put off important assignments, and was rather rowdy in the class. There were times I had to distance myself from him because of his shenanigans.

Unlike Charles, me and Jubilee are straight-A, honors students. We both study together, hang out together, and even have video games nights when we were free. With the strong bond we had since elementary school, I knew me and Jubilee were meant for each other and I hoped our future would blossom for the two of us.

However, I was not ready for the one day that would change everything: Prom Night. I was driving to pick up Jubilee as her prom date. I stopped at her house and texted her that I was outside, ready to take her out to prom. However, there was no response. That’s weird. She is usually punctual. She’s never late. I called her. No response. After ten minutes, I called her again. This time, it was a certain stranger. I was not ready to hear what he said:

“Hey, are you calling for this girl here?”

“Yes?” I replied suspiciously. “Her name is Jubilee.”

“Uhh…. I hate to tell you this but, it looked like she was running a quick last-minute errand for someone, and once she turned on the intersection where I was nearby, a car sped from out of nowhere and collided with her hard! Her car looks completely toiled and she’s bleeding all over!”

From those words, I dropped down to the ground. I can’t believe it! We were meant to be together and on our special day, you’re suddenly gone! I cried and screamed so much. How can Jubilee be gone?! How can her life be taken away so suddenly?!

I didn’t go to prom. I was too shocked and crestfallen to go. Instead, I did attend her funeral, which took place three weeks after prom, but a week before graduation. There were not a lot of people from my high school that showed up; only most of her family showed up. After each member spoke about her, I realized that not only she was a ray of sunshine for me, but a ray of sunshine for everyone who she cares about. I never knew she worked in charities and did many volunteer work.

When it was my turn to speak, I spoke about how I met Jubilee at elementary school. I spoke about our similar interest and our time together. It got to the point when I spoke about prom and that was when I broke down. I tried pulling myself together for a few seconds. Finally, I managed to pull myself together and speak my final thoughts about Jubilee: “I loved her so much. We did so much together, but I wish we could do more. So much more.”

Even after I graduated, she is still always on my mind. This pain within me is so great I’m not sure how will I ever let this go. Jubilee, I love you so much! I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you that day. I wished you existed for much more longer. First you were there, and now, you are gone.