ANB Neil One-Shot: Last Words

Last Words

The entire village got together to search for her, but she was nowhere to be found. I had entered a complete panic mode by the fifth day of her being missing, so I did nothing but search for her. After all of my searches ended up with no results, I concluded that she must have been kidnapped. It seemed that everyone else in the village thought the same, until her close friend Iroha admitted to her having left a note.

In the note she apparently explained everything, but specifically told Iroha to keep it to herself. I remember having felt a wave of relief knowing that she wasn't kidnapped, but I wanted to see that note more than anything to discover the real reason why she left. She had put so much time and energy into her farm and revitalizing the village. So why would she so suddenly leave?

I eventually had no choice but to sell all of her animals. As for the rest of the farm, it's remained untouched to this day. After a while, people stopped talking about how she might come back one day. I could tell by Iroha's uncertain smile and swift nod that that wasn't the case. After the days, months, and years started to pass, I lost all hope. She was gone, and I regretted not asking for another chance while I could.

That brings me to today. Today marks the eleventh year since her disappearance. When this time rolls around each year, I always feel sullen and attempt to distract myself with work.

I'm currently standing at my animal shop, chin resting in the palm of my hand, waiting for a customer. She was always my most frequent customer, so business has been slow for a long time now. I look up at the cloudy sky. It's getting late in the day and it looks like it might rain soon. I feel my eyes getting tired, so I close them for a few seconds. They snap open when I hear someone rushing up to the stand. Tina is in front of me, wide eyed and panting.

"Neil," she starts, still trying to catch her breath, "you need to see this."

"What?" I ask her, not hiding my irritation. "I'm working."

"Just..." She says, struggling to find the right words. "Follow me." She turns around and starts to run in the other direction. I sigh but give in. Tina doesn't normally talk to me, but when she does it's to joke around. I can tell she's not joking this time, so it must be serious.

I follow her until we reach the river area. I lean against a tree to catch my breath.

"Please tell me," I say, gasping for breath, "why we had to run all the way here?" Tina doesn't respond. I only hear some leaves crunching. A bit curious, I look up and almost fall over backwards if it wasn't for the tree that I'm leaning against. In front of me stands the one person that left me years ago. The person that so easily cut off our relationship and left without a simple goodbye. She's standing right in front of me.

I don't, I can't, say anything. I stand there dumbly, unable to speak. She continues to stand there as well, lips pressed together into a hard line and stares at me with that same cold look that she gave me so long ago. I can see Tina slowly start to move away from the scene.

"I'll leave you two to talk."

I don't really want to talk, but at the same time I want to tell her so much. I just don't know where to start.

"Hi Neil." She says after what feels like forever of the both of us standing in silence. I straighten up and stop leaning against the tree.

"Why are you here?" I manage to ask her. She looks away.

"I felt it was time."

She felt it was time? I can feel myself getting angry, and I start to laugh for some reason.

"How kind of you. Only after eleven years."

She gazes down at the ground looking guilty, but I don't feel bad. I keep getting angrier and angrier, and the words keep spilling out of my mouth.