The Girl with the Red Rose

John Blanchard stood at Grand Central Station studying the crowds. People leaving, people arriving, people waiting, like himself, to meet someone.

He was looking for the girl he loved but whose face he did not know, the girl wearing the rose. He had become interested in her a year ago when they began chatting on web. He liked the things she wrote and the way she wrote them. They got to know each other through their regular chats. A romance was starting. John asked her to scan in a photograph of herself, but she always refused. She felt that if he really loved her, her appearance wasn’t important. Now his job had brought him to New York and they had arranged to meet at 7 pm at Grand Central Station.

“You’ll recognize me,” she had written, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my jacket.” So now here he was looking for a girl whose heart he loved but whose face he had never seen…

The seconds passed by, slowly turned into minutes, which didn’t seem to pass at all. He arrived early because he was excited to meet the woman of his life. But after 10 minutes, she was not there yet. So he started to walk in circles, and began to wonder: what if she was not the person he thought she was? Maybe she was different in reality? Besides he had only chatted with her. He was starting to doubt himself; maybe she was not his dream girl at all. But it could not be true, because these past few months he had been in a very good mood. He was smiling again and was looking forward to chat with her in the afternoon. She seemed as a funny and intelligent woman. They both seemed to share the same interests. They both had in common that they liked reading literature books and backpack travelling. Despite his confusing thoughts he felt that he was doing the right thing. It did not matter if he has not seen her before nor seen a picture of her. The look was not as important as the personality. Besides, he was in love with her. His friends was not pleased about his romance, it seemed silly to them. Loving a woman you have not seen seemed so absurd. But John could not care less. Love was a vital thing. As he stood in the middle of the crowd, he saw a beautiful woman with a rose in her hair. She was walking towards him. John could feel his heart beat faster and faster. Could this be true? Was the beautiful woman the one? He finally took the chance to say “Hi” but something did not seem quite real. She was not walking towards him, but over to a man who stood behind John. He felt disappointed. But he knew it. The woman with the rose in her hair seemed too good to be true. He sat down on a bench near him. Then suddenly a woman talked to him. He looked up and saw a woman wearing a red rose on her jacket. She had glasses, freckles and dark brown curly hair. She was wearing a large brown sweater and a pair of jogging pants. His first thought was, that she kind of looked like a homeless person. She looked so different from what he had expected. But after all he had to give it a chance. He tried to cover up his disappointment. She seemed sweet and nice. Her name was Sophie and was working as a volunteer at a shelter. She suggested that they should go to a café nearby so that they could get to know each other. John was not so happy about the thought, but he walked with her anyway. As the conversation began, he realized he did not care about her look. He discovered that behind the glassed she had the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen in his entire life. And she had a cute laugh too. Hours walked by and they soon realize that they were the only two left at the café. It was getting late, and she had to leave. They paid their bills and walked outside the café. There was a park not far away from the café. They decided to take a walk around the park before they both had to leave. John told Sophie that he had never felt like this before with a woman. She was the one for him. But Sophie did not respond as he hoped she would. Sure, she was happy to hear it and she told him that she felt the same way as he did. But then she told him that she was ill. The day they met each other on the website, Sophie had received a phone call from her doctor. She was diagnose with breast cancer and did not have many months left. Tomorrow she had to be hospitalized. Her only and last wish was to meet John before it was too late and now her wish had come true. This day was beyond her expectations. She had met the man she loved. John was heartbroken after hearing the news. He had finally met the love of his life and now he could not have her. Tears began to run down his face and he felt his heart bleed. He took Sophie and held her in his arms for the rest of the night. The next morning he found Sophie quiet in his arms. Her face was pale and her eyes red. She had to be hospitalized immediately. John immediately called an ambulance. It all happened so fast. The next day he received a phone call from Sophie’s doctor. She was gone.