Tearing Paper

Plans

Ella tightened the long knitted cardigan that wrapped her body as she walked towards the small house.

Its door was widely open-she could hear grunts and noises of falling boxes.

"What's with all this?" she greeted Lucio, whose face was covered by a giant cardboard box he was carrying.

"Moving. I couldn't stay in this town anymore. No," he said between his breaths.

"Lucio..."

"As long as I'm here," he exhaled deeply, gathering back the strength that seemed to leave him for so long, "I'll never stop thinking about her. And I don't wanna grow old in this rusty crooked building, thinking, 'I miss her'. I don't."

"Do you think life holds something much bigger than that?" Ella asked with a smile.

"Yes. And actually, I have you to thank," Lucio wiped the sweat on his forehead and said.

"Really?"

"Well, meeting you made me realize that we both have spent so-so much time chasing after people who clearly don't deserve us. You're too beautiful, Miss Ella, for a mediocre journalist like Nate, and I... I'm too much of a mess for Dianne."

"I see," Ella nodded. "Thank you."

"What for?"

"I don't know, I feel like I have to thank you for making me realize the same," she replied. "Nate... Nate is my best friend. I guess there are some things that are bound to be what it is forever."

"Until we meet again," Lucio raised his eyebrows, his messy hair loomed over his dark green eyes as he taped the last box of things in that house, locking away everything he had remembered about that house.

"Will we?" Ella asked as she watched Lucio walking towards the driveway.

His tall figure only replied with a shrug, and as he disappeared into his old car, Ella watched him speed away and knew it was time to be her own person.