ENGL160 Academic Writing I

Answers:

As Helena scrolls through the travel booking sites online, she thinks to herself “Where can I possibly spend my vacation within 3 days!”. She picks up her cell phone and calls Demetrius. Her call does not go through. She waits for him to call. She and Demetrius are in a relationship since January this year. They met via Tinder and went on a couple of dates. As most of the people, Helena was sceptical about online dating too, but she found Demetrius, a British investment banker working across the globe, with an exquisite sense of style and love for food.

In mid-February, Helena planned for a vacation with Demetrius. Although she could not figure out exactly where to go for the vacation, she was certain about the idea of taking a vacation together will strengthen the bond between him and her. Despite all of her friends’ warning against going on a vacation with Demetrius, she is very optimistic about this vacation. It is not like Helena herself has not questioned her plans, but she is hopeful about love and she thinks a vacation will surely get her to know him better.

Helena is originally from Haiti. Her family moved to the US during the late 1990s, when she was only 5. Currently she works as a journalist at Vanity Fair and lives in New York. Helena likes to travel, explore new places but she hasn’t gotten any chance to leave the country since she arrived here. On the way to work, as she stopped for her daily coffee, she thought, “I work hard, I have everything one can hope for, I deserve this holiday for myself”.

It was Monday, Helena was supposed to submit her weekly article to the editor for scrutiny and she was on top of all things at work always. The editor called for a meeting. Since the last week, Helena was thinking of pitching for a new article. As she was about to pitch her idea about an article on “Women in the writing business”, Jason, her editor assigned her a story about “style statements of pop stars”. Helena did not protest, she did not at all say anything. She agreed with Jason. She was elsewhere in her mind. She was thinking about Demetrius. “Where is Demetrius now? What is he doing? What if he is married and I don’t know about his family?”. All these questions clouded Helena’s mind. She started feeling sick.

She tried calling Demetrius again. She called him 7 times precisely. All of the 7 times, it went straight to voicemail. By the end of the day, she was seriously disturbed about the situation. She was constantly looking at her phone, checking for messages from him. There was none. She could not sleep that night. She kept texting him in hope for an answer. As she lay awake in her bed all night, she started questioning herself, her decisions regarding going into a relationship with Demetrius. She though to herself “Probably my friends were right, online dating rarely gets one love, its all just fake, all for show.” Sadness made her heart heavy, she didn’t notice when she fall asleep.

That same evening, Helena left for Los Angeles. She booked a motel for herself on the way to there. As she sat by the pool at night, she was happy, she was content, she smiled and said to herself “I can be happy alone too”. The morning after, her phone rang. The screen said “Demetrius”. Although she didn’t want to, she did pick the call. Demetrius said “where are you? Send me your location, I’m coming there.”. She didn’t want to, but she sent her location. Demetrius joined her in the same evening. They spend good time together, but all the while she was detached. She detested the company of him. She didn’t want to be with him. She could not say anything to his face. She fought a huge battle within herself.