In Our Hearts

alternate ending

This is the alternate ending I was talking about (🙆).
*****

It has been three years since Maya's death and a year since I passed the counselling programme, be friends again with Farkle, Zay and Lucas, and it has been a year since I started dating one of my best friends, Farkle. A lot of things happened in that one year like the four of us finally stepped into high school. I really wished Maya was there for me to take the first step into that building but, the guys managed to support me. And I realised, high school wasn't so bad after all.

We tried to get our old names back. Zay impressed the seniors with his hilarious traits, so he was known as the class clown again. Lucas the nice guy who'd always help anyone in trouble, Farkle was ranked as the school's best student and as for me - the girl with Rileytown. Other than that, we started volunteering in helping some programmes and clubs to be active again, and put Maya's name in the credits. Always. I went on a date with Charlie Gardner once before I realised that I was falling for Farkle. And Lucas got into that bull riding contest again and won the first prize, just to be reminded of Maya and to prove her that he's alright. And we respected him with that thought. Soon, the four of us became close with most kids there. We ruled the place, it was our kingdom even if we knew that it won't ever be the same without Maya.

Outside school, Aunt Katy and Uncle Shawn finally got married and now she's pregnant for eight months which is so close to being delivered to a new baby. She also gave me some of Maya's stuffs like the album she made, or some of her clothes, her books and her diary. I didn't open it yet though. I wanted to wait. Auggie and I had been really close since Maya passed away. But it wasn't because I didn't have a playmate anymore, it was because I thought that Auggie needs to be protected, just like how Maya thinks of Farkle. Mom and dad were just mom and dad. And I wanted it to be that way forever. Me and Aunt Katy were going to make Maya's songs into a hit now that she could afford it and we had to find the perfect girl who could sing Maya's songs and play her guitar which will start after Aunt Katy gives birth to her baby. We made a rule to make it a compulsary for them to use Maya's guitar. It wasn't going to be easy but we'll find the girl.

I was in my bedroom and it was nightime. New York was beautiful at night, with neon colours in the sky and the peaceful sensation in the neighbourhoods. But the upside, stars couldn't be seen. The city lights were too bright, stars couldn't show up. Even the moon wasn't relevant. It made me feel like I hated living here sometimes. But I have to learn to accept.

At this time, people might've been sleeping but I was still up with the love of my life.

"Just check it okay? I sent it there," Farkle said through the phone. We were talking about our Chemistry project which we had to use the powerpoint to explain more about ionic bonds and covalent bonds. Farkle had send some equations and diagrams of elements and compounds to my email which I hadn't open in such a long time.

"Okay, okay, just wait." I rose up from my bed and took the laptop on my studydesk then sat back on my bed. I turned on the laptop and opened my email browser.

"Oh there's one hear from *insert Farkle's weird email*." I laughed at his silly username. He couldn't change it and he didn't want to make a new account. It held precious memories of our childhood. It defined who we were before. No one wants to change that.

"Just open it." He demanded. I could sense him smiling at the other end of the line.

"No." I laughed as I clicked on the unread inbox. It took a moment for the page to load until an image popped up.

There were no equations nor diagrams of elements but a picture of his room's wall. There were pictures hung on the pastel blue wall - pictures of us, him with the guys, us with the guys, his family, the little things he captured using his polaroid and at the centre of the wall, it was a picture of a purple cat. It was a picture of a drawing of a purple cat. It was a picture of my drawing of a purple cat.

"Farkle.." I said through the phone. "That's so sweet." I actually didn't know what to say but really, it felt like you're walking down a street on a normal day and flowers pop out of the ground when you pass by or when you're in the middle of nowhere and suddenly you're being lifted up into the air, where you can see the whole of New York just below you. It was beautiful.

"Yeah, I just wanna show you that." He laughed nervously. I love him. The person he was now and the person he was before. Because they were the same person. Even if we were dating, Farkle hadn't change a bit. And I liked him for that.

After admiring his wall room, talking and just talking some more, we called it a night. He hung up after saying his goodnights and I was just checking the laptop that hadn't been shut down yet.

On that email browser, there was a collumn on the side of the message box that showed a notification, saying that I had another message that hadn't been read yet. So I decided to read it first before I shut the laptop down.

It was from an unknown account - *insert some random person's email*. I hoped that it was not that important since it has been a long time. When I clicked the message, a file started to download which turned out to be an audio. It was two minutes long and it took just a couple of seconds for it to finnish downloading.

I clicked play and a rustling noise started to be heard. Then a voice. A crying voice. A crying girl's voice. Maya's.

"Riley, Riley I need your help. It's me, Maya," she pleaded. She was whispering. "I don't know where I am, it's dark and I just found this computer and an email.." she didn't finnish the sentence. She sounded like she was in a hurry. "Someone took me here. I don't know who but they had masks on. I don't know where to go, the doors are all locked and I can't find light switches anywhere, it's really dark here. I'm scared." And just then, a car engine sounded. "Riley I have to go, they're coming. Please get help, just tell someone please-" And with that the audio ended.

I panicked. It was night, I didn't know what to do. I looked at the message and it was from three years ago, after Maya's death! I stood up and walked around the room.

Everything was falling, collapsing. What was that? Who was she? Was she really Maya? But she's dead! Am I hallucinating again?

Then I checked my laptop again. I wasn't hallucinating. It was real. It was all real. The message was still there. From three years ago.

"Maya!" I said.