Never give up searching until you find your answer.
I didn’t want to leave my child; I wanted to go with him
too. It was hard to say goodbye, but Richard will be there with him.
I first met Richard in university through the book club. He
fell in love with me when he first saw me; I guess it was love at first sight
for him. As for me, I didn’t know of his existent yet. Every week we would have
a meeting for the book club and as I leave the meeting every time, I would find
a little paper in my jacket pocket about the book I was reading.
I couldn’t figure out who the sender was until it was the
last meeting before Christmas break. Richard came up to me and handed me a
little paper then just ran away. The note said ‘Hi, my name is Richard. I
was the one leaving you the little papers, I hope you didn’t find it annoying.’
The next few days I was determined to find Richard in school
before the winter break. I caught sight of him a few times but every time he
runs the other way. I will talk to him one way or another.
That morning I went to school and had a craving for coffee,
as I walked closer to the cashier, I noticed that Richard was one of the four
people in line. I thought ‘Gotcha!’
I sneaked closer to him and grabbed his hand and pulled him
aside. The shock written all over him face was priceless and I would be
laughing if not for the anger swelling inside of me. I asked, “Why are you
avoiding me?” He made all these hand gestures that I didn’t understand and then
it clicked, he was unable to speak.
I felt like he didn’t have to be ashamed of his condition,
it’s the personality that counts. While I was thinking that to myself he took
it as a rejection. The sad look on his face and the slouched shoulders made me
want to hug him and that was what I did. This is the second time seeing his
shocked face and I laughed this time.
I told him, “I don’t care about your condition. I only look
at the personality. And I believe we haven’t properly introduce ourselves yet.”
My name is Heather and I already know your name because of the note.
Richard’s parents were ashamed of him, regardless of that,
he still found a way to strive on in life and became a chemical engineer. That
one negative thing in life should not bring you down, but learn to overcome it
and become stronger.
We hanged out with each other and found that we get along
really well. After three months, we started to date each other. Richard is a
year older than me and on the day of his graduation, he proposed to me. He gave
me an engagement ring and said we will marry after I graduate. I was so happy
to hear that!
A few months after I graduated, we got married! We only had
a small get together with the family and that was the way we liked it, not too
extravagant. Of course I wore a wedding dress, only it was at a photo studio.
A year after our wedding took place, I found out that I was
pregnant. I had no idea what was wrong with me for the past few days and when I
went to see a doctor, I finally knew.
I took him out shopping, which he hates. I think all guys
hate shopping, never found one that liked it. I dragged him to the baby
department and said, “Isn’t this cute?” He gave me a questioning look and said, "we don’t have a baby." I thought, ‘Hubby, you are so wrong.’ I took his hands
and placed it on my stomach. He knew
instantly that we were having a kid.
I have never been in so much pain before; these contractions
come like every minute. I may be exaggerating, I honestly don’t know because of
all the pain that I was in. As I heard the first sound of crying, I knew it
was worth it. Our baby Cody was born.
When Cody turned three, we bought a bigger home because Cody
needed his own room and I needed a room for my office. We went to say hi to our
neighbors and found out that their son is two years older than Cody. Our
neighbors are Holly Anderson, Mike Anderson and their son Connor Anderson. Cody
and Connor became the best of friends and us parents got along too.
Richard came into my home office one day and tells me we are
going on a joint-family trip with the Anderson family. This cruise vacation
sounds so relaxing but I can’t go because of work.
I’m in the airport saying my goodbyes to Richard, Cody, Holly,
Mike, and Connor. I said, “Enjoy the nice warm weather there while I suffer in
5 feet of snow!” I kissed Richard and
Cody before seeing them go through the gate. I told myself they will be back in
a week.
After a few days, I was watching the evening news and it
said a cruise ship crashed. Adrenaline filled my body and I raced over to the phone
and called Richard. I reached his voicemail, damn it! I called the cruise
company and had to deal with the gruesome automated message “please press 1 for
English, please press 2 for…” I threw the phone to the floor.
I sat down and tired to calm myself. I looked at the news
again and it said the cruise line number. I remember Richard telling me before he
left that he put information about the cruise on the refrigerator. I raced to
it and the numbers 2031101 matched with the numbers that was on the tv screen.
I broke down and cried for hours. The phone rang at
midnight, Mike was on the phone, and he said Richard is here with him. I am so
relieved, I asked, “How is Cody doing? The poor little guy must be scared out
of his mind.” Mike didn’t say anything, I thought he hung up the phone until he
finally says, “Cody and Connor are missing.”
There were 200 people on that tiny cruise and 10 people
ended up missing. Cody and Connor just happen to be among the 10 people. A
stroke of bad luck is what Cody and Connor experienced.
I cleared all my thoughts, calmed my body down with a few
deep breaths. I need to stay collected; I can’t let Cody see me all worried
when we find him.
I went to the airport to pick up Richard. Once I saw him, I ran into his arms crying. Mike came and was supporting the emotional Holly.
Mike said, “They are doing everything they can to search for the missing 9
people. They found one person because he didn't drift that far.”
That night, the news said there would be a thunderstorm
where the ship crashed and all searching will come to a halt. I stared blankly
at the screen, I kept on chanting inside my head ‘keep calm and stay
collected.’
The search for the missing stopped after two months. They
managed to find one other person who is in a coma right now. I can’t believe
they stopped searching, I will continue on. I believe that Cody is still alive
and well. I will never give up until I find Cody.
1 year later
This whole year I have been flying back and forth to search
for Cody and Connor. I haven’t given up. Mike and Holly did better when she
found out that she was pregnant three months after the crash. Their kid is one
and a half year old right now. Richard has been encouraging me and supporting me financially.
1 year later
Richard became ill and had to get hospitalize. I flew back
and stayed by his side for the last couple of months of his life. His last
words were, “I love you and Cody.”
Richard had saved enough money for me to keep on searching
for at least 10 years! I thought, ‘Thank you Richard, I will defiantly find our
son.’
2 years later
Each year there was a get together on the day the ship
crashed to mourn for the 8 people that are still missing. I have never been to
it because I have been too busy searching.
This year was different, I actually showed up, but not
without an answer. I stood in front of all the families from the tragic crash. I
told them, “I never gave up... and today I will give you an answer.” I took out an
old and worn looking book and showed it to everyone. It turns out to be a pop
up color book.
Just looking at it, I knew Cody made it because the book is
made very uniquely. Richard was the one that tired to teach
Cody the colors with a very similar book. Richard thought learning braille
might be fun so he bought a braille pop up color book to learn with Cody. The book that Cody made
had some braille that was in Richard’s book. I guess Cody learned something
from his father.
Inspecting it carefully I saw the word ‘Cody’ written in a
page, Cody doesn’t know how to write so I assume someone else was with
him. In one of the pages near the end, it had a tiny braille number 6 on it. I
tear up knowing the meaning of this. Cody must have died at age 6.
A few days after we found the book, we found 5 skeletons not
too far off from where we found the book.
I looked up at the sky and hugged the book and said, “I
finally found you Cody.”
This is brilliant. :) I love the way you build up and build up until we're left with a certain catharsis at the end.
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