My Teacher's Obsession

Chapter 45 - See you later

I stare at the roses in my hand and sigh. I check my watch, it's getting late. I look over and I see Peyton walking my way. "You ready?" I hesitantly nod and she grabs my hand.

We walk into the room and take a seat in the first row.

After about ten minutes the whole room is filled. My hands are sweating and I can't sit still. A man dressed nicely stands at the podium reading over a paper as the church choir sings. As the music continues, my vision becomes blurry. Life has been hard, for all of us. I don't know how we got through it or how we managed to get to senior year.

"Before we get started, would anyone like to say some words?" I take no time to stand up and everyone looks up at me. I walk up to the podium with my roses and look out to the crowd.

"Hi, my name is Ashton and Ally was the love of my life." Kelly smiles at me sympathetically before breaking down again as I try to continue. "When you think of Ally, you think of the bright light in a dark room. She was special and by far the most beautiful human being ever to exist. She has been through hell and back during her short existence on this earth. I was the last one to ever speak to her and that is the greatest gift I will ever be given because in that moment, we shared how we really felt about one another." My voice cracks and Luke nods encouraging me to go on. "She is the toughest girl I have ever met. And that is why I want to bring justice to Ally. We found something in her room that I would like to show you all. The only person who deserves to tell her story, is her." I plug in the cord attaching the speaker to her laptop.

Ally's beautiful face appeared on the screen and I sit there, lost in her eyes as always. She starts from her ninth birthday and it all went from there. "So after hearing my story, whether it was me showing you or someone else showing you because something had happened to me, I'm glad you all know the truth about my life. The whole point of this video is to raise awareness. My last dying wish, is to open a safe space for everyone who has had the same life or a similar life like mine. This space will be open to anyone who is having issues and just needs somewhere to let go and be alone. I have been working on this place for awhile now. Although it's not quite finished yet, I was hoping you all could help me." She smiles brightly as I see it. She shows a picture of the place she would go to in the middle of the woods. The tree and rock all there and four well-built walls surround it.

"The walls represent our own that we may hold up. It's time to break down those walls, figuratively not literally because it took me a long ass time to build those." Everyone around the room laughs and she giggles at her own joke. Her laugh makes me laugh and my heart breaks even more.

"Whenever you feel like there's nothing left, go to these walls and write on them. Write out your feelings. The walls will never judge and will be there for support. I hope this will help people, because I couldn't help myself. And knowing that from the grave I can still help people, will mean the world to me. One day, I hope those walls will turn into even more! Thank you for your time, and let this day not be about grief but about celebration. I've had my rough times, but now I've found my peace. I love you and this is not a goodbye, but a see you later."  Her beautiful smile disappears and the room becomes silent. Peyton, myself, Luke, and Chris all stand up clapping and everyone else else follows. I walk back up and shut her laptop.

"So, in honor of her wishes, we will be burying Ally right in the heart of those walls. So please, if you all will follow us through the woods." We pick up the casket and carry it through the woods until we find it. There's a grave dug and we place Ally down on the silver thing that lowers her.

Everyone takes their turn talking about Ally as I sit and listen. At the corner of my eye I see Derrick and my blood boils.

I walk over to him and whisper quietly. "What the hell are you doing here?"