Trenton

Four weeks pass. They feel like nothing compared to the terror-filled nights of the Haunting- as people are now calling it ever since a reporter leaked a story about it. We had to relocate, but not before being allowed to leave the “mental institution”. We moved to a small town in the middle of nowhere. I was “provided” with a house of my own, right next to Serena and Eric’s house. Apparently I had been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. Serena told me I had been in their heads too often. Whatever that meant. I blacked out and according to Serena acted like all the others. I blocked out my mind from anyone, mainly Serena, trying to get in. I didn’t want anyone seeing my marred mind.

A few weeks pass, and as we’ve all settled in, I walk down the street to a flower shop. I find a bouquet of twelve roses and buy them. I continue walking down the street until it turns into a dirt path. I walk a little bit longer, then turn onto a small deer path. It slopes gently upwards. After walking ten minutes, I reach the top of a small hill overlooking the whole town. A small willow tree stands. Next to it lays a small gray slab of stone. I sit down and lean against the tree. I place the flowers in front of the stone. I look over the town and sigh. I say nothing for a few seconds, then start.

“Today’s December 14th. It’s a pretty special day I guess. I remember meeting you. Coffee shop. I asked what I should get because I had never been there before. You told me, very specifically, Americano, three pumps, with 2.4 ounces of creamer. I even measured it out and everything. And you were right. Perfection.” Here I pause. “You know, sometimes the most perfect things come from the most obscure places. Like having a coffee with a stranger on a rainy day at 3:45 in the afternoon. That was one of the best days of my life. Five years ago, today. Five years. It’s felt like forever. Of course for you it’s been 4 years and 248 days. 117 days since… you know… We won. But it doesn’t feel like it… We lost too many people, too big of a sacrifice. It wasn’t worth it, in the end. I wish, I so desperately wish that this is all somehow a big dream, and that one day I’ll wake up, and that none of this had ever happened.” I pause, gazing over the town below, bustling with people as they try to get around. However, no sound reaches up this high.

“You would like where we are. Small, quaint. Quiet. Culture shock, compared to what we just went through. I live right next to Serena and Eric. The house is too small… to small to be alone in. I wish… I wish you were here, too.” At this point I break down into sobs. “We would be having… such a great time… I see Serena and Eric together… and it… it breaks my heart… I see you and me… all the past times… all the times we will now… never have… Everyone that came with us… I feel like I stole… like I stole their chance at life...” I feel my throat close up and I stop talking. There’s nothing more to say. The tears start coming and I let them out, all the tears from the past months, all the deaths I tried to ignore, all the pain I tried hiding. I brought it all up and released it through tears. Heaving sobs escape my mouth, and I’m wracked with shudders. I look up at the willow, hanging low. I see her in the leaves.

“I… I wish… you were… still… here… And I… I will love you… for all time.” I break down at this point and cry out. I curl up into a ball under the willow tree on top of the hill next to the stone that reads:

Here lies Kylie Pond