"Rylie," she said shyly, afraid she would scare him away. "Please tell me I'm not seeing you because this is the last time we're going to meet. Please tell me you are ok. That this is just a dream. That you were not taken from me early. Baby, I can't live without you. I need you more than you know."
Rylie just looked up. As if he hadn't heard a single word she had said. Suddenly a light so bright illuminated Delia's sight. Then when it evaporated into thin air, Rylie was nowhere to be seen. In the grass, by a beautiful white rose unhinged from the rest, lay on the ground by a piece of paper. On it was written this.
"Delia, nothing in life is so bad that it has to keep you from moving on with your life. I want you to know that I am happy. I want you to know that I am safe. And above all else, I want you to know I love you, my precious and beautiful angel." The letter was signed Rylie in his personal cursive writing. Delia sank to the ground and cried.
Rylie's funeral was on a Friday. His body had been found after having been savagely beaten and mutilated. The persecutors were caught and thrown In jail. He had been abducted after all. Delia thanked God she hadn't been a victim as well. But she still missed her beloved. Knew she always would. "I love you Rylie." She grasped hold of that golden heart. Hand in hand with his parents, she went home, and started her life over again.
Three Years Later
Delia attended Georgia University. It was a far cry from the city she grew up in in New York City, but for the most part, everything was working out.
She didn't like the way everything was closed in. Atlanta was so small, and old. Everywhere landmarks dictated how such and such had been around since the early 1900's. I mean, who cares, Delia thought. She was crossing the street to get to her art class. Traffic down here was ridiculous.
She was thinking about the date she went on the day previous. The guy she dated was cute in his own way, but way too serious. She liked his black rimmed glasses and cute blue eyes and long brown hair parted on the side, but for some reason, the connection just wasn't there. She had returned back to the dorms dejected.
Her mom and dad were coming down to see her in a few weeks to see how she was adjusting to college life thus far. It would be her first year in Georgia after having earned her associates degree in business back home. She was now pursuing her bachelors.
Georgia schools were easier than New York. She didn't know why but she actually wasn't struggling like she did her first two years in school.
Delia went into the building and climbed the two storied art building and walked through the doorway of her classroom. They were making pottery on a spinning wheel. They had a guest teacher showing them how to get it done, and Delia was actually looking forward to it. The first time she tried it the week before she didn't get it right. Thankfully, a lot of other students were struggling to, so the teacher was going to restart from the very beginning and start over. Those few students who had done a good job were simply going to have to wait until the rest of the class caught up.
Delia sat down at her station and pulled out her name tag and set it upon her desk, as was required for all students. She grabbed all of the supplies she was going to need and began to read the directions on pottery making, which was the teachers instructions up on the white board. She knew class would be settling down in a few minutes.
Delia was completely immersed in her reading when suddenly, the teacher blew a whistle for the entire class to hush, that they had a new student that needed to be introduced to the class. This new student was actually standing by the student counselor, which had escorted him in. The teacher, student counselor, and the new guy stood infront of everyone waiting.
Delia looked up long enough to see who the culprit was that ruined her concentration, when all of a sudden, she looked into the face of a past she never thought she would look into again in a million years.
Oh my God. She thought to herself.
Her mouth went dry. Her head began to sway. Her heart was beating ninety to nothing.
There, in live color before her, was the boy Delia fell in love with four years ago!! The boy she could have sworn had disappeared and died. The other piece of her heart at the time. The boy who had bought her that 14 carot gold heart. Who tumbled so well on bars and anything with a pole. Whose eyes were so penetrating and whose demeanor was always so innocent and boy-like. The boy she cried over for months and months. The boy she never got over. How she wouldn't date for over two years after his departure.
There stood Riley Lana Deight.
The student counselor introduced him as Rainley Farbet. (Far-bey)
What kind of a name is that? Delia asked herself. And that is sooo not his name. Delia wanted to jump off her stool and go running to him.
But how? The whole classroom would think she was nuts. She opted for another way.
