How The Name Came To Be

It Happens

The day had arrived.

There was one catch: Chris didn't know.

That day his missionary training was cancelled last minute , so he had a few extra hours to spare. He remembered he wanted to get rid of his now very outdated phone, so he drove to the Apple Store for the new iPhone, which he had waited endlessly for it to be released.

When he arrived he had to wait for a while until someone came to help him out. They talked for a while about what Chris wanted and he was shocked to know how easy it was to get suckered into a deal that would make you spend more money, even though you walked in for one thing.

At those same moments Chris's parents got a call on their house phone. It was his mother who would pick up.

"Hello? Yes, this is her."

Chris's dad watched his wife as the person on the other side told her their message. As he saw her expression change majorly he became concerned.

"Ok... ok. Yes, right away. We will be there. Thank you, goodbye."

She hung up the phone and stood there for a second before tears begin to fall from her eyes. She turns to her husband.

"It's Julia," she explains. "She's in critical condition. She... she doesn't have long."

They quickly got into the car and began to drive as fast as they could to the hospital.

"Call Christopher," Mr. Thomas told his wife.

She quickly pulled out her cell phone and put in Chris's number.

Unknown to them, Chris had just gotten his new phone.

"Would you like us to transfer the information from your previous phone into your new one?" The employee asked him.

He gave it a quick thought.

"Yes, please. Thank you."

The employee smiled and nodded before taking his two phones to the back room to start the transfer.

Chris waited around for half an hour for it to complete.

When Chris's parents pulled up to the hospital parking lot they became frustrated at him for not answering his phone.

"He probably left it in his car so it wouldn't bother his training," his dad grumbled as his mother began to send angry and urgent texts to Chris's phone.

When that half an hour finished Chris received his new and old phone together, bid goodbye to the employee, thanking them once more, and went out into his car.

He sat there, planning on organizing all his new phone's contents before driving away.

'20 missed calls? 10 unread messages? Man, what could be so urgent... could it be?' He began to fill with slight panic. 'No, no it can't... maybe I should read a few messages...'

He opened his texts and saw that all of them were from his mom. He scrolled to where the messages started before reading them.

Mom: •Chris please pick up
•It's urgent
•Chris pick up
•Chris please
•Chris it's Julia
•She's in critical condition
•We're on our way to the hospital. Please meet us there.
•Chris come on we're already here
•Please get your phone
•You need to be here

Chris shoved his phone into his pocket as quickly as he could and began to drive to the hospital. All the while his panic began to rise even more and he had to keep himself from slamming his foot on the gas pedal.

When he reached the hospital he ran into the building and anxiously pressed the 'up' button on the elevator. When he finally caught one he began to shake in fear as it climbed the levels. He watched the monitor intensely as the numbers of the floors passed by. It felt like forever before Chris reached the floor she would be on.

The doors to the elevator opened and Chris flew out in a rush. He took the necessary directions to get to her room, all the while nurses and doctors yelling at him.

He got to where he needed to be and threw the door open. Panting heavily he took in his surroundings.

The doctor and an accompanying nurse stood at the edge of the bed, looks of remorse on their faces. His mother kneeled on one side of the bed, sobbing as his father held her, his own tears falling.

Chris finally looked at the bed.

There she was, laying against the white sheets. Thin, pale, and gone from the world. The sunlight pooled onto her body.

Cries and the sound of a flat-lining heart rate monitor were the only sounds filling the room.

Chris took one step forward before collapsing onto the floor. Tears began to run down his cheeks. Out of sadness, yes, but also out of anger.

He was so mad at himself for missing all those calls, all those messages. He began to scream in frustration, pulling at his hair and scratching at his forearms.

This wasn't what he wanted. He was supposed to be there, right at her side. He wondered what she was thinking as she was taken into the afterlife.

He looked up at the doctor.

"Did... did sh-she have a-any last words?" Chris asked through his tears.

The doctor looked at the nurse, a bit surprised. No one has ever asked that after a death.

"'Where is my brother?' That's what she said."

Chris turned his attention to his dad, who had answered to his question. He sensed his disappointment at Chris's lack of appearance.

"Oh, Chris!" His mother exclaimed, standing up and walking around the bed to him. She wrapped her arms around him and cried more. Chris failed to raise his arms to embrace her back. He was too busy thinking of all the things he could have done differently in the past several hours.

After the doctor and nurse covered her body, Chris and his parents gathered up what was on Julia's bedside tables to take home. Her books, her cards, her photo albums that she requested to look through before she passed.

Through Chris's upset haze he noticed an open poptart wrapper sitting on one of the tables. There was one strawberry poptart still inside. He took it out and took a bite, for Julia.

He still didn't like the taste.