Tell Me a Story | ✓

Graduation

GRADUATION - A short story.

She stands there by herself, wondering what she's going to do now that there's no one left.

He's gone and there's nothing she can do to stop this fact.

Her white dress is blowing in the wind and her clipped bangs get stuck behind her ears, but she doesn't fix it into place.

She looks out into the crowd of people dressed in the caps and gowns they received three days prior with their friends, a sea of creased blue fabric blinding her. She looks for him in the stands where all the other families and teachers were, even though she knows he's not there. She looks and, just like every other time she did, she's left disappointed. There's no reason for him to be there anyways, she remembers every time.

She feels the unused ticket in her dress' buttoned frocket like it's burning her chest, and she subconsciously feels for it just to make sure it's there. For whom, it didn't matter. Maybe the ticket could replace his absence, she consolidated.

They call her name on the stage and she steps up the makeshift stairs to meet the man who ran it all. She shook his hand, paused for a picture that no one would ever look for, and stepped off the stage just as soon as she stepped on.

And that was it. There went thirteen years of school that no one cheered her on through, despite the tears, celebrations, stress, and accomplishments over that time.

No one... no one but-

She does it - she takes the chance. The ticket is so hot in her frocket and as she makes her way back to her chair with the rest of her peers, she looks.

And then she

Smiles.