The Promise - Chapter 3

Life goes on. The house down the street from the school was torn down. Celia thought to herself, “Even if Amy could come back she wouldn’t have parents or a home to go to.” She was sure Amy must grieve for her parents. She loved them regardless of what they had done. But a hail of bullets had ended any chance of ever seeing them again. Celia wondered how Amy could deal with the loss. She was sure she couldn’t if it were her parents.

As time passed, Celia made new friends, but she thought about Amy a lot and wondered what happened to her. Reform school? Celia’s mom said Amy was “better off”, but sometimes adults’ view of a kid being “better off” were better for everyone except the kid. To adults, a child “better off” usually meant “straightened out”. Amy, however, didn’t need to be “straightened out”. She was a wonderful person and a good student. Her parents were the ones that had gone astray, and now they were beyond help.

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The summer before Celia started high school, her dad got a new job and the family moved to Houston, Texas. They moved from a town of about 100,000 people to a town of millions. Her dad was now making a lot of money, and they lived in a very nice house. Celia made friends in her school. She never forgot Amy, but she realized that any chance of seeing her again was likely completely gone.

As Celia progressed through high school, it became time to think about what was next. Some kids were glad to get out of school and start working. Celia, however, was “college material” and wanted to do the type of work that her mom did, but her parents saw potential in Celia’s love for science. She made very good grades and encouraged her to go to medical school. She realized that a career in medicine was something available to relatively few people and she felt that to go that route would be a great advantage to her as well as pleasing to her mom and dad.

She breezed through 4 years of pre-med but was advised by her counselor not to get over-confident. She was admitted to Rice Medical School and soon found the counselor was right. The hours and the quantity of work were incredible. There were many times she was completely ready to give up. Full-time enrollment in pre-med was at least 12 hours. After that, full-time enrollment was multiples of that. During her internship, sleep became a rare treat.

Celia made it through medical school, but boards were next. She needn’t have worried; she had studied hard, and now just a review brought back everything she had learned. That, combined with the fact that she was an excellent test taker enabled Celia to pass easily.

With so much pressure released, instead of complete happiness, Celia felt somewhat depressed. She was happy to have a career available to her, but the sudden change from being busy every moment of the day to having some free time brought on, among other things, thoughts of Amy. Celia felt a slight feeling of guilt about having her dreams come true, while Amy…. Amy what? Reform school? On the streets?

“Mom, is there any way you can find out what happened to my friend, Amy Jordon?”

“I’ll check, Honey, but even if I can find anything, I still may not be able to disclose it.”

Celia held out little hope for any information from her mom. Child Protective Service was more secretive than the FBI. She decided that when she got to know people at work, she would be able to get some insight into where to find information. She wouldn’t give up.