The Day I Died, Part 1

I love you, Meghan.

-Nate

With those words ringing in his mind, Nathan moved the mouse up to the “send” button of the email. Hovering over the button, Nathan hesitated.
“What the hell? What’s with the hesitation?”
The last time he had hesitated in sending an email to Meghan had been when he had admitted his true feelings to her. It had been the email that had started everything he had with her. He had had good reason to hesitate.
This was… inexplicable. This was the second email he had sent her since she had left for Cuba. It wasn’t anything big; It was simply him updating her on his life at the moment. It was also telling her how he was leaving for Red Deer that day, for Easter.
Nathan shook his head, and clicked the “Send” button. Within seconds, the email had been sent. “Your just a little off today,” he told himself. Regardless, the hesitation stuck with him. Was it a premonition? Had sending that email been a bad idea?

No.

Nathan shut down the various web pages he had up. The email page, Nexopia, Limewire, iTunes… he exited from them all. He then opened up his MSN page. Thinking about it for only a moment, he logged out. MSN was rather pointless, with Meghan gone. She was one of the few reasons he even used the computer. He hated technology.
He then shut down the computer, and sat back in the chair. Kneading his forehead with his knuckles, he pitied himself. He had once again neglected to wear his glasses, and as such, had developed a head ache.
“Oh, Meghan…”
He mentally kicked himself. “Don’t torture yourself, dude.”
Nathan had to laugh at his own lameness. She was only gone for a little over a week. He was making a mountain out of a mole hill.
But… still. That was ten days he could not talk to her. That was ten days he could not see her. Ten days of hell, it was.
And it was only day four. Nathan still had quite a bit to go, before this hell ended. Six more days, he had woken up and told himself. It was a countdown he never forgot. The day before, he had woken up with a hint of a tear in his eye, telling himself “Seven more days.” Tomorrow, he would wake up with a hint of a tear in his eye, telling himself “Five more days.” It was a daily ritual.
And the worse part of it was how guilty about it he felt. Countless people had told him that time away from her would be a good thing. “It will make you realize whether this is a serious relationship, where you both need each other, or if it is just a good time.” Well, that wasn’t a problem for Nathan. The minute he had stepped out of her doorway on Sunday, Nathan had known that he needed her. He had known that the next ten days would be some of his worst. The minute he had left, he had missed her.

Secretly, dark at night, Nathan wondered if she was feeling the same.

“Ah… Sunday…”
Sunday had been the last time he had seen her before she left. It had also been one of there better dates. He had gone to her house for dinner. He had also gotten the whole day with her.
It had been an amazing night. They had playfully fed each other popcorn, while watching “Kinky Boots.” They had tickled each other. They had played guitar with each other. They had held each other.
But the highlight of the night had been at dinner.
Meghan’s mother, while putting dishes away, had said something Nathan had never heard from a girls mother before;
“Nathan, you have to come over more often.”
The statement had stopped Nathan cold, although he didn’t show it. Invitation from the parents, to hang out with there daughter more often? That was the holy grail of a real relationship, in Nathan’s opinion. Even better, Meghan had told him later that she had never said that to a boyfriend of hers before. It had made Nathan feel like a million dollars.
Nathan snapped out of it. The night had been amazing, yes, but she was gone now. Thinking about Sunday hurt, because it reminded him of that grim fact. He attempted to push the memory from his thoughts. He failed.
Sighing, Nathan stood up and stretched. He had a busy night ahead of him. Round Up Band, and then Red Deer right afterwards. At the thought of Round Up Band, Nathan groaned. It was pointless, having a rehearsal in the dead center of spring break. All of the rich kids were out of the country. Seventy five percent of Round Up Band was rich kids. As such, doing the show would be difficult, to say the least.
Sometimes, Nathan wondered why he even bothered still doing the marching band gig. His future clearly didn’t lie in that general musical direction, so why was he dragging it on? Not only that, but the people were infuriating. The seniors were arrogant, push up giving assholes. The juniors were timid, horrible musicians who were rather clueless. Oh, there were exceptions; Josi, for example, was amazing on her sax, and wasn’t arrogant. There were more, but not much.
But these musings were private. Nathan would quietly and obediently go to rehearsal, and silently hate himself for doing so. Yawning, Nathan walked away from the computer and started to walk up the stairs.
At that point, Nathan realized how shaky everything had become. The world seemed to be spinning, and the headache that was now pounding through Nathan’s skull was not helping. He grabbed onto the rail, and stumbled up a few more steps.
And then, darkness took over.
Black seemed to wrap the surroundings in a dark, ebony coat. Nathan fell backwards as the dark oblivion took him
The last thing he remembered was hearing -rather then feeling- a number of thuds, as his head banged down the stairs.
“Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud…”
And then, when his head should have hit the pavement ground, he was gone.