• (Twilight Serenade By: Jason Myles/Song listened to while writing)
    Dear diary,
    It’s been one of those long and frustrating days, working at the café, coming home to an annoying sixteen year old brother, and to be fairly honest I should be living on my own by now I’m nineteen. And on top of that the library keeps sending me fee’s for book’s I have never read, im honestly not much of a reader. Well I guess this is goodbye, this is the last page in this diary mom gave me last year for my birthday. She’s always worrying about me and how stressed I can get. I love you and thanks for holding my deepest darkest secrets inside---Leola


    It took me all day to get everything I needed done before I went home I stopped by the café to make sure Harry was doing everything he should be, he tended to get off task when the late night crowd came in. After pulling in I noticed that the jukebox wasn’t playing as it usually was. The bell over the door rang and Harry turned around from one of the tables he was cleaning.
    “Hey Harry, how’s business?” I laughed a little, it was so funny to see him race to get his job done when I came in. I had a small suspicion that he liked me from the way he acted all the time. And that was okay because I did too.
    “It’s going good thanks, what are you doing here so late?” What a cutie always has a giant smile on his face, this made me laugh.
    “Busy night as usual” I was standing at a small table in one corner of the room hoping he’d come sit by me and he got the hint.
    “Li you work to hard you know that?” he laughed a brilliant sigh, “here I’ll go get us something to drink. While he stepped into the kitchen I checked my hair and make-up in my pocket mirror. When he returned he had two tall glasses of what looked like strawberry lemonade, he new it was my favorite.
    “Thanks, why do you think no one’s come in yet?” I asked him
    “Well I guess there all conked out it is like two in the morning.” I couldn’t help but stare at Harry he was just one of those guys who really caught your attention unintentionally. He had sleek black hair, and molasses colored eyes, he was at least three feet taller than me most people were I’m a small girl of only five foot, with brown hair and green eyes; but his Asian heritage got the best of him and his looks. He laughed and looked away embarrassed he must have noticed I was staring.
    “You okay Li? You look really tired.” I really felt as tired as I must have looked “you know I am, and it’s a good thing I’m on my way home” I glanced around the room and it was really clean so clean I was surprised I didn’t slip on the floor when I came in, I hurt my self on occasion slipping on things that weren’t there. I got up to turn on some tunes, the only choices I had to choose from were Dave Mathews band and some heavy metal groups. The café owner is an ex-biker, and he still rides on occasion. So I put on Crash by Dave Matthews a good one to dance too with a partner. “Hey you get over here” I called to him as flirtatious as possible.
    “Me, dance? Umm I don’t know” He at least got out of his chair
    “Come on don’t be shy, don’t Asian’s have like the perfect feet of something?”
    “I think were just good with computers and break dancing” he laughed as he drew nearer I caught hold of his hand and pulled him closer he stared out into space shyly.
    “Come on were friends right?” I looked at him at the same time he looked up at me, and that’s when I knew he was someone I wanted to spend my lonely nights with, someone to help me cope with the impossible.
    “Harry” and he knew exactly how I felt; he held the small of my back as he dipped me and leaned in to kiss me for the first time. Harry drove me home and said goodbye and I could have sworn I heard him laughing as I entered the house. I stumbled in the dark until I found the kitchen light switch. There on the counter was a note saying dinner’s in the fridge and get your laundry done before six. I just turned the light off and crashed on the couch.
    It had been six weeks of pure bliss nothing made me angry; nothing frustrated me Harry was my serenity. Everyday he would come pick me up for work and on the weekends we looked at schools and went to lunch it was the perfect escape. The last day I saw him was last Monday, we were on the same shift and we were going to go to an Art museum in Salem after work. But he had gotten a phone call from his roommate saying there was an emergency at home and since then he hasn’t been calling or showing up for work. It’s been a gloomy Thursday morning no work and no one is home they all went to see family in Idaho I couldn’t leave my job and I didn’t want to leave not knowing where he was. Yesterday I drove by his house and the whole place looked abandoned the grass had grown since the last time I’d seen him and the windows yellow curtains were turning orange. I didn’t know what I was going to do sitting around and waiting, so I decided that today I would pack up my belongings and head off to Washington where his parents had lived to see if I could find him. I couldn’t live my life heart broken and confused, wondering where he was all the time scared me and no one knew anything about it.
    The radio woke me up early with a loud buzz, and trust me I did not like alarm clocks. I hurried through the bathroom taking a shower and packing and dressing all at the same time. I needed to get moving