“Happy birthday Jenna!” after a full month’s preparation, I walked into Jenna’s room with balloons and a gift bag.
“Awww… Kendall, you didn’t have to get me anything,” she smiled, “Thank you.”
I handed her the pink bag with a pattern design on it. I can’t wait for her to open it! She’ll love it!
After tearing through the blue gift tissue, she discovered two small pieces of paper at the bottom. Jenna pulled them out wondering what in the world they could be. She gasped staring at the words on these papers. “Paris? You got me plane tickets-- to Paris?” She couldn’t stop smiling.
I knew she’d love it! She’s always loved Paris. “ Yes, I got you tickets, and that second ticket, that’s for me. We get to go together!!!”
“Wait…” Jenna looked down. “Is it just gonna be us by ourselves because my parents wouldn’t let me go if it were.”
“Of course not, my dad’s coming with us. He already has his ticket.”
“Good.”
“Oh yeah, and we can only stay two days but two is better than none!”
“Kendall, I’m so happy I could just--” Jenna plopped on her bed, her back hitting the comfortable cushioning; arms outstretched as if someone was catching her.
“Me too” I did the same.
We both chuckled and dreamt about what Paris would be about, unmoving from our fixed positions on her bed.
After a week of packing and anticipating our trip, Jenna, my dad, and I boarded our flight. I was grumpy because we had woken up so early, but Jenna was looking forward to Paris so much she wasn’t grumpy at all.
“I’m so excited! I’ve always wanted to go to Paris!” She turned to face me.
“I know! I’m just not looking forward to the flight.” I leaned back in my chair.
“I’ll be fine, I’m going to sleep.” She leaned back too and shut her eyes.
Jenna slept the whole time. Meanwhile I tried to entertain myself with my phone, tv, music, and falling asleep. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t be entertained. Fourteen hours of nothing were driving me crazy.
“Jenna, wake up!” I shook her awake.
She woke with a start.
“I can’t take this, nothing is entertaining me and I can’t sleep! I need someone to talk to.”
“Okay, tell me all about how you’re feeling right now, and what happened while I was sleeping.” She sat there for the next thirty minutes, blindly staring off into space while I expressed my feelings. Once I had gotten all my emotions out, she went back to sleep and I was able to fall asleep for a few hours too.
“Attention passengers, we will be landing shortly. Please move all personal items underneath the seat and buckle up your seatbelts.” the loud intercom voice woke Jenna and I.
“Finally,” I was ready to get off this plane and into Paris!
“Ugh, oh no! I hate this part, plug your ears.” Jenna closed her eyes imagining she wasn’t in this situation.
I looked out the window and gasped at the glorious sight. In the background of a hectic city, I could just faintly see the beautiful structure. “Jenna! Look,” I squealed.
“What--” she joined me in gasping. “The Eiffel Tower!” she smiled, but it was disturbed by an unusual stomach growl. “I don’t feel so good” Jenna’s face turned a light shade of green and her lunch resurfaced.
As the vomit was cleaned, the plane doors opened for arrival. A taxi was waved down, and we were driven to our hotel. After we checked in, we took a long nap not aware of the fact it was nine o’clock in the morning. By the time we woke up, it was mid afternoon.
I looked at the clock, “It’s three o’clock already? We still have to go sightseeing! We have to leave now or else we won’t even get to go to the Eiffel Tower!”
We convinced my dad, and took a cab to Champ de Mars. As soon as I saw the tower I was in awestruck; we were so close and it was so magnificent. It had a beautiful rustic color and architectural design. The clouds wisped behind it amidst the warm glow of the sun. The wind whispered softly below, and the bushes replied willingly. Everything was like a dream waiting to come true. Finally, they approached the bottom of the magnificent structure.
“Wow!” I said standing underneath it.
“It’s amazing!” Jenna caught up with my dad and me.
The air became colder as we traveled higher up. Our legs became tired and we were ready to give up before we got to our destination. I knew we should have taken the elevator… By the time we climbed all 1710 stairs, I felt like passing out. Jenna, on the other hand, was in the lead, skipping up the steps. She was even sad when she found out there were no more stairs to climb. When we got to the last floor, Jenna ran all the way to the other side so she could see the view. I slowly caught up with her. As I got closer to the center, I heard music and saw there was some kind of event going on.
“Alright everybody!” said the woman into the microphone. “Come over here into the center. We’re gonna play a fun game!” she waited for people to join her.
“Come on, let’s go!” Jenna grabbed my arm and dragged me to the center.
“We are going to have a scavenger hunt!” the woman screamed. “My name is Jenny, and I will be your leader for the game. The phone company, Apple, has been very generous as to sponsor this event, so there are a bunch of little Apple thingie-ma-do’s hidden around.” she stopped talking because of all the cheering. “There will also be a special prize hidden here. You have to sign up over here and pay twenty dollars, but it’s worth it because you can win... an ipad mini!” again, the crowds’ cheering interrupted. “Everyone ready? You may begin in three, two, one… go!”
“Come on Jenna, we have to find that ipad!” I was suddenly in a good mood because I had always wanted an ipad mini, but had never received one.
We checked through every bush, tree, table, and hidden place. So far we had found headphones, a charger, and a case. We were still looking for the ipad.
Jenna looked off to the side and gasped. “The ipad,” she said a little too loud. “Kendall, come here!”  
I ran to meet Jenna, but before I reached her there were already people looking in the area Jenna was talking about. They had heard her too.
“Oh no! They heard me. Quick, Kendall come on. I‘m the only one who knows where it actually is.”
We sprinted to the edge of the structure, where there was a tree with branches outstretched over the floor and the ipad was in a box balancing on top of a thick branch.
“Help me reach!” I outstretched my hands as high as they could go, but I still wasn’t tall enough. “Dad! We need your help!”
“Mr. Stephens, we found the ipad, but we can’t reach it!” Jenna yelled so he could hear her. Everyone by now had ran to where they were, looking for the ipad.
“Jenna! Why did you do that? We’ll never get the ipad now.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t help, you’re always messing up, and to be honest, I don’t--
Before I finished my sentence, some man nudged me. He pushed me so hard, I fell into Jenna, who was reaching on her tiptoes. The blow knocked her off balance, and she tumbled over the railing. It all happened so fast. She slipped, fell, and-- I was scared I would never see her alive again, and I didn’t.
“Jenna!” I wept. The crowd stopped their hustling so I could be alone. “No, this can’t be happening!” I wiped the tears from my eyes. “Wake up Kendall! Wake up! It’s just a dream!” I cried even more because I knew that it wasn't a dream. I loved Jenna so much, I couldn’t lose her.
While my dad called the paramedics, I went downstairs to be with Jenna one last time. She would surely not survive. The paramedics arrived to take Jenna away, and my father and I drove back to the hotel. I had to let my feelings out, so I vented to my father on the way.
“Dad, it’s all my fault.”
“Sweetie, why would you think that?”
“I got her the tickets to Paris, I took her to the Eiffel Tower, I yelled at her before… that happened, and I pushed her off the building.”
“No honey. This is not your fault. You got pushed into her, you didn’t push her.” he tried to find something comforting to say. “You know… didn’t I always hear Jenna talking about some God she believed in?”
“Yeah, her and her family were Christians. They always went to church and prayed.”
“You should pray to her God for guidance. Maybe something good will come from it.”
“Okay, I’ll think about it.”
Jenna was examined at the hospital and due to a broken rib, her heart suffered great damage. She did not survive, and I was heartbroken. Jenna was my only friend, and now she’s gone. I became so depressed, my dad decided to take me back home early.
All I did when I got home was mope around and wish I was with Jenna. When I had to go back to school, I was too sick to go to school. I had a major migraine, my heart hurt, and I felt like I was going to throw up all of the time. I ended up missing a whole week of school, so my dad took me to the doctor. They asked me if I had been depressed lately and crying, to both answers I replied yes. They also asked me if I had gotten much sleep lately, to which I answered no. They told me I was suffering from mental depression, and they were going to run some tests on me.
Being stuck in a room with nothing to do, I got bored. I searched the drawers next to my hospital bed for anything to do, and, to my surprise, I found a Bible. I decided to read it starting with a book called Matthew. I found out that there was a man named Jesus that was born into this earth, the son of God, and that He died on a cross for our sins so we could be in Heaven with Him and His Father. I was so shocked that God would send down His only son, so we could be in Heaven. I figured since he loved me so much, I would return the favor.
I learned how the Earth was created, and how we should live our lives. Most importantly, I learned that “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) I accepted Jesus into my heart and committed my life to him because I knew that was what Jenna would have wanted me to do.
After a little less than a week in the hospital, I had grown stronger and more knowledgeable in Christ, but the doctors discovered my heart was having troubles. Apparently, I have had a heart disease for years and didn’t know. The night of their discovery, my heart was hurting really bad. I fell asleep in the midst of the pain, and didn’t wake up in the morning. That night I had a heart attack that unfortunately took my life. The only plus is that I woke up to the gates of Heaven in front of me, and Jenna beside me.