"No Brian… I know so. Come on! We'll be late!" she said and pulled him up from the bed.
They arrived at their school a little bit late, but the others didn't mind. Brian and Cassedy were in a musical of 'Grease' at their school, and Brian was one of the leading characters. He had a lot of solo singing and that made him nervous. He loved to sing, and Cassedy was right, he had sung in front of much more people in church, but some how this was different to him. But he trusted Cassedy, if she thought he could make it, he could. He gave his angel necklace a final squeeze, and then went out on the stage.
They sang the final song together, and the audience clapped their hands and cheered. Brian smiled, he loved this. This is what he wanted to do, standing on a stage entertaining hundreds of people, have this proud feeling afterwards when they cheered.
Cassedy came laughing towards him and gave him a big hug.
"See, I told you. You did great and the audience loves you." she almost screamed so he could hear her over all the noise around them.
"Yeah you were right, and I love it!" he laughed.
"Get use to it. I'm sure you'll be doing this many times more in the future."
"I hope so!"
It was Saturday morning, Brian was up in his room playing Nintendo, when he heard someone running up the stairs. Cassedy burst through his bedroom door, crying.
Brian flew up from the floor towards her.
"Cas what's wrong! Tell me!" he said and gave her a friendly hug.
"That bastard!!! He… He… He broke up with me!" she screamed, first out of anger then sadness.
"I'm so sorry Cas, I know how much you loved him…" Brian tried to comfort her.
"Wrong! I still LOVE him!! I don't understand where we did wrong…"
There they sat all morning, Brian holding Cassedy in his arm comforting her.
Then the phone rang.
"Brian" he answered.
"Hi Bri. It's Casey I heard about Cas and Steve, I figured she would be there with you…"
"Yeah she's here, hold on a sec." Brian said to Cassedy's friend.
"Cas? It's Casey… Do you feel like talking?" he asked softly.
Cassedy was quite for a while then smiled through the tears she had left.
"Yeah" she said and took the phone from him.
"I'm here" she said in the phone.
"Hi Cas. I'm so sorry I heard the bad news. But hey Steve's a jerk, he don't know what he's giving up. Forget about him!"
Cassedy smiled. Casey was her best girlfriend and always knew what she needed to hear.
"Yeah I'll have to, and I'll try, but it's not gonna be easy…"
"You know what you need? Come with me and the girls to a party tonight. Please!" Casey pleaded.
"I don't know… I don't feel like partying tonight… and HE might be there…" Cassedy hesitated.
"Come on! We'll be there and help you through it! And you can't let him see how miserable you feel…" and Casey continued trying to convince Cassedy to come with them. And after a while, she succeeded.
"Well ok then Casey! Maybe you're right, maybe that's what I need, a night out with the girls. I'll come with you."
They decided Cassedy should be the one driving tonight, and she'd pick the others up around seven.
"Do you feel better?" Brian asked.
"Yeah I'm going out with the girl tonight to cheer me up."
"So I heard." Brian said.
"Wanna come?" Cassedy offered.
"No I can't. Must be up early tomorrow to church, I promised to help mum with some things."
"Oh… Want me to help you?"
"No, you go out and have fun, you need it" he smiled.
"Ok, just call me if you have a change of heart." Cassedy said walking to the door.
At the door she turned around and came towards Brian, and gave him the biggest hug ever.
"Thanks for being here for me Brian, I love you."
Brian was surprised by the hug, but hugged her back.
"I love you too my angel." he smiled.
Cassedy and her girlfriends Casey, Tasha, Brandee and Jenny were driving to the party and all the girls chatted cheerfully, excited about the party tonight. Casey was right, this was what Cassedy needed, she had almost forgot about Steve.
They arrived at the party and started mingle at once.
They had been there for almost two hours when Cassedy froze. She stared at the door.
Her friends had noticed that Cassedy had stopped dancing.
"Cas, what's wrong?" Jenny asked.
"Do you want some refreshments, Cas?" Brandee tried.
Tasha followed Cassedy's eyes, and ended up at the front door. She nudged Casey in her stomach.
"Look that's the problem."
At the door they saw Steve… with another girl in his arms.
"Cas…" Casey tried to give her a hug, but Cassedy broke lose and ran to her car.
Casey was going to ran after her but the other three girls stopped her and simultaneously said "Let her be, she needs to be alone for a while."
Cassedy sat in the car for a long time, thinking, not knowing what to do. Then she saw Steve and that girl in her head again, and she got so mad and disappointed at the same time, but mostly she was sad and hurt.
She started the engine and started driving to Brian, she wanted him to hold her in his arms comforting her, saying everything would be alright. She started crying even more.
How could Steve do this to her, she thought he loved her, but obviously she was wrong.
She couldn't get the question 'Why?' out from her head, and she relived every moment in her head trying to figure out where they went wrong.
Suddenly she heard a loud sound and snapped back to reality. A bright light was heading right towards her…
She tried to steer aside, but her hands wouldn't move. She tried again, but couldn't, the fear must've frozen her movement. The seconds seemed like minutes, the light was getting closer.
"Brian!!! Help me!!!" she tried to scream, but it only came out like a whisper. He always used to be there for her when she was in trouble and needed help… but not this time.
She felt a sharp pain, but then everything went black, and she felt so peaceful.
Simultaneously Brian was asleep in his bed dreaming the strangest dream he ever had. He heard Cassedy calling his name and saw her face, she was crying. He tried to comfort her, but she wouldn't let him touch her… He tried to speak but couldn't. Cassedy smiled through the tears and opened her mouth… and started singing…
Goodbye to you my trusted friend
We've known each other since we were nine or ten
Together we've climbed hills and trees,
learned of love and ABC's,
skinned our hearts and skinned our knees.
Goodbye my friend it's hard to die
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now the spring is in the air,
pretty girls are everywhere
Think of me and I'll be there
We had joy, we had fun,
we had seasons in the sun.
But the hills that we climbed
weren't just season at a time…
Brian knew that song, it was their favourite song 'Seasons in the sun'. He was confused. Then Cassedy's face started to fade away, till he almost couldn't see her anymore. He was worried and started to move in his sleep…
"Cas!!!" he screamed and sat up.
Brian was scared, could that just have been a dream, it was so real. He couldn't sleep, he just laid there thinking about the dream, trying to figure out what it meant. He promised to call Cassedy as soon as morning came, and ask her what she thought.
Morning came, and Brian must've fell asleep at last, because he woke up by the phone ringing. He walked down the stairs, and heard his mother talking.
"Oh my God… It can't be… Why?… When?… Are you sure?… Oh my God… I'm so sorry… I'll tell him… It's gonna be hard… I hope he can handle it…. Yeah… I can't believe this…"
She hung up and had her face was pale and blank showing no emotions at all.
"Mum? What's wrong?" Brian asked carefully, feeling the tension he knew something bad had happen.
His mum looked up at him from the floor where she was sitting, and tears started falling from her eyes.
"She was like a daughter to me…. the daughter I never had…" she mumbled to herself.
Brian was now terrified, he thought about the dream he had.
"What are you saying mum?!!" tears were forming in his eyes, he knew it had something to do with Cassedy.
"Tell me!!! Mum??!!!" the tears were now streaming out, and he was shaking.
"Oh darlin…" his mum pulled him in for a hug "…it's terrible… Cassedy… Cassedy was in a car accident last night… a drunk driver hit her … she had no chance…"
Brian wasn't listening anymore. His head was empty… He broke away from his mum and ran away. He ran and ran as fast as his legs could carry. He didn't know where he was heading, he just ran. Finally he reach their favourite climbing tree, and he just fell to his knees and cried, screamed, and cried some more. This couldn't be happening!!
"NOOOO!!!! NOT MY ANGEL!!! NOT CAS!!! Not my angel…."
The funeral was a couple of weeks later. Brian hadn't stopped crying since that morning.
It was a beautiful funeral, all her friends and family were there.
Brian stayed by the grave when all the other left.
He held a crimson red rose in his hand, tears were falling from his eyes… He kneeled and opened his mouth, and started singing their song.
Goodbye to you my trusted friend…
She watched him. She was crying, humming along to the song.
"He has a wonderful voice." an old woman told her.
"Yeah, I know. He has the voice of an angel…" she smiled through the tears.
"He really loved you…" the old woman continued.
"…and I really loved him, grandma."
"Goodbye Cas… I'll miss you… I love you… I'll never forget my angel…" he said and dropped the rose in the grave, and walked away.