Infinite

Unsaid Emily

𝄆 ♫♪ 𝄇
If I could take us back, if I could just do that
And write in every empty space the words "I love you" in replace
Then maybe time would not erase me
If you could only know I never let you go
And the words I most regret are the ones I never meant to leave
Unsaid Emily
𝄆 ♫♪ 𝄇

"Luke, I want to do something for you." Mari was beaming with excitement as she held a little piece of paper in her hand.

"What is it?" He didn't know what it could possibly be.

"Follow me." She motioned toward the door of the music studio. He didn't know what to expect, but what she had planned was nothing like what he was thinking. It was wild and elaborate and banked on a lot of assumptions. "I'm, um... I'm going to give this to your mom." She unfolded the paper to show a song that Luke wrote—one that she and Julie found months ago—and he didn't know what to think.

"You are?" Luke knew the song in an instant, and he didn't know what to think. He'd watched his mom fall apart knowing her only son was gone for good. The things he wanted to say to her had evolved into a long list of apologies and regrets. Everything on that list, everything that he wanted to say, ended up in the song.

"Yeah. Is— is that okay?" Her eyes were innocently sweet and he couldn't stamp that out.

"Of course. Let's head over there." Luke led her there, but he didn't know that she'd seen on his birthday. A long twenty minute walk later, he pulled her towards the home that held a thousand memories of his childhood. "Mari, this means a lot to me. Really. Every day since I left, I wished I hadn't left the way I did. My mom is everything to me."

"I know she'll love this song." Mari didn't truly know whether that was true or not, but she hoped—as she rang the doorbell—that it was.

"Hi." Luke's mother smiled, though she was confused by the girl in front of her.

"Hi. I'm Marietta Halloway. I believe you had a son named Luke?" Mari could see Luke in the corner of his eye, but what she didn't know was that he was almost crying.

"Yes. That's right. I'm sorry, what's your name again?" To Mari, Luke's mother was sweet and kind and she lit up when Mari mentioned Luke's name.

"Marietta. My friend lives in the studio where your son used to play and we found something that we thought you'd like back." Mari pulled the paper out of her pocket. Before she unfolded it, or even planned to, Mrs. Patterson invited her in.

"Hon, is that a— oh, hello. And who are you?" Mr. Patterson, who seemed to be frail and on the precipice of old age, walked in the room and saw Mari standing with his wife.

"Mitch, this is Marietta. Her friend lives in the house where the band used to play." That piqued his interest as well. He wasn't as close with his son as his wife was, but he had the idea to get his son a guitar all those years ago—it all started with a street musician playing a song he loved. "She brought something from when Luke was there."

"Oh, that's nice," Mitch Patterson said, hoping to see what it was.

"Yeah. Um. It's addressed to someone named... Emily?" Mari unfolded the paper and held it out.

"I'm Emily."

Mari handed the paper to Emily. The beautiful words leaped off the page, created an apology far better than Luke could've ever said without a melody behind it. No time for goodbyes/Didn't get to apologize was the pair of lines that elicited the first tear, though the next several also did the exact same and both Mitch and Emily were shaking with sobs by the end.

And the words I most regret are the ones I never meant to leave/Unsaid Emily.

"Thank you. Truly. That was beautiful." Shaking wracked through their bodies still, but smiles beamed from their solemnly happy faces. "You have no idea..." Emily didn't finish her statement, yet Mari knew what she was going to say.

You have no idea how proud I am.

"Of course." Mari left silently, only a goodbye uttered to her hosts. When she saw Luke in tears over what his mom had said, she knew she did the right thing. She only wished that she could've said her own, equally powerful sorries and goodbyes to her own parents. After eight years without either of her biological parents (and fourteen with both), she'd give almost anything to do just that.

"Thank you, Mari. It means the world to me." Luke cornered her at the end of the driveway, but didn't recognize the look of longing that she held in her eyes. "Is there something wrong? Do I need to get Julie?"

"No. I just... I miss my parents. I've lived so long without them, yet sometimes it feels like yesterday that they left." Mari immediately dismissed the thought, going back to her usual, happy self. "I'm really happy, though. Your parents are really proud of you, Luke."

"Hey, no. Do you want to visit your parents? I don't mind heading over to the cemetery for a while; I've been meaning to try to find my own headstone." Mari laughed at the idea of Luke (and the other two ghosts) seeing their gravestones. She could imagine their reactions, which were ones of shock, curiosity, or even amusement. I'm sure you can put the guy with their reaction. "Are you laughing at me?"

"Maybe." Mari smirked, and they walked over to the cemetery, where hundreds of stones engraved with hundreds of names laid in neat rows. She knew exactly where her parents were, even though she'd never been to see them. Upon seeing them a half hour later, with their memories preserved in a slab of stone, she wasn't sad.

She knew they were still watching down on her and that they were proud of their only child. Mari was proud of herself. After everything she'd been through and everything she'd endured, being as happy as she was wasn't a given. Grief could've taken over and pulled her under, but she didn't let it.

"Luke, these are my parents. Mom, dad, this is Luke." Mari stood there with a wide smile, and felt a shower of love.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Halloway." Luke felt awkward, but he knew that these were the people that meant the most to her. They were her rocks, even if they weren't around anymore. He wanted to say so many things, but there weren't enough words in the world to capture it. "Your daughter is one of the most talented people I have ever met. She always manages to make everyone happy and can figure out the solution to any problem and she makes me a better person. I know you both aren't alive now and I'm definitely not, but if that wasn't true, your daughter would be more than I ever deserved in a friend."

Mari had never realized what Luke thought of her, at least not that hard. She didn't know he thought the world of her, or that he'd date her in a heartbeat if he was still alive. Yet, she thought the same thing of him. The best surprise in her life had, by a mile, been him (and, of course, Reggie and Alex). She didn't want him to go, whether it was to Caleb's club to be chained to a melody for eternity or up to heaven (or hell) to live out the rest of his afterlife in the clouds. It wasn't just a sentence for him anymore; it was a sentence for her, too.

"Thank you for raising the most amazing person in the world." Luke poofed away before Mari could get the chance to say anything to him. Not that she could find the words to say.

Author's Note: If "Unsaid Emily" wasn't sad enough, I think this is enough to make you cry again. This scene was so sad I couldn't help but cry myself as I was writing it. Vote and let me know what you think in the comments. All the best, MistyRider921.