All The Bright Places: What Happened After

Friday, September 23

        Every Friday night at exactly 7:30 I walk to this small diner on the outside of Orlando. This time isn't any different from the others. The sky is heavy and looks as though it could start pouring any minute. A strange feeling comes over me. I try to shake it, but I can't help but feel like I am being followed. I tell myself it is just the cloudy sky and move along. Besides, no one ever takes this road anymore. The diner is at the end of a dirt road that is only ever used by farmers and delivery trucks. And me, of course. I live at the dead end of the road. It was as far as I could get from people unless I wanted to live in the woods. Which I wouldn't mind if the forest wasn't so close to the river. Ever since that day I've been terrified of water. It brings back too many memories. I walk into the diner and I'm overcome by the smell of fried and hamburgers. "Hey, Darcy." I say as I sit down at the bar. Darcy is a middle aged woman with a face that looks much older than she is. Considering this and the fact she's working in an old diner on a Friday night, I make the assumption that life has not been kind to Darcy. "Hello, Ted." She says without looking up. She looks behind her shoulder and shouts, "I need a burger with onions and pickles, Marty! And a side of fries!" I'm the only one in the diner besides this girl. Young, maybe fifteen. She's sitting at a booth, alone. She looks very familiar. She has these big, unforgetable blue eyes and long, dark hair. She has something in her hand, a piece of paper maybe. She's looking at it like it might give her something. An answer perhaps. "She's been here for nearly two hours." I swivel my barstool beneath me to face Darcy, who was obviously wacthing me watch the girl. "Do you know who she is? Or where she came from?" I'm surprised at how concerned I am for a stranger. "All I know is she's a paying customer. She's on her second milkshake." I'm taken by her answer. Am I the only one who cares? I decide to sit across from her. She doesn't even notice as I sit down. It's only when rain starts hitting the window does she look up. She doesn't seem startled or react at all like I thought a young girl would towards a stranger. She simply looks at me then back down again. I wait for a while then finally decide to go back to the barstool. I start to get up when she says something. "You can stay." It's not much but it's all I need. "Okay. So, what are you doing here?" I ask casually. "I came to read." I show her the book as proof so she knows I'm not a lying creep. It's The Waves by Virginia Woolf. The same copy I've had since I was eighteen. I don't know how many times I've read and re-read this book. More than I can count. You can tell it's been well read. She looks at the book for the longest time. I wonder what's going through her head right now. "I love that book." She says quietly. "Wow. I've only ever met one other person besides me who's actually ever read it." I say, genuinly impressed. "Well, now you've met two." She smiles for the first time since I started talking to her. Her smile is the exact same beautiful smile I fell in love with fourteen years ago. That's Violet Markey's smile. Ultraviolet Remarkey-able.