The Good and the Bad Conflicts in My Life {On Hold}

Chapter 35

RECAP:

Once we bring the gifts upstairs, we place them on my bed. Then we sit down next to them. I was ready to rip open each of them. As I grab a box to open, I hear a knock on my door.

“Hello, who is it?” I ask.

“Gabby,” one voice says.

“And Jeff,” another voice says.

“Oh, come on in,” I tell them, “but close the door once you two are in.”

“Okay,” Gabby says, as she and Jeff come into my room. She shuts the door and they join us on the bed. “You ready to open the first one?” she asks.

“Yes,” I say, “well, here I go.”

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I open the first gift and I find a few band shirts. Then I find a card that had hand writing that I could tell was my Aunt Chelsea’s, who is my dad’s sister.

“Okay, one down and three to go,” I announce.

Next, I grab a box that is next to Jeremy. I open that one and I find some collectibles that was sent to me. I find the card and open to see that it is from my Uncle Louie and his family, who is my mom’s brother. Whew, good so far, I thought. Then I grab another box that is closer to me this time. It's a little heavier than the first two. So, I open it up and find a big scrapbook. I look for a card, but I couldn’t find one. I wonder who it's from. The only person that I could think of that makes scrapbooks in the family is my mom’s other sister, my Aunt Suzie.

“Open it,” Jeremy tells me, “there may be something in there that will tell you who it is from.”

“Okay,” I say, as I nod my head. I open the scrapbook and what do you know? I find a little note that said, ‘Happy Birthday’ to me and I was right, it was from my Aunt Suzie. “Wow, I wonder how long she took to make this?” I ask myself out loud.

Then I look at the last unopened box that is practically in the middle of us.

“Well, are you going to open it?” Jeff asks me, being eager.

“Yeah, hold on,” I tell him, “I’m just taking a moment before I open it.”

Then I grab the box and open it. I finally get it open and I don’t see anything right away until I move some of the packing peanuts into another box, and I uncover something strange. There was a frame that was faced downward towards the bottom of the box.

“Well, what is it?” Gabby asks, being eager to know what it is. I flip it around to the other side and see a picture of me and Jeremy when we went to dinner that one night. What the hell? I thought, who the hell would send this to me? And who the hell would be able to get this picture? “Well?” Gabby asks.

 “Uh, you might want to look at it,” I tell her, as I give the picture and frame to her.

“Oh my, god,” she says, “who took this picture of you two?”

“I don’t know,” I tell her, as I shrug my shoulders.

Yeah, who would send me something like that? I thought, oh no, don’t tell me my wish isn’t going to come true. I look in the box and I find a card that had my name on it, but it wasn’t hand writing I could recognize right away. I open the card anyways and look inside it. I read the note and it says: Dear Ashley, How is your sixteenth birthday going so far? I hope it’s going swell, because I bet that boyfriend of yours would be fucking you soon, well at least once the party is over. Oh, don’t worry; I won’t get into that any further. All I know is that I will be watching you so, once you do have sex with your boyfriend, I’ll be there. Oh, I hope you like the picture I took of you when you went on that date of yours. You two were quite good-looking, especially you. That’s right, I got information about you before I even sent Gabby that text that night. Wow, that was a long time ago. Time flies when you’re having fun. Sweet dreams. See ya later when you least expect it. Love, Z.  Then I look below the signature and read: P.S. Don’t forget to look inside the envelope. There is something else for you. Anyways, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my sweet Ashley.