Paper # 1

Hoku Wong
1.25.08
English

Short Story

"This kills me man! I can't believe that after all these years I have to move away!"

"I know man." Said Nate, "that totally sucks.

It was the last day that I would spend in Washington before my big move to Hawaii. We'd been planning it for a while now, but the time had finally come. It snuck up like a snake in the bushes on its un-expecting prey. When my parents had first mentioned it to me, it was exciting. I mean, Hawaii! But now that it was actually time, it was saddening to the point of depression. Neither of us knew what to do with our lives without each other.

So here's the story. Nate and I met at day care way back before kindergarten. He was kind of the odd ball out of everyone in the facility. Nate was very imaginative and was handy with a lot of things, such as lego building and arts & crafts. One day, I saw him building this gargantuan spaceship out of legos, and I decided to meet him.

"Hey there," I said, "what'r you up to?"

"Oh, nothing really," he replied, "I'm just building this gigantic space rocket to fly to mars with."

"Could I help you build it?" I asked.

"Sure!" he said, and we basically became inseparable after that. We did everything together. Games, movies, swings, basically anything you could imagine normal kids doing. And by the time school rolled around, we had become best of friends and we started off kindergarten at Seaview Elementary School, in Edmonds, Washington. Nothing could get in the way, we were basically the most awesome duo you’d ever seen.

Then we started the 1st grade, and our teacher had looped the class. So in other words, Nate and I were together again for the ride. And so on we moved into second grade in the same class, and we weren't split until 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, when we were re-united un 6th grade. Our 12 years together had been a long and bumpy ride with ups and downs, but with the best memories to help us remember.

Before we knew it, the summer leading up to 7th grade and middle school was upon us, and we wanted to make it the best summer that we'd ever have. With the prospect of the actual move coming ever closer, we literally spent every day at each other's house. One day, we'd be at the mall and playing video games then going out to eat, and then sleeping over at my house. And the next day would be running around with a soccer ball and then going back to his house to sleep over. It seemed like an endless summer, we didn’t want it to end.
This went on until we had but a week left.

"I cannot believe it man…" I said, "I have to leave in less than a week!"

"I know dude," Nate said, "but that just means that we have to make the best of the time that we have left. So basically what I'm saying is, what do you want to do?"

I seriously didn’t know what I wanted to do with my last week. All I knew was that I wanted to spend it with my best friend. What did we do, do you ask? Well, we continued wistfully through the next six days before the night before I left, my last day in my old house. We had invited Nate and his family over, for a "last supper," one last get together of our two families. We sat there in the dining room, and enjoyed our last meal together. The two families, the two of us, Nate and I, felt the sensation of happiness, as our final hours together was carved into our memories for years to come. And forever more.