Richard is the sort of person who likes to fish. He has a common fear of never being loved. Richard dresses in overalls and flannels when he is in the comfort of his own home but would never tell anyone. He has ADHD but it isn’t as bad as when he was a school boy. He has many recurring dreams of finding his soulmate, and also many nightmares about never finding her. He loves his fishing rod but would never dare tell anyone about it. Richard believes anyone as intelligent as him should not tell the world about his passion for fishing. Every morning he lets his pet bird fly around his house and locks him back in his cage. He is then on his way to work as a normal high school history teacher.
    Richard walks into Lincoln High School and is ready to start his day. He walks by his fellow teachers and he gives a subtle wave. As he walks by them he thinks to himself, “I am too smart and intelligent to interact with these people anymore.” He gets to his room and sits down in his chair. His students started to pile in the classroom. He stands up and starts his lesson on World War 1. Meanwhile none of his students are listening. Richard stops teaching and looks at his class. He folds his arms and waits until all the students have stopped talking and take note that Richard is watching them. The students all stop talking except for one boy. The star football player. Richard calls him out for not stopping his conversation and the whole class stares at him. Richard says to the football player, “I’ll see you after class for the third time this week Michael. Why don’t you take out some paper and take some notes.” Michael looks down and gets out his notebook. Now Richard has the whole class's attention, for once. Richard wraps up his final slide when the bell rings and his students leave. Michael walks up to Richard's desk. Richard says to Michael, “You have to stop talking in class. It makes everyone else think it’s okay to talk.” Michael replies with his usual, “I’m sorry.”  This time Richard did not yell but rather said, “Just please Michael think next time before you start a conversation in my class or anyone else’s about how it makes the teacher feel when no one is listening.” Michael replies, showing sympathy on his face, “I’m sorry I never thought of it that way.” Richard dismisses Michael and he sits down in his chair. This is when he breaks down. He holds his head in his hands and sobs about his life and wanting to find true love. When here walks in the new math teacher.
    Richard, still crying into his hands, feels a warm gentle hand touching him. He looks up to a beautiful brunette smiling and saying, “Are you alright?” Richard, trying to cover up his feelings, stands up out of his chair and says, “Yes, yes I’m alright.” She says, “Okay, well, I’m Elizabeth. This is my first day,” then smiles. Richard thought to himself, “Look at her, I have never seen someone so beautiful. Her distinctive cheekbones, her blue eyes that you don’t usually see with brown hair, just everything.” Richard, still in shock from her beauty, stumbles a little bit on his words and says, “I’m Richard. Let me know if you need any help getting around.” Elizabeth, not quite sure what to make of Richard, thinks to herself, “This man, I have never seen one like him before, his perfectly messy blonde hair, his skin doesn’t even look aged at all. I wonder how old he could be.” She nods and replies back, “Thanks, I’ll definitely be taking you up on that offer.” She turns around and walks out the room when Richard notices something. Her keys were sticking out of her pocket, and she has a fishing rod key chain. Richard then says to himself, “She likes to fish? Elizabeth, don’t forget that.” 
         As the school day comes to an end all Richard can think about is Elizabeth. He runs over to her class so when she walks out he'll be there. As he waits for her to come out of her classroom, he thinks about everything that struck him when he first saw her, her cheekbones, her blue eyes, everything, and gets even more excited for her class to end. He hears the bell and the students pile out of the classroom and then Elizabeth comes out of the classroom as well. As she notices him she smiles and says, "Richard, right? Are you feeling any better from earlier?" Richard replies back, "Yes, I feel a lot better, especially now that you're here." Elizabeth, a little startled but intrigued by Richard's forwardness says, "Wow really, I'm going to have to keep an eye on you." They both break out into laughter. Richard then asks Elizabeth, "Can I walk you out?" She then says, "I would love that. I just need to get my bag." Elizabeth gets her bag and Richard, now being this polite gentleman, says, "Let me get that for you!" Elizabeth smiles and says, "What a gentleman!" They get to her car, and Richard reaches for her hand before she gets into it. He looks into her sea blue eyes and says, "I like you a lot Elizabeth." Elizabeth smiles, looking at his perfectly messy blonde hair, and says, "I like you a lot too Richard." Richard then asks Elizabeth, “Would you like to go out to eat tonight? Somewhere nice and elegant where we can just get to know each other?” Elizabeth smiling bigger than she ever has replies, “Yes, I would love that.” Richard, pushing back a piece of hair that was in her face, says, “Great, I’ll pick you up at six.” Elizabeth pulls out of her parking spot and heads home, when Richard looks down and finds Elizabeth's fishing rod key chain. He quickly picks it up and put it in his pocket and walks to his car to drive home. Quickly, six o’clock approaches and Richard realizes he needs to go get Elizabeth. He drives to her house and pulls into the driveway and walks up to her front door to ring her doorbell. She opens the door with her brown hair down and curled with a black dress on and high heels. Richard, astonished from her beauty, takes a step back and says, “You look amazing.” Elizabeth’s cheeks start to get red when she replies with a, “Thank you Richard,” They both get into Richard's car and he drives to the Italian restaurant down the street. They arrive, and as soon as they walk in through the doors, they are seated. .Richard and Elizabeth talk all night about school, life, their dreams and children. Especially children. Richard asks Elizabeth, “What made you want to teach high school students?” Elizabeth is really excited to answer this question. She replies, “I am so glad you asked that question. I really wanted to be a first to third grade teacher, but I realized my passion for math needed to be taught at a more advanced level. I love little kids though, so I just had to make a choice.” Richard, glad to know more about her, replies, “Wow, I would've never guessed that about you. I am also somewhat in the same boat I would say. I love children but seem to get along better with the older side of the kids. I would love to have children in my life though.” Elizabeth gets a little red and asks Richard, “Really? How many kids were you planning on having one day?” then smiles. Richard replies, “ Oh I don’t know maybe two? Three? How about you?” Elizabeth, getting into the conversation, leans in closer to Richard and says, “Maybe three or four,” then looks into his dark brown eyes and smiles once again. Richard then slowly reaches for her hand and looks into her eyes and says, “I hope one day both our dreams come true in regard to having children.” Richard, getting a little nervous, not sure if he said a little too much and scared her away, takes a deep breath. Elizabeth looks at Richard and says, “I really hope so too.”
Elizabeth looks down at her phone and says, “Wow! It’s already midnight.” Richard, surprised as well, replies, “No way, I should be getting you home. Let's get the bill.” Richard gets the waiter to bring the bill over and he opens it and tries to do the math in his head on what to pay. Elizabeth asks Richard, “I can pay for my meal, here let me-” Richard cuts her off and says, “No, it’s my treat,” then smiles up at her. Richard is trying to figure out the tip when his math in his head is going all wrong. Elizabeth, noticing Richard’s puzzled look on his face,asks, “Do you need help calculating the tip?” Richard laughing and trying not to show his embarrassment, says, “That’d be great.” Elizabeth reaches over for the bill and right away says, “The tip will be twenty seven fifty.” Richard attracted to how easily she did the math, says, “Aw I was only a dollar off.” When Elizabeth laughs and says, “You probably forgot to carry the one.” They both laugh and stand up to drive home. Richard pulls into Elizabeth’s driveway and walks her to her front door. Elizabeth thanks him again for tonight and right when she was going to close the door behind her Richard says, “Oh, wait!” Elizabeth turns around and says, “What?” Richard replies, “Here, you dropped this earlier today in the school parking lot.” It was the fishing rod key chain. Elizabeth, shocked and happy, says, “Oh my gosh thank you so much, I didn’t even know I dropped that!” Richard smiles and says, “No problem, I’ll talk to you soon.”
Richard and Elizabeth continue to talk and grow their relationship as the next month went on. Richard drives down to Elizabeth’s house and surprises her. He rings the doorbell and she answers with her hair in a messy bun and her pj’s on. Elizabeth, happy and excited to see Richard, reaches up to hug him. Richard hugs her back and smells her perfume. He says to her, “Here quick, put on some clothes. I have a surprise for you.” Elizabeth, extremely excited, runs upstairs and changes into jeans and a teal sweater. She takes her messy bun out and lets her long brown wavy hair fall. As she comes downstairs, she sees Richard is looking at her signed photo of Selena Gomez. She walks over and says, “I see you have taken interest in my signed picture?” Then smiles. Richard replies, “Yes, I have. I didn’t know you like Selena.” She replies, “Yes a lot!” Richard is now even more happy to know another small but important fact about Elizabeth. He says, “Okay! We got to go. Are you ready?” Elizabeth says, “Yes I am, let's go!” They run down her driveway and get into Richard's car. They hold hands the entire ride. As they get closer, she realizes where they are. Richard pulls into a spot and helps Elizabeth out of the car. He gets a picnic basket and blanket from the trunk and holds her hand as they walk to the little area right before the lake. They sit down and Elizabeth helps Richard set their lunch up. Elizabeth, smiling says, “This is a fun surprise!”  and leans in onto Richard's chest. He puts his arm around her and kisses her on her head. He reaches into his pocket and looks at Elizabeth and says, “I brought you here today for a reason. I have something to ask you.” Elizabeth sits up and looks at him. Richard stands up and then gets down on one knee. Elizabeth jumps up and is shaking her head in disbelief. Richard says, “Elizabeth, I know we only just met but I feel like I have known you for a lifetime. You are everything to me and I just need to call you mine forever. So, will you marry me?” Elizabeth gasps and covers her mouth as Richard opens the ring box. She replies, “Yes, of course Richard!”
         Two years later, Richard and Elizabeth are now married and Elizabeth is four months pregnant with their first child. One day, Richard gets home from school and notices Elizabeth’s car is not in the driveway. He didn’t really think anything of it because he doesn’t have a last block class, but Elizabeth does. He takes her not being home as an opportunity. He races into the kitchen to start making a home cooked meal for his wife. He grabs the two candles he found in their back closet, and sets them up on the dining room table. Right as he finishes setting the table, and the dinner is ready, he hears Elizabeth’s car pull into the driveway. He looks in the mirror to fix his blonde hair. Richard is standing in the doorway smiling when she walks in. Elizabeth runs to hug him and starts crying. Richard, confused and worried, asks Elizabeth, “What’s wrong?” Elizabeth barely able to get out words says, “I lost the baby.” Richard looks into her sea blue eyes, that are not as bright as usual, and says, “Elizabeth, I’m so sorry. This is awful, how do you feel? Are you alright?” Elizabeth replies, “I’m not okay, I feel like this is somewhat my fault. You wanted a baby so bad, I’m sorry Richard.” Richard repiles, “It’s okay we can always try again. It is not your fault at all, don’t say that.” Even though he is still trying to cope with this loss he is trying to be strong for Elizabeth. Elizabeth replies by saying, “We can’t. I am getting too old and I don’t think I can ever go through this again. I am gonna go lay down for a little while, okay?” Richard, trying to hold back his tears, says, “Yes that is fine, go relax, I’ll check in on you later.” Elizabeth, still crying, but not as much as when she got home, says, “Alright, thanks Richard.” He walks into the kitchen, sits down, and blows out the two candles he had lit. He never thought that the evening he had planned would end like this.
The next morning Richard wakes up at the kitchen table and doesn’t even remember falling asleep there. He right away gets up and walks upstairs to see Elizabeth. As he walks upstairs he realizes it is extremely quiet. He opens the door and he has a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He walks over to the bed and sees Elizabeth isn’t there and the bed is made, doesn’t even look like someone was laying there. He starts frantically looking around for something, anything to let him know where Elizabeth is. He notices a note on her mirror. He picks it up and reads each word carefully. The letter said,”Dear Richard, I am not sure how to even put this into words. I am sorry. I am sorry for not letting you have your child, it was my fault you won’t have one. I don’t deserve to be living on this wonderful planet no more for having lost your child. I love you more than words can describe but I’m going to go now it’s for the best, I am sorry Richard so so sorry. -Elizabeth May 6, 2015” As soon as Richard finishes reading the last words he collapses and screams, “No, no please God don’t take her from me.” He runs out of the house and runs and runs until he reaches the lake where he proposed to Elizabeth. It was the place she always comforted him while just simply fishing. He runs deep into the lake and he feels something. He looks down and almost faints, it was her. It was Elizabeth. He pulls her out of the water and tries to give her mouth to mouth, anything to make her come back to life. He feels her pulse and knows it. She is gone. He doesn’t want to believe it, and cries while holding her cold chest. He jumps onto the rock ledge, where he and Elizabeth sat and talked for hours and hours about their dreams and aspirations in life. He looks down and finds Elizabeth’s fishing rod key chain. He breaks down even more and tucks the key chain into his shirt pocket along with the note she left. He takes one more deep breath, and jumps off the ledge. He feels that if Elizabeth isn’t here with him on this planet, there is no need for his existence any more.