My Less Than One-Year Crush

CHAPTER ONE

Hawaii ‘03

It was December 31, 2003. I was nine years old and living in a place that some called Paradise. Hawaii back then was like no other place I have ever seen. Mountains stretched from end to end, leaving a distance silhouette to capture the eyes. The terrain is surrounded by luscious green grass and a variety of flowers that it would be hard for me to even pronounce.

       The sea surrounding the island was vast and open. It sparkled during sunny days and roared during the wet days. Hawaii was like no other place, and the locals made it ever so tantalizing with the freedom of walking with no care, as if they were living in the moment every day. I always appreciated this freedom because I would often walk outside wearing shorts and slippers.

       Plus, it felt like I was at one with nature. I was always surrounded by the blooming flowers, the culture of the locals, and the constant spotting of humongous sea turtles resting on the beach. I really did love it here.

       Although Hawaii may have seemed like a small island based on the map, it had many cities and small towns. I lived in a small town called Wahiawa, HI with my parents and siblings. Wahiawa was a place close to North Shore beach, so my family would always visit this beach during the weekends.

       Wahiawa was also filled with a lot of soldiers from the mainland, which is why my dad chose this city. Dad served in the army, so he usually tried to stay connected to that part of his life. However, Wahiawa was an exciting place for me because I felt like I was living off the grid and I had my siblings, which made it even better.

       I had a total of five siblings. Traina Haddock, who was the coolest 19-year-old on the island. Many people liked her personality, because she spoke her mind and was not afraid to do what she wanted. I looked up to her because we were sort of the same age, but with a 10-year difference.

       Next, it was Brisa who was a very clever 11-year-old. People often mistook her for being my twin or younger than me because I was 5’0. She was actually two years older than me, but our birthdays was 5 months apart so it would always appear we were close in age. Next, was me, Jaelyn, which I was the middle child and enjoyed adventures. Lastly, my two younger siblings Katlin and Jayden, who were seven and five-years-old; but known as the “Conspicuous Two.”

        One day, my dad decided to take us four younger children to the Ala Moana Center to buy some movies. The Ala Moana Center was a big mall in the city of Honolulu. It had stores spread out from the outside to the inside. This was a popular place for young people and families to go during the weekends.

       “Hmm, should I buy this one?” Brisa said. She was holding a Disney Mania CD with Jesse McCartney on the cover.

       “Yeah…” I said. I was too busy looking for the Cheetah Girls albums, so I did not care what she was buying.

       “I thought we came to the mall to buy movies.” Dad said. I looked behind me and saw him holding our two younger siblings’ hands. They were both eating bubblegum ice cream.

       Man, I want ice cream too. I thought. No, forget it. the Cheetah Girls are far too important.

       After me and Brisa brought our CDs, we all went up to the stairs to go to a Blockbuster store.

        “This one, no, this one.”

       “How about you each select one,” Dad said. I was interested in comic books at that time, so I grabbed X-Men. Brisa chose Freaky Friday, and the two younger ones selected an animation. My dad picked Underworld and Freddy vs. Jason. 

       "Would that be all?" The cashier said.

       “Yes, that’ll be all.” Dad said. “Unless you want to give us a Free DVD”.

       "You know what,  I’ll give you two for free!"

       "Thanks, and Happy New Years!"

       "Happy New Years to you all as well!"

       I was not surprised that we got the DVDs for free because we frequently visited that Blockbuster and everyone there knew us. They would often talk about how cute we four were and that they wanted to adopt us. They were like our second family, so it was often common for us to get free movies, which I always enjoyed.

       We bought the DVDs and headed to the park. The park was about 40 minutes away from the mall, so Brisa, Katlin, and Jayden fell asleep except for me. One thing I always liked seeing during those drives was the greenery engulfing the landscape and mountains that unfolded at every turn.

       We finally arrived at the park, and I was ready to take on any kid over tag or hanging on to the monkey bars.

       “Attack!” Jayden and Katlin said. They both dashed from the car running while tumbling over the clumps underneath the grass.

       "DON'T FALL!" Dad said. They did not care about getting hurt. Neither did I. Our main goal was to have fun.

       “Let’s find some kids to play tag with.” Brisa said. She ran up to a group of kids huddling around slides. “You want to play tag with us?”

       “We’re playing Shark Tag,” said the girl. “You want to join? We nodded our heads.”

       "YOUR IT!” I said.

       "No, YOUR IT!" The other kid said. We ran circles around the slides and swings. I was the fastest runner among my siblings, so no kid could catch me. But every now and then, I would pretend to run out of breadth so that I could become the tagger.

       6'oclock came, and we could see the silhouette of the sun as it was setting. The air went from warm and humid, to cool and breezy.

       “We have to go. See you later.” We ran to our Dad who was waving his hands for us to come. The day was going perfect, but it would not last for long.

#

       Even though the park was far from the mall, it only took us 17 minutes to make it back home. We had all fallen asleep, but when I heard the engine cut off, my eyes met the sky. The sky was a pretty dark blue. I could see stars slowly appearing, and the mixture of purple and blue made the sky look other worldly.

       I stretched my arms like a cat and saw our apartment. Our apartment looked like it was located on a hill because the charcoal gravel was pushing upwards.

       "Ah," I yawned as I grabbed my CD bag and got out of the car. We walked up the stairs to our apartment, and my dad opened the door.

       On the couch facing the front door was my Mom sitting there with Traina talking. The atmosphere felt serious, so I knew something bad had happened. "What's going on?" Dad said curiously.

       “Traina has something to tell you.” Mom said.

       “Brisa take your siblings to the back room to go watch the movies,” Dad said as he sat on a chair facing the couch. We all went to the back and closed the door slightly so we could hear.

       “What’s going on?” Dad asked.

       “Traina, tell your father what you told me,” Mom said looking down at the floor.

       Traina took a deep breath and blurted out four words I would never forget. “I joined the Navy!”

       My heart dropped as I heard these words. However, a few months ago, Traina told us she would join the Navy, but I didn’t think it would be today. Especially, since New Year’s was fifteen minutes away. Brisa finally closed the door and put on Freaky Friday. We all sat there on the bed quietly, as the movie played.

       I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and everything went blurry. Suddenly, my eyes were filled with tears, and I tried to hold it back by staring at the ceiling or focusing on the comedy of the movie. But the tears rolled down my cheek. From that day on, my life changed. I lost my sister, and I would soon lose the only place I loved.