Welcome to Hell, How May I Help You? {Watty Awards 2012}

Oceans separate us

The day I dreaded came. Ben had to leave for almost a whole month. He was visiting his family in another country. I had tried to not ask about his family too much, it seemed like a sensitive subject, and I'd rather not upset anyone. I hated that he had to leave for so long, but I was still a bit upset when he said that he wished he could stay home.

"I wish I could just stay here and be with you, Myra."

"Don't say that! It's your family, and you haven't seen them in a while."

"But I'm going to miss you a lot."

"I'm going to miss you too, but you'd regret staying here. It's your family. Just enjoy your time in a country with an interesting history and culture."

"So what do you want me to get you while I'm there?"

"You don't have to get me anything."

"But I want to. I'll have plenty of money."

"But it's your money, plus, I don't need any more gifts."

"You know that I like getting you gifts."

"You're going to do it anyway," I sighed, "Aren't you?"

"Yeah, so no use in arguing."

"Fine."

He had left and I was lonely. Most of my friends were doing things or away, so I just sat at home and did my summer reading. I had an old teddy bear by my side almost all the time. It was red, and red was Ben's favorite color. It made me feel a bit less lonely. I was still lonely though. So a friend of mine decided to ask me to go to her house. And so I did. We had fun, although I thought about Ben a lot. He texted me and I stayed up all night talking to him. We skype called at 2:30 and kept talking until about 4:30. It was nice to hear his voice, but he had to go. My friend and I ended up going shopping and I bought some clothes.

I really wish my mom hadn't seen the bag.

"Myra! We didn't give you any money!"

"I know mom."

"So they spent their money on you?"

"Well, yeah..."

"How many times do I have to tell you, don't let people spend their money on you!"

"I made that point, mom! They still insisted on it!"

"Just go!"

I was so sick of getting yelled at, but it's what I had to live with. I had told her that Ben bought me a necklace, and she seemed okay with that, probably because he was my boyfriend. She was so mad though, I hoped dearly that she didn't decide to get rid of something of mine, especially the teddy bear. He wanted to buy me another one while he was away, he had already bought me a necklace and chocolate. I read over our old text messages and realized how bad I was sometimes. I said horrible things and it really made me wonder how he managed to forgive me. I had hurt him so much... and he was still so sweet. I regretted all the hurtful things I said, every last one. I imagined how he looked while reading each one of them, and I felt horrible for it. But that was the past, I couldn't change what I did. I could just try and make sure I never did it again. And that's all I hoped for. I had made him worry about me so much, but he still felt the same about me. He knew my story, knew my pain, gave me a shoulder to cry on. He was everything I had hoped for and more. So much more. I had a nightmare that night. I was hoping to talk to him the next day, but he hadn't texted me at all and it was only a few hours before he would normally go to sleep. It saddened me, but he was with his family. Family comes first, that's what I had always said. I only wished more of my friends would be able to talk to me, but most were out of state or at camp. I was alone for the time being. I was sad about being alone, but I did have to finish my summer reading. So I just kept the slowly breaking bear by my side, and went on with my days as usual.