I’ll be waiting
The Far- It was her birthday and they had gone exploring in the woods when they found The Far. It was a lake by the clearing in the forest at the foot of the hills. She remembered every detail of that day like it was yesterday.
She looked at his message which said, “Meet me at The Far, ASAP”. She set out with some Coke and his favourite chicken and cheese sandwiches. He was always hungry and it was almost lunch time.
She arrived at The Far and saw him sitting by the lake with his back towards her. She hopped over and hugged him from the back and said, “Hey! What’s up?”
He turned to face her and she saw his eyes were blood red.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He didn’t respond. Instead he pulled her to him, hugged her tight and started crying. He was crying so hard and she knew it was best to not move or say anything until had he stopped. After what felt like an eternity, he stopped but still held on to her.
Finally, he spoke, “My family and I are moving away. Dad’s got a new job and he’s taking all of us with him. We’ll be leaving on the 6th, 3 weeks from now”.
She doesn’t remember much of what happened after that. She was crying a lot, she recalls. But not him. He didn’t cry after that one time.
They spent most of their time together the next 3 weeks. Night outs became a usual thing. They tried to be together as much as possible. But the 6th was always at the back of her mind. It was only a week until he had to leave and she had no clue as to how to get through it.
She drove to his house after breakfast. She was to drop him to the airport. Surprisingly, the atmosphere in his house was more of excitement than sorrow. She felt a little more at peace on talking to his mother. Seeing her exited cheers made her feel like they were going on vacation and not moving away. She wished it could be like that.
His parents and sister rode with his granddad, while both of them rode in her car, to the airport. Nothing was said in the 40 minute ride to the airport. Nothing was there to be said. He was getting the bags out while she said Goodbye to his Mum, Sister and Dad as they walked on ahead to the terminal. In the end it was time to tell Goodbye to him.
She waited till he disappeared again into the terminal and this time she knew he wasn’t coming back. She stood there for some more time till she saw his flight take off and she said to herself, “I’ll be waiting”.