"Hey Maine! It's been awhile."
There he was, standing right in front of her. He hasn't changed one bit. He was still wearing glasses and when he smiled, there was a dimple on his left cheek. But he was still 17. Like the last time she had seem him. Before the accident. Before he gave his heart to her. Before he died.
"You've grown up beautiful, Maine," he continued as he approached her. "I wish I could have seen it."
"Alden."
He smiled again. The bright smile that she loved and known so well. The smile that she will never see anymore. But Maine smiled back and approached him. They gave each other a tight embrace.
"I've missed you, Alden," she said as she tightened her hold.
"But I'm never far, Maine," he answered with a smile as he let her go. "In fact, I'm right here. I never left."
He pointed at her heart and Maine smiled at that. Alden gave her his heart so that she could live. And everyday, she made sure that she made the most out of it.
"I'm a bit concerned about something though," Alden said as he furrowed his brows to contemplate.
"What?"
"You've never opened up to anyone else," Alden replied. "Sure. You've made new friends and you've done really great for yourself but you seemed distant. Like there's this invisible wall that you've placed right in front of you. How are you going to get a boyfriend if you have that wall?"
"A boyfriend?" Maine laughed. "Seriously?"
"Yes," Alden replied. "There's a guy out there somewhere whom our heart belong to."
"Our heart?"
"My heart is yours, Maine," he explained. "It always has. But let's face it. I'm not the one that was meant for you. There's another guy out there waiting for you. And I am determined for you guys to meet."
"And how are you going to do that?" Maine inquired, one eyebrow raised in question.
Alden smiled his bedimpled smile and answered, "by using our heart. The heart knows, Maine. So we follow our heart. It would lead us to him."
"It's that simple?"
"Maine," he remarked. "It's always been simple. It's just that everybody else in the world makes it complicated. The heart sees what the eyes don't. It hears things that don't make a sound. It feels what no touch can."
Alden reached out and placed his hand on her chest, near her heart. He said, "Maine, this heart. Our heart. Our heart will take you to that person. So trust the heart, Maine. Trust our heart. It would never lie to you."
He started to fade as Maine reached out and try to keep him there. But it was no use. Alden was slowly disappearing.
"Remember Maine," he called. "Trust your heart..."
"Alden!!!"
Maine woke up with a start as she found herself reaching out to thin air. She looked about her surroundings as she tried to orient herself. She finally remembered. She was in a hotel room in Paris. Her room mate was snoring soundly on the other bed.
They just got there yesterday and was suppose to spend three days in the city before their scheduled flight back to Manila. But another flight attendant of another flight crew requested to switch assignments with her because said FA wanted to spend a few more days in Paris. Maine agreed since she didn't really plan anything in Paris, as this was her first assignment outside of the country. She just wanted to try out the food besides, leaving early would take her away from her current dilemma.
'That was such a strange dream,' she thought as she tried to remember her dream. It had been such a long time since she had those weird dreams. The last time was when she said good bye to her best friend almost 8 years ago.
Maine had done so much since that time. She was able to enroll in a regular school and met new friends. And just as she had promised Alden, she was able to travel. Her parents took her places around the country so that she could experience the things she had missed out during the first fourteen years of her life. Now at 22, she became a flight attendant so she would be able to travel the world like she had always dreamed.
She'd never forgotten her best friend. She still had the other half of the two-way radio and each night when she was back home, she would still talk on the radio, imagining that Alden was on the other line. She would narrate her adventures telling some details of her trips. Although, she's not sure if Tita Rio kept the radio or boxed it up. And she never asked. When Alden died, she stopped visiting the Faulkerson's house. It was always Tita Rio and Tito Rick who went to their house to visit.
She missed her best friend, but she was keeping her promise that she would make the most out of her life. So, she wondered about her dream. Wondered what it meant. What was Alden trying to say to her?
Maine sighed as she checked the alarm clock on her bedside and immediately bolted out of bed.
"I'm going to be late!" She cried as she rushed to the bathroom.