Elia (EDITING)

Epilogue.

"Dude it's really warm." I side hug Nathaniel and look up to his face smiling at him." Garry goes on with all of us.

"This- if I have to be honest, this could be the beginning of the end our friendship, if we're not careful and if we don't hold on to others, if we're not careful enough, this might be the last time we have with each other. We are going to leave and we'll meet new people, some are going to be more special in our lives... okay- what I am trying to say is- I hope this isn't the last. I wish sometime down the line we'd look back to last night and say we kept our promise of being together. I hope we'd all do that."

By the time he finish talking, each and everyone of us is fighting back tears, including himself.

"Bring it in guys." Julia sobs and we have this massive group hug filled with sob and 'I love you's

"We should go now."

Yes, hope has always been an illusion in my life, from that afternoon when I was nine, to last year when I lost my mom, hope has always been an illusion to me.

But looking at it now, that was what I thought. I have what I need to start afresh. I have my high school certificate, I have Xander, my closest friend and the third thing I have, is Nathaniel.

With these three, I have hop for a future. Even if I will be stuck in Italy for some months, doing what I should have done long back that is seeing my relatives, I have hope that when I come back to follow Nathaniel to Australia for university, all will go well.

It's as if all I have went through led me to today. Not the day I will only graduate, but the day I shut the door that drags me back to my past.

"What are you thinking about?" I look over Nathaniel who is driving.

"Oh, the cheesy stuff, like how they end a movie. The moment the protagonist is looking outside through the window thinking of how his life has been shitty and suddenly changes to be better."

I pop a multi-vit tab in my mouth. The doctor prescribed me these for my lack of appetite. One is enough for a day, I'll eat like a normal teen boy.

"Can I have one too?"

"Oh no, the last time I gave you spent the whole day eating." Je chuckles.

"My dad will be proud." He says after a while.

"So proud." I say. "Leo is also proud of you, you know?"

Somethings have improved. Nathaniel has drawn close to Leonard. The two bonded so fast it surprised me. They both share a mutual important person, that is Frank, and that makes them even more tight.

However, healing became something the both of then never considered. The day they agreed to get rid of his things, they found themselves cleaning the room then leaving his things the same way they had been.