Always and Forever

7

Dylan Foster's day had not started on the right footing. First before the clock had hit midnight the previous day, he had found out to his dismay that his best friend Michael and the girl he liked were going out. All this time Michael had been going on about a girl he fancied, he was talking about Faith, his Faith. At first he had tried to be calm and collected about the whole situation but he could not keep up the charade once he saw them flirting in the open beside the truck. He had wanted to leave at once but he did not want to leave his friend all alone so he had waited. At two she had ended her shift, though she looked exhausted, she was still beautiful and at that moment he had wished he could have her in his arms and carry her off to sleep, but that was not the case. She had sat beside Michael and as much as they tried to hide it, they were holding hands. That had been the last straw and he had excused himself immediately.

There was no way he was going to go back to his house and be alone for the night. He knew that he would only end up thinking of her and that would be a tad bit too depressing. He had then gone to Hailey's place and had his way with her and almost immediately he had gone to sleep only to be woken up by the constant ringing of his phone. It was Michael informing him that both he and Faith had caught a cold and thus she was not going to make it to work. He had been okay with that and once Michael had ended the call he had boiled over with anger. They had probably kissed or made out and thus they had caught the cold simultaneously. The thought of Faith being cozy with someone else enraged him and thus he had ended up throwing his phone across the room and balling his hand into a fist before he punched his other palm. Then Hailey had come into the room asking what was wrong. Why couldn't she mind her own business? He already had a lot on his plate and her nagging was not making it easier. It actually escaped his mind that he was at her place and if he desired to be left alone her place was not the ideal place. He was being selfish and unreasonable and did not consider Hailey's feelings at all. He was all about himself.

Dylan Foster wanted to be alone so he had gone to the bathroom and had a cold bath. It always awakened him and made him more alert. He had then called Faith but her nose was so blocked up that she could not articulate her words properly. Dylan Foster ended up giving her a few days leave and told her to come in once she was feeling better. Afterwards he had picked up his things and left Hailey's place without even informing her. He had then gone straight to his place where he had a change of clothes before heading to the restaurant.

Dylan Foster arrived at a half past seven, he did his prep and once he was done he sat down on a wooden chair. How had things gone south so quickly? She had never shown any signs that she was seeing someone except for that day she had reported to work hangover ed. He recalled that day very clearly, when he had met up with Michael he was in such a good mood and he kept on smiling for no apparent reason but when he had asked him why, he had just dismissed the story. It all clicked, everything almost fell in place. That day when Michael had gone AWOL, he had been with her for she had been absent minded the whole day and Michael had been in a foul mood. Something must have happened between them. He should have noticed earlier but he was too deluded with the fact that Faith secretly liked him that was why she was so rude to him. Oh! How wrong he was. He could not get any work done so once again he left the restaurant in Adam's control and stepped out. After all it was a slow day and Adam was going to manage.

Leonard Farrad could not believe that this was happening, it had to be a dream. Someone was playing a sick, sick joke on him. It was not true, it couldn't be. She was dead, there were no survivors and the most devastating thing was that there was no body. How was he supposed to believe that the woman he had dedicated his whole life to was dead and that he could not even say goodbye or lay her remains to rest? It was not true, maybe he was just having a bad dream. It certainly was not true. Rosalinda had left for the Bahamas for a business trip barely a few hours before. He had seen her off in the early hours of the morning. But now all of a sudden, the police had called him and informed him that the plane had crashed due to a mechanical failure on the vast desert some ninety miles from where he was now. Nothing was left of the plane except some few scrap metals but every passenger had died on the spot and not a single body was left. They had been burnt to oblivion, to put it simply they were all cremated. How was he supposed to break the news to his son? This was beyond devastating, it was a tragedy he had not anticipated all due to a mechanical failure. He had had the plane checked out, whomever had made that mistake was going to pay. He had lost his wife, the woman he had loved for thirty five years was no more. He dropped the phone to the ground and dropped to his knees, and then he buried his face in his hands and wailed. He had lost her forever, she was gone and in her place was a void so big in his heart that he knew he could never fill.