Chapter 20 - The Goodbye [Last Chapter]
"It's time to go" She said.
We were currently sitting on the roof of the highest building in the whole state.
"Shh. The sun is coming out" I told her and she got quiet, as she too stared at the sun with me.
"When I was little" Evelyn said "I thought the sun was Yellow. Now I realize it was Orange"
"The most perfect shade of Orange ever" I said.
We stood silent for a while, watching the sun rise. Watching sun rise with someone you love was without a doubt the best feeling in the whole world.
I realized I still hadn't told Evelyn I loved her. Was I even going to? What was the point anyway.
She finally got up "I have to go now Archer" She said.
I sighed in defeat. I never wanted the night to end, but it had to of course.
"Where will you go Evelyn?" I asked her.
"I don't know yet. Maybe anywhere I will be accepted. I have seen shops where they fix broken toys. I am looking for a place that can fix broken people. I will like to be fixed" She said.
"So you will head out to nowhere?" I asked.
"Nowhere but everywhere. I will explore, until I find the one place that me and my heart have been looking for" She replied.
I opened my mouth but said nothing and closed it again.
"We will talk Archer. I will mail you, I will call you I promise" She promised "As long as you don't tell anyone"
"I won't" I promised. All I wanted was to hold on to her but I knew what I needed to do was let her go, forever.
"So I guess this is the goodbye" She said and she started walking away, waving at me.
"Evelyn?" I said once again, stopping her dead in her tracks as she turned around again, still with a smile on her face.
"Yes?" Her deep husky voice said.
I barely managed to say the next words.
"I love you" I said.
She took steps towards me and caught me off guard placing her lips on mine for a bare moment.
And in that bare moment I wanted to believe that she would stay now and we both would confess our undying love to each other and be happily ever after. But I knew that was not possible.
She held my hand in hers.
"Remember, the real kind of love is the love that lets go" She said and she turned around, walking away step by step as I counted the steps she was taking.
I wanted to scream and shout or anything to stop her from going away, but my throat suddenly went dry and I couldn't speak. I knew I had to let her go.
One step... two steps....five steps... and then she was gone.
And I was left wishing to see her and hear her voice again.
"Mom where is my robe. I can't find it" I called downstairs.
I came back a little while after Evelyn had left and was now getting ready for the graduation ceremony that took place. Harry was supposed to be writing my speech for today, as we had planned earlier.
I wasn't even allowed to read it before, I had to read it for the first time in front of all the students, parents and teachers.
"Right here" She said walking in with my robe.
"Archer, Harry is here" My dad called and I walked downstairs with my robe on now.
I saw him grinning at me ear to ear as he too wore a robe on, probably the same from the other night.
"You can't survive a minute without me Harry" I smiled.
"I am sure it is the other way" He countered.
"Get together, photo time" My mom said grabbing the camera as my dad handed us our graduation caps.
I pulled Harry close and even though we didn't normally smile for photos, we both smiled really wide for this one.
"Take my photo with Harry" My mom said as she stood with him now, handing me the camera.
"Um there must be a mistake mom" I said sarcastically "Because as far as I remember, I was your son"
"Don't be jealous, just take the photo" He said and I rolled my eyes but took the photo anyway.
"We're getting late, let's go" Dad said as we rushed out.
As my parents went to the area where the parents were supposed to be sitting, I and Harry met the others.
"Wow, this is the same robe isn't it?" Mario said.
"You must be Einstein" Harry said sarcastically.
"Thank god you are wearing clothes underneath this time" Marilyn said before adding "You are, right?"
Harry rolled his eyes.
"And now, it's time for us to award the student of the year" The principal spoke from the stage "Archer Bryant"
"It's your queue, do well with your speech" Harry grinned as he pushed me to the stage.
I opened the paper in front of me when it was time for me to speak, but before that I said a few things of my own.
"I would like to thank all the teachers, fellow partners and my parents who have always helped me in every stage of life. I am honored to be announced as the student of the year, but there are a few things I would like to say to all of you. It's a request in fact. And that would be, please be kind to each other and realize that everyone of us is going through one thing or another. Live's are precious, they can't be thrown away just like that" I finished and my eyes met Harry's.
He was giving me a weird look which clearly meant that read what's on the paper already.
"Moving on" I chuckled, reading the paper that Harry wrote for me now "Now that I am leaving I might say a few things that I normally wouldn't. For starters Mrs Smith, I never liked you. I don't know why you kept disliking me and I'll be honest I've talked bad about you often. And just so you know, your husband is cheating on you with your neighbor" I took a pause, my eyes wide open with the realization of what I had just said.
I would never say that even in my wildest dreams.
I glanced at Harry first who was staring back at me with a thumbs up and a very big grin. Next I looked at my parents who were as wide eyed as me, looking at me weirdly. Then I finally looked at Mrs Smith, and to say she was angry would be the understatement of the century. However, the rest of the school was laughing.
"I honestly never liked this school" I continued reading "I hated it even. Our principal clearly isn't doing his job well. Might as well teach him a lesson or two once I'm out of here" I said and I heard everyone laughing again.
"At the end I would like to say that however it happened, time passed and I am somehow thankful for that. I hope that we achieve all that we've ever wanted in our lives" I read at the end, thinking that Harry wrote a good ending, however the last sentence changed it again.
"Oh, and not to forget my best friend Harry is the most awesome dude ever" I read and rolled my eyes as everyone once again laughed, very well aware of what was happening now.
As I ended the speech, to my surprise the whole hall clapped for me --- except for our Principal and Mrs Smith of course.
"Hurry up Archer" Marilyn called for me and she took me to where the rest of our mates were standing --- our whole graduation batch.
"We all throw our graduation caps at the count of three" A voice came.
"One.. Two...Three" We all threw up our graduation caps as we cheered loudly.
"We will see each other once a month right?" Marilyn said to me and Harry.
It was time to finally say good bye. During this time, we had got pretty close.
However it was time for them to part ways. Harry was going to be taking some media classes, as he was interested in acting and filmography sort of stuff.
Marilyn planned on becoming a professional lawyer one day. That was something she had always wanted. And I wanted to become a doctor, as I had always planned too.
"Once a month? We will see each other once a weak" Harry cheered.
"We will be in different states Harry" I pointed out.
"Who cares, we will meet every single week because that's how we roll" He said.
"I know, it's not like you will survive without me anyway" I grinned.
"Again, I am positive it's the other way around" He countered.
Even though we promised each other that we'd be meeting at least once a month, the truth is that we didn't meet each other again for a whole year.
The next three hundred and sixty five days of our lives were so rushed that we hardly managed to stay in touch with each other as we worked hard to achieve and accomplish what we always wanted to.
We always considered but then we forgot all about it.
Honestly, life is like a crazy roller coaster. It takes us up at one moment only to bring us back down at the other. We never know what to expect, and maybe that is why life is unexpected.
I would have never expected to do all that I did for Evelyn, but I ended up doing it.
I don't know if I feel guilty or proud when I say this, but even when my life was tough. Even when my days were so busy and hard that I often forgot to think about Harry and my parents, I still found time to think about Evelyn.
A bare moment, a second was all it took for me to remember the perfection she was. The last moment of ours fixed in my mind forever, replaying again and again.
I didn't know where life was going to take me now, but whatever it was I knew I was ready for it.
It took four months for Evelyn to send me her first mail. She told me in it how she was in Spain now, and she was totally fine. However she was going to continue travelling because she hasn't found what she was looking for.
After that we kept exchanging mails, staying in touch. But honestly, it wasn't the same. Nothing was ever same again.
It couldn't have been with her and everyone gone. Life changed.
Today, even now when it tears me up inside to think of Evelyn and how I had to let go of her I can't help but be thankful for her along with my group of friends and hate them at the same time.
Because they gave me a wonderful life, but sadly they never taught me how to live it without them.