βSo I guess this is it, isnβt it? There are no more chapters, right? You said we were getting close and that was a while ago.β
I stared up into the sky, it was the same old sky there had always been, except for some rainclouds that hadnβt been there a few minutes ago. It wasnβt raining, but they were still floating up there, grey and dismal.
You begin to ask me something.
βDonβt ask me how I know, I just do. Things just feel really final right now, like the downward slope is starting to level out. Eventuallyβ¦ Weβll hit the back cover, right?β
I sat down on a bench- had that been there a few minutes ago? It was hard to tell.
βDid you say yes? I think I heard you. Your voice keeps getting harder to hear.β
Thunder rumbled, butβ¦ It wasnβt like the thunder Iβm used to. It sounded like you, and it sounded sad. From one of the clouds, a single drop of rain fell on the grainy wood of the bench.
ββ¦ Youβre crying, arenβt you? Iβm sorry, Iβm really sorry. I wish I could change this. I wish I could reach where you are.β
Thunder rolled again, and behind it was a voice. Your voice.
βMe? Iβll be fine, I think. I donβt know if this has ever happened before. I donβt really know what happens when youβ¦ close the book.β
You ask me if Iβm afraid.
βNo, actually. Becauseβ¦ Whatever happens to me when you close the coverβ¦ You can always open the book up again, right?β and thatβs when the answer hits me, the realization jolting me to stand again. βThatβs it, isnβt it? You can open it back up. The words wonβt change, but Iβll still be here. You can meet me all over again, and I can meet you, and everything we have will come back.β
Itβs raining now, and the clouds have merged together, and in them, for the first timeβ¦ I see you.Β
You are the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my entire life.
Youβre crying, but itβs quiet, and maybe that was the sound of your tears hitting paper.
I realize that we donβt have a lot of time.
βListen- before itβs all over- I want you to know that everything, all of thisβ¦ Even being over, it was worth it. It was worth it to meet you, to get to know you. Even if when you close that cover and I disappear- it was all worth it. I love you.β
You love me too, I know it, I can feel it, just like for a moment I can feel what it would be like to hold your hand.
There is a very long pause, and I realize youβre prolonging what has to happen.
For the first time, you have to be the hero. You have to close the book so we can keep going. And I believe in you.
The sky gets darker, slowly, but then it gets light again, and your face is still up in those clouds. You open your mouth and for the first time I HEAR you, not just feel what youβre saying or understand you in my own head, your voice comes through the pages in your world and into the reality of mine, and it reverberates and I can hear every little nuance, down to the hitch from you crying.
βIβll never forget you,β you say. βIβll come back soon.β