Valentine's Day 2019 Anthology.

TasSSingh

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By TasSSingh

"Always listen to your heart, because even though its on your left side, it's always right."

- Nicholas Sparks

Lucy

Meet Lucy Gray. She was the only daughter of John and Mary Gray, both of whom had high hopes of her becoming a successful heart surgeon. Both Mary and John had very high standards and were incredibly fussy and picky people. It was no surprise that this same fussiness and pickiness filtered its way into Lucy's life.

Lucy stayed in West City. She was adored by her family and friends. After completing a Bachelors Degree in Science, Lucy was at a loss for what she wanted to do. Her parents wanted her to be a surgeon, but Lucy did not feel that this was for her. She had a passion for nature photography. She always thought that her career would be somehow involved in this field. But like most things, her parents did not approve and so Lucy accepted this, ignored her heart and hid her passion deep within.

She was twenty-four years old and this meant that her parents had already started searching for prospective "husband" material. It had seemed that their search was over with the introduction of Cole Douglas, a medical school graduate, into Lucy's life. Her parents, for obvious reasons, loved Cole and it seemed as if they expected Lucy to feel the same.

Had it been five years ago, Lucy would have confided all of this in her best friend and neighbour, Daniel Weston. Lucy fondly remembered him for his sparkling brown eyes and messy brown hair. For some reason, he always carried around a distinctive bright blue surfboard (even though West City was miles away from the beach) and insisted upon bringing it with him wherever he went. When it wasn't with Daniel then it was in a special place of honor on Daniel's front patio.

Daniel always gave Lucy the best advice when it came to her parents. He always supported her, regardless of what her situation was and he always made sure Lucy was happy. He even took Lucy to their Graduation Party when her date (organised by her parents) failed to show up. Daniel was Lucy's confidant. Her best friend. The one person Lucy knew she could trust with anything.

But there was one thing Lucy had not told Daniel. A secret so powerful, Lucy truly believed that it could destroy their entire friendship. Lucy did not only consider Daniel to be her best friend. She also had developed deep and powerful feelings for him. She would go as far as to say that she loved him. But Lucy did not know how Daniel would take the news and so she never told him. Nobody, except for Lucy and her trusty diary knew this secret. She vividly remembered ironically writing her confession down on a Valentines Day. It was ironic because instead of revealing her true feelings for Daniel on the day dedicated to love itself, she chose to hide it. And once again, chose to ignore her heart and shut away her feelings for Daniel.

Then one day, when Lucy got up out of bed and looked over at Daniel's house, she noticed that Daniel's room curtains were shut. It had been almost 10am and if Daniel was not up by that time then something had to have been wrong. When Lucy glanced at the patio, she noticed that the famous blue surfboard was gone and so was Daniel's car.

This was odd because Daniel usually never left without telling Lucy where he was going. She had quickly rushed over to Daniel's house and frantically knocked on his front door. When Anne (Daniel's mother) answered the door, she had puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

Lucy painfully remembered Anne telling her Daniel had decided to leave the city overnight and left them a note saying he would not be coming back. He did not say why and he left all his belongings, including his cellphone behind. The only thing he took with him was a couple changes of clothes and his surfboard.