The Bet

Snowflakes drifted softly, effortlessly, onto frozen dew-filled grass, covering the ground in a soft blanket, insulating and freezing simultaneously. The sky was a muted gray tone, with the sun hidden, barely able to let its rays penetrate through the overcast to the frozen tundra below. A small cabin stood on a hill, isolated from society, alone from the world, but in peace.

A figure stood on the porch of that cabin. He was barely twenty, maybe even less, with flowing brown hair and sparkling hazel eyes. He stood, staring into the abyss and emptiness of the world in front of him, deep in thought about the year that was almost past. He looked down at his watch, and realized it was December 1st. The boy sat on the cold wood of the porch, laying his head in his hands. He wouldn’t win the bet, but he felt he needed to.

January 1^st, 11 months beforehand

The New Year’s party was filled with dancing, sweaty high schoolers. James flicked his shaggy brown hair back so it wouldn’t fall into his eyes, and took a sip of his drink, his hazel eyes glistening. He turned to Parker, his best friend since preschool, who was dancing the night away, surrounded by friends and classmates. The new girl, Sarah, was seen near the far wall, talking to two friends she had met at her first day of school. Her hair flowed to her midback, and swished when she turned her head.

“You see her? That girl Sarah?” Parker asked James, nudging his shoulder so he almost spilled his drink.

“Yeah, what about her?” James asked, mad that his drink was almost spilled, but understanding of Parker and his antics.

“I bet you can’t propose to her by the end of this year,” Parker said, smirking. He ran his fingers through his wavy, sandy colored hair, smiling like a madman. Parker was the class clown, always pranking and joking around. A marriage proposal was quite a feat, especially for a senior in high school. But James didn’t want to let his friend, or himself, down. So he agreed.

As the months passed, schoolwork got more time consuming, and James thought less and less of the crazy bet that he had agreed to not so long ago. It wasn’t until one day, as he was sitting in English class, quietly thinking about his assignment, that he suddenly remembered.

April 15^th

James and Parker were seated next to each other in English class, with James concentrating hard on the new assignment, and Parker leaning back in his chair, his feet on the desk, throwing a ball high in the air. Normally, the teacher wouldn’t allow such behavior, but the class tended not to pay attention anyways, and Mr. Williams had given up trying to force the 17 and 18 year olds to focus on school.

The door of the classroom creaked opened, with the doorknob being slowly turned, so suddenly it was almost inconspicuous, invisible to most not paying attention, until there was a wide enough gap between the door and frame that a shy, smiling girl could squeeze past. She brushed her hair off her shoulder, closed the door, and walked over to James and Parker, leaning over the desk to talk to them.

“Hey Sarah,” Parker said, smirking and glancing at James, who brushed off the glances.

“James, prom is coming up, and I was wondering-“ Sarah said, speaking nervously for she hadn’t asked anyone out before, much less to a prom in the middle of an English class.

“Yes!” James interrupted.

Soon the two went to prom, and eventually dated. Their relationship was becoming somewhat serious, and the two even talked about their futures together, their wedding, their kids, their pets, everything and anything, until one fateful day changed all that.

July 28^th

It was late in the evening, and the sun was almost set, painting the sky in a glorious deep orange, with pinks and purples tracing the outer skirts of the horizon. The sun was a brilliant orange color, with reds hinting at the bottom, and yellow and whites appearing at the very top.

Sarah was about to leave James’ house, and they kissed goodbye, and promised to talk again once Sarah came back. She headed down the porch and into her sleek, black car. She started it, and drove off. James stared longingly at his love, wishing her the best, but reminiscing on the memories they had together.

Sarah drove down as normal, and went across the intersection as she had. It was a normal drive, one that she would take several times, as that intersection led to downtown, most of the restaurants and the stores, and also to her school. She started driving, until a car drove straight into the side of her car, because he was blinded by the setting sun.

The hospital was bustling with people, going in and out, visiting loved ones, some carrying flowers, some holding small children, some crying, and some happy. Some people were even being released from the hospital, tears of joy streaming down theirs and their family’s faces.

James and Sarah’s family walked into the hospital, straight down the hallway and to the left, until they reached Sarah’s room. She was in a medically induced coma while she received blood transfusions and IV’s. The car accident was almost fatal, but fortunately Sarah arrived on time.

The doctor was assisting Sarah at the time the visitors came in. “She’s doing a lot better, and should be waking up soon. Her vitals are good, and you should all be lucky she even survived,” the doctor said to the guests.

He was right, and within a half hour, Sarah started blinking her eyes open, and tried moaning a sentence to her parents, but it was indistinguishable. But as she looked at James, she had confusion on her face. Furrowed eyebrows and a cocked head, it was clear she didn’t recognize her boyfriend, the boy she had made her future with, the person she said she’d spent the rest of her life with.

Sarah didn’t recognize James, and there was no use for him or anyone to try to explain to her who she was, because anytime she saw his face, and indescribable anger overwhelmed her, and he would have to leave.

This was not only sad for James and Sarah’s relationship, but also for James and Parker. Parker was friends with Sarah, and he was clearly upset for her wellbeing. He and James would get into fights a lot. It wasn’t about the bet; both of them had seemed to forget about it, even though it was still in the back of James’ head from time to time. Parker and James couldn’t have one conversation without wanting to fight the other, so they stopped being friends.

August 31^st

James went off to college, and he forgot about Parker and Sarah a lot. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to think about them, because they were his friends and he was so sad to see them go, but school was considerably harder than high school ever was, and he needed to focus on himself instead of broken friendships and a sad bet that would never be fulfilled.

The semester ended almost as quickly as it had started, and James headed off to his parent’s vacant cottage, where they used to spend Christmas, but was now too hard to upkeep as they grew older. James knew that he couldn’t go back to his hometown and risk seeing Parker or Sarah, for their sakes, and also for his, so he decided to stay at the cabin, clean it up, and make it really nice.

The cabin was in the middle of a huge field, with no one around for miles. The road itself was about a half a mile from the garage, which would be considerably hard if James needed to leave quickly for any reason. The snow made everything sound mute; all sound absorbed in the vast white blanket covering any inch of land.

With snow came a cloudy, overcast, gray sky. To some, it would be unsettling, but to James it was the perfect environment for him to think clearly about the bet, something that wasn’t on his mind for a very, very long time.

December 1^st

Snowflakes drifted softly, effortlessly, onto frozen dew-filled grass, covering the ground in a soft blanket, insulating and freezing simultaneously. The sky was a muted gray tone, with the sun hidden, barely able to let its rays penetrate through the overcast to the frozen tundra below. A small cabin stood on a hill, isolated from society, alone from the world, but in peace.

James stood on the porch, staring out into the emptiness, thinking about Sarah, who was the love of his life, and had once made plans with him, had painted their future, decorated with all their milestones they would accomplish together, now destroyed in an instant. How would James get Sarah back? How would he win the bet?

Suddenly, like a snowball flying in a snowball fight, it hit him. Make a scrapbook, filled with memories, pictures, texts, letters, everything that he could think of that would make Sarah possibly remember. James rushed inside, almost slipping on the slick covering of snow on the porch, racing to his room to print out everything he needed, and put it together. A tear slowly rolled down his cheek and he thought about all the memories, and the fact they might just stay memories and might not develop into more.

December 28^th

James threw his clothes into a bag, zipping it up with the scrapbook on top, and running out to the car. He trudged through the dense packing snow, into his car which barely started, and drove through to the road. He had quite a ways to get back to his hometown, and made sure he would get back to his parent’s house by the 30^th, giving him enough time to get a good night’s rest and clean himself up for talking to Sarah. The roads were fairly desolate, with not much traffic. Most people were already home from Christmas, and weren’t planning on travelling again until the next night. James was glad that there weren’t many cars on the road, because he was trying to rush home in time.

Finally, he arrived. He grabbed his things, and headed inside. “James!” his mother exclaimed, grabbing his face and kissing his forehead, which was now wet with snowflakes. James sat down and told his mother the plan, and she nodded solemnly, understanding that Sarah might not want to go through with the plan, especially if she didn’t remember James.

James headed to the shower, and spent the longest time in there. He let the warm water run over his face and body as he thought about the next day and what he would say to Sarah. He understood that there was a legitimate possibility that she would kick him out of her house and break down again, or get angry and yell. He had already texted her mom, and she agreed that he could come by.

Night came quickly, and James headed to bed. He could hardly sleep, tossing and turning all night, until very early in the morning he finally fell asleep.

His alarm awoke him, and he sat up in a panic, not remembering where he was. James put his thoughts together, got dressed, brushed his shaggy hair back with some gel to keep it back, and grabbed the scrapbook. He kissed his mom goodbye, and drove off to Sarah’s house.

The drive to Sarah’s house had many memories, mostly good, but now sad to James, and a tear slipped down his red cheeks as he remembered the long nights and fun-filled days with Sarah. He thought about all the heartbreak, the sad times, the good times, the triumphs and achievements, the rejections, everything that he and Sarah went through together. He couldn’t help but cry, but knew he would have to get himself together if he was going to go through with this.

James pulled up in Sarah’s driveway, right where he always parked. He straightened his tie, pushed his hair back again, and grabbed the book from the passenger seat. The driveway and walkway also had memories of chalk and laughing and sunny days. James rung the doorbell, and Sarah’s mother answered. “James, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, giving James a hug. She led him into the living room, where Sarah was curled up on the couch under a blanket.

“Sarah, darling, please don’t get angry. This is James, and he needs to tell you something very important.” Sarah’s mother bent down next to her daughter, putting her hand on her shoulder, and looking in her eyes reassuringly. Sarah gulped and nodded, afraid and trying to hold back her anger.

“Sarah, I know you don’t remember me. We spent April to July together, and it felt like a lifetime. We had our future planned out,” James continued telling her everything they had done together. He then handed her the scrapbook, and she flipped through the pages; memories to James, and new pictures to Sarah.

Her eyes were wide. She had remembered! She threw her arms around James’ neck and hugged him tightly, crying into his shoulder. James, Sarah, and Sarah’s mother cried together. Then James pulled away and dropped onto one knee.

“Sarah, we may be young, and this may be the most foolish thing I’ve done in my life, but we once had our whole life planned out, our futures were together, and I can’t lose you again. Sarah, will you marry me?”

“Yes!”

And with that, the bet was fulfilled, and the relationships between James, Parker, and Sarah were restored.