(wrote this for the same class as the one below. don't worry, this ones slightly happier ;] ) "I'm going to miss you so much." "I know, I'm going to miss you too, but it's only for a week, and you're going to have the time of your life; I mean, it's not every day you get to go to Italy!" "Yeah, I guess so..." 16-year-old Vincent Ramone hugged his girlfriend Micah reassuringly. "Don't worry, it'll be an amazing trip, and it'll be over so quickly you'll feel like the end came before the beginning, and you'll hate it." He kissed her lightly. "I'll see you as soon as you get back, I love you, and I miss you already." She smiled "I love you too; I'll try to call you if my cell phone works over there." He laughed "eat lots of real Italian pizza for me!" Micah hugged him one last time. She held him as long as she could, and looked longingly back at him as she walked down the terminal. When she could no longer see him, she turned away with a sigh and boarded the plane with a slight sense of apprehension of her upcoming flight, flight 626, to London, England. When arriving, she would have a two and a half hour layover in the London airport before boarding another plane destined for Venice, Italy. However, the family's happy vacation was simply not meant to be. just before the plane reached the outskirts of England, something went terribly wrong. The plane engines sputtered and coughed violently before dying, dropping the plane into the icy waters of the English Channel with a violent splash. Just before the plane became submerged by water, one of its passengers, the one sitting in seat 7b, with her eyes squeezed shut and her hands clutching her seat, whispered a tremulous good-bye to the boy she loved, praying he somehow might hear her even though he was over a thousand miles away. One Year Later After being confined in a hospital in Windsor, England for just a few weeks shy of a full year, Micah Grey was finally released. She was now 17 and, after surviving massive head trauma which had put her into a coma for several months, as well as several broken bones, she was walking out of the hospital that had been home to her for so long with her head held high. She was a survivor, a true success story, which is something every hospital needs a few of. She was miraculously the only known survivor of the horrific plane crash that had left over a thousand people dead. The sailors who had discovered her were dumbfounded; they had no idea how she had been able to survive it. At any rate, they hadn't expected her to pull through it, and if she did manage to overcome that slim chance, they would never have expected her to fully recover. But now, she was walking, talking, and laughing with them at their odd sailor jokes, as she spent her last hours in England with the men to whom she owed her life. With lots of laughter, a few tears, and promises to keep in touch, she said her final good-byes to them, and left England to begin her long trip back to her home in America. She traveled alone, being that her parents had died in the plane crash that fateful night, and she didn't have any other realitives. Micah liked it that way though; she wasn't one to have another person constantly looking over her shoulder or breathing down her neck. She arrived in Orlando, Florida several days later. Afraid to fly, she had boarded a passenger ship, feeling that if anything went wrong again, she'd at least be closer to the water than the last time. The trip seemed to take several years to Micah, who still had a three hour drive to look forward to before finally reaching her hometown; West Palm Beach. She couldn't wait to see Vince again; it had been so long. And even longer for him, she imagined, the poor kid. She had tried to call him the instant she had awakened in the hospital, but his number had changed, somehow. She sighed heavily and said to herself. "He must be so hurt; he probably thinks that I just didn't care to contact him." Then, she corrected herself. "No, he would never think like that." After several hours of driving, she finally arrived in West Palm. Her eyes snapped back and forth as she took in all the sites of the city; some old, comfortable, and familiar, some new, and terribly exciting, at least for Micah. Not even bothering to go to her own home, she drove straight to Vince's house. When she arrived, she hopped out excitedly, scampered up the familiar sidewalk, and rang the doorbell, her heart beating wildly. She wondered distractedly when they had purchased a new car... A heavyset man with a long, dark beard, beady eyes, and a booming voice answered the door. "CAN I HELP YOU?!" He thundered. "I umm, I-I'm looking for V-Vince." She answered timidly, completely caught off-guard. "WHAT?" "Vince!" She repeated, more clearly this time. "NO, I DO NOT DANCE, BUT WHY DO YOU ASK?" He roared, a confused look sneaking its way across his dark features. "No-" She attempted to steady her shaking voice. "I'm looking for a boy named VINCE..." she shouted the last word. "NO, WE DON'T WANT ANY MINTS!" He bellowed at Micah, looking even more puzzled than before. "PLEASE sir, I-" "What's going on out here? Ron, what are you shouting about?" a woman of about her mid-forties, with long brown hair, a slight figure, and a gentle face asked curiously from behind the towering figure of her husband. "WHAT?" The woman rolled her eyes and pulled the great beast of a man away from the doorway. "Go back inside." she said, pushing him gently in the direction of their living room. She turned to Micah. "Forgive my husband; he really isn't as scary as he must seem. Honestly, he couldn't hurt a fly, but he refuses to acknowledge that his hearing just isn't what it used to be." She smiled kindly. Micah smiled back weakly, regaining some of her composure. "So my dear, what can I do for you?" "I'm looking for a boy named Vince. The last I knew, he lived here." "I'm sorry; we've lived in this house for a little over nine months. But now that I think of it, I believe the family we bought the house from said something about their son Vince or Victor or something along those lines. And if I remember correctly, they mentioned something about a tragedy..." Her heart racing, Micah asked her next carefully. "Do-do you have any idea where they went?" She shook her head gravely. "I'm sorry, I have no idea. I think it was actually something of a secret; they didn't seem to want to tell anyone where they had gone." "Oh...Okay then. Well, thank you anyway." She smiled gently. "I hope you find him sweetie." "Thank you, I hope so too..." Dejected and forlorn, Micah walked away slowly with a lump rising in her throat. She drove for a few minutes before pulling into the driveway of another house; the house of her and Vince's best friend, Josh. She stepped up the path and knocked lightly. She, Josh, and Vince had all grown up together, gone to the same school, worked at the same place, and generally spent as much time as possible together. It was Josh who had convinced Vince to act on his feelings for Micah, and he'd been almost as happy as she was when he'd finally plucked up the courage and asked her. He'd never once worried about becoming a third wheel, or being left out; he knew that Vince and Micah would never let that happen. And sure enough, they hadn't ever left him behind. ...Until Micah and Vince had both left, that is. When the door opened, Josh was standing before her, and Micah, who was somewhere between being extremely distraught over the thought that something had happened to Vince, and happy to finally see someone she knew after being amongst strangers for so long, threw herself into his arms and cried. In truth, she had missed Josh almost as much as she'd missed Vince. "Whoa! Micah? Micah?! Is it really you?!" he asked incredulously. "Yes, yes! It's really me, I promise!" she said, wiping away her tears and grinning. He took her by the hand and led her over to the porch swing he'd had for as long as Micah could remember. It's white paint was faded and peeling, all of its bolts were rusted, and it creaked ominously with each motion. However, it was still as sturdy as ever. Micah sank down onto the familiar bench seat with a sigh, happy to find that there were some things that never changed. Josh sat down next to her, and Micah explained to him what had happened to her and where she had been over the past year as they rocked slowly back and forth. Josh listened intently, grinning like and idiot the entire time. He was as happy to see Micah as she was to see him. When they had reached a lull in the conversation, Micah finally asked her burning question, one that was threatening to consume her from the inside out. "Josh...Where is Vince? Please, just tell me that he's okay...the woman at his house said something about a tragedy...tell me that it wasn't him..." Josh suddenly looked disheartened. "Vince is gone." He said quietly, looking down at his feet. "He's alive, but he's just not here, anymore." He sighed heavily. "The only tragedy that happened was you. Vince, well...We all thought you'd died, Micah. He was glued to his TV for weeks after that accident, searching everywhere for some sign that someone had gotten off that plane, but there was never any word of survivors. So after that, Vince just kind of...gave up. On school, on his friends, on life itself. So his parents moved away, thinking that maybe if they got him away from all of the reminders of you, he'd get better..." She sank to her knees. "Oh my god, my Vince, my poor Vince...What have I done to you?" she asked softly. Josh consoled her, and after a few minutes she managed to compose herself once again. "...Where did he go?" "I don't know, Micah." He whispered, looking wistfully off into the distance. "He stopped talking to me after you erm, 'died', and then he moved away, and hasn't contacted me since then. Personally, I think he's trying to forget everything that happened, and everyone involved." She sighed unhappily. "Josh, I'm so sorry. Because of me, you lost your two best friends within the span of a few months." He hugged her. "Hey, don't worry about it; I'm just glad that you're alive and okay. But what are we going to do now?" She looked up at him, a determined gleam appearing suddenly in her eyes. "I'm going to get him back." After spending a bit more time with Josh catching up, Micah left him, with the promise of returning as soon as she found Vince. She scoured the country for the next few months, looking up every Ramone family she could find. Although there were quite a few of them, Micah never gave up hoping. She drove her little car faithfully to every single Ramone house she could get to. Finally, her travels brought her to Flint, Michigan. There were two Ramone families in this small town. The first one turning up nothing, she headed for the second. Since it was a beautiful summer night, she decided to walk to the house rather than drive, since it wasn't far from where she was staying anyway. The houses on Montague's Way were pitch dark on either side of the street, as far down as could be seen. Their occupants were long since asleep, thus, the only light to be found was under any of the sporadically placed streetlights, which flooded the areas around them with their dim yellow light. Micah wandered slowly down this quiet suburban street. She stopped under one of the streetlights, and squinted down at the tattered and faded piece of paper clutched in her hand. She could just barely make out the neatly scrawled address upon it. She peered up at the nearest house, and walked on; until finally, sensing that she was close, she looked around intently, and her eyes fell upon the house whose numbers matched those written on the paper clenched in her hand. The house towered menacingly over the street. It was big, much bigger than any of the other houses on the street, and it gave off a sense that many secrets and many good stories could be concealed within its walls. It was impossible to tell what color the house was in the blackness of the night, which only added to its mystique. Micah approached the house with a sense of curiosity; her longing to get a closer look was greater than her feelings of apprehension. She walked slowly around the house, taking in every detail she could; the garden hose that was unraveled off to the left, the rosebushes, with their pale pink flowers concealing their thorns lining the front, the lawn gnome peeking out of the rubber boot off to the right side... She wandered slowly around the house to the back. It was basically the same as the front, but with one drastic difference, a difference which set it apart from the rest of the houses on the street, and perhaps even the rest of the houses in the neighborhood. The window on the second floor and to the far left was lit up, its occupant wandering around the room restlessly, wishing, hoping, waiting...for her. Micah knew in her heart that it had to be Vince. After her endless searching, she had finally found him. Her heartbeat racing, she picked up a small handful of pebbles and threw them at the window. However, she didn't realize that the window was open until they went sailing inside. The silhouette of a young man appeared in the window, and Micah retreated back into the darkness. "What the hell are you doing?" he called out to the darkness. "Vince?" "Yeah, who's out there?" "Just, come out here, please." "Who are you? Is that Amy? Look, I told you, its nothing personal, I just don't really want to date anyone right now..." "No, Vince! I'm not Amy! Please, just come out here." "Ugh, fine, whatever." He said, sounding slightly exasperated. He disappeared from the window, and appeared a few minutes later in the backyard. "Who are you? Come out here." Micah stepped out of the darkness. The moonlight washed over her, making her appear almost as though she were glowing. She grinned broadly at Vince. He simply stared at her, dumbstruck, for a few minutes. She wrapped her arms around him tightly around him. "Hey, Vince." "M-Micah...?" A solitary tear rolled down her cheek as she squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could, breathing him in. "It's me, Vince." "But...you...I thought...you died..." His voice was trembling. "No, I didn't, I survived it...I was in a coma, in a hospital in England, but I survived...I tried to call you, the minute I woke up of course, but you were gone..." She clung more tightly to him. "So I came back, and talked to Josh, and he didn't know where you were. I've been searching for you for months..." She could feel the warm tears falling freely down her face, and realized that she didn't care. All she cared about was that she had her Vince back. They stood for ages in Vince's yard, holding on to each other as tightly as they could and whispering softly into each other's ears the language of lovers. "I missed you." He breathed softly to her after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "I missed you too." She said, smiling through her tears. "...Hey, Vince?" "Yeah?" "Who's Amy?" He grinned at her. "She is no one, no one at all." She laughed slightly. "That's what I thought." He put his arm around her waist, and with a grin, led her inside the house. After over a year of waiting, they had finally found each other, and they were never to be seperated again.