The End of Our Stars

Chapter 10 | Epilogue

THE LAST GOOD DAY

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I imagined my Last Good Day to be with Gus back in Amsterdam. But then it seemed unfair to all who had been with me in my brief moment of existence. So I reimagined my Last Good Day and formed a perfect picture in my head of exactly how I want things to be.

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"Hi, darling," Kaitlyn enters the kitchen and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "Don't you look dashing?" She says as she looks me over. "This is quite the occasion, isn't it?"

"I was hoping for it," I replied. "Help me pull out the turkey."

She sighs heavily but helps me anyway. "I just got my nails done, you know."

"Sorry," I murmured gingerly and together, we set the good-looking dead bird in the middle of the table. "That's perfect."

"It smells nice, hon."

"I'm really glad you could make it, Kaitlyn." I put an arm around her and called over my parents and Isaac and his family. "Thank you all for coming," I said and they awkwardly went to their seats. Kaitlyn settles down and watches me carefully.

Then Isaac came forward and whispered, "Hazel, can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure," I replied and went with him to the living room. "What's up?"

"You're really scaring us here."

"Okay," I laughed shakily. "I know I'm not a good cook—well, I don't cook—but I followed all the instructions in the book and if it goes down to food poisoning, I take full responsibility."

"You know that's not what I mean," he sighs and puts his hands on my shoulders. "You put on your dress."

I looked down at my white dress that's too short for me now and raised a brow at him. "Can't I put a good dress?"

"Hazel."

"Look, I just want a good dinner with you, guys—"

"Exactly," he lets go of me and runs his hand through his now-disheveled hair. "You put on the dress and you set up this beautiful dinner, you cooked for goodness' sake—and all of this just boils down to..." He trails off, not saying anymore.

"What?" I dared and he looks at me with sad tired eyes.

"You act like you're saying goodbye." It comes out as a whimper and I realized how many times I've made Isaac cry. So I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight for as long as I could.

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The girl walked across the bridge and there she found the gold.

But when she looked back, the bridge was gone.

She couldn't bring back the gold and now she couldn't go back home.

So she walked on and on.

At first, she was afraid to get lost. But soon, she was lost and she was no longer afraid.

So she walked on and on—and on—and on—and on—

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"Dinner was lovely," Isaac's mom hugged me and left with Graham while Isaac stayed behind. Kaitlyn gave me a big grin before heading off. And soon, my parents retired to their bedroom, ready to sleep.

I was surprised that Isaac agreed so quickly on my plans to have him over. I didn't really put him out to be the sleepover kind of guy but I knew what were about to do as soon as we were alone.