The passenger

it was a cold night of december. A little bit before christmas eve. I can't remember the date, as this moment was lost in space and in time.
It all started a couple of months ago, i was starting college. I decided somehow to go to a college 2 hours away from my hometown. Maybe i was trying to run away from the issues instead of solving them...but this story's not mine. Anyways, i decided to sign up for some taxi driving shit at my school, which included that i had to drive back and forth from
my hometown and nearby villages to school for students who couldnt afford the bus or didnt have a car. School was paying me for that and, to be honest, i hate finding myself alone with my own thoughts.
At the beggining of the semester, i received a message from a girl named Alexe. She was asking me if i could drive her to school on mondays and bring her back on fridays. She lived about 45 min away from me. I didnt have school on friday, i thought i was clear on that on my add. But, you know, she was cute and mysterious that somehow i thought it could be interesting.
the first morning, august 8, i went to get her infront of her house.
she was standing there in her drive way, her bag hanging on her hips and her hair tied up in a bun. I can't hide the fact that something in the way she looked made my heart explode. She was gorgeous and so mysterious. I wanted to meet that girl so bad.
Well i wasnt going to: Alexe was part of these people that are so hard to reach. Too hard to reach. It was as if she thought she was too good for me. The first week was terrible. She would say "hi" than sit there, look outside the whole 2 hours and wave at me before getting down and running to her class. After 2 weeks, i started to get tired of this. I decided to talk to her...if she wasn't going to do the first steps then i would. I was determinated to talk to her but when i got to her house, Alexe wasnt there. In the drive way, instead of the usual pretty girl i saw every monday morning, was standing an old women. I got out of the car and asked her about alexe. The women said "oh, i've heard so much about you i couldnt wait to meet you". I was so confused, why would she talk about me, we barely know eah other. She continued after a short pause "Alexe fainted yesterday, we rushed her to the hospital but the doctors think it would be better for her to stay there for a bit. i wanted to get in contact with you but i'm zero with technologies." she appologized a million time and offered me fresh baked muffins. I drove away, but alexe never left my mind.
2 more weeks passed before i received a message from the mysterious girl. She appologized about the event and asked me if i still wanted to drive her to school on monday. I agreed and presented myself in her driveway as usual. She got in the car, she wouldnt tell a word. After a moment she took a deep breath and said "i know i'm not really fun to hang out with..." . I sort of jumped when she talked because i was so used to her not talking. I lowered the music and said "huh, no...i would like to know more about you, though" i sounded like a complete idiot. She turned, and i noticed how pale she was. I turned my eyes back to the road. "why?" she asked. "well you seem...nice" i articulated. She started laughing and for the rest of the time, she did not shut up. And i didnt want her to. She was 18, liked to do skateboard and to read, she had a dog named Sammy, she lived with her mom and her younger brother Fred. She was a verry colorfull person, full of life.
Weeks passed and Alexe was opening more and more to me. After about a month, i asked her why she decided to talk with me.
this is when my views on life changed. Alexe was a verry quiet and shy person. Her dad left her familly behind to go love another women. He was an asshole who stole everything from them. She said she've seen so much misery that getting attached to people was scarry to her. But most importantly...Alexe didnt faint the sunday i met her mum. She went to the hospital because she found an unusual bump near her armpit. Her voiced cracked as she confessed to me "i have breast cancer". I didnt want to believe it, as I was growing deeper feelings for alexe. But with time, she became paler and paler, she started laughing a little less, looking at the window with this sad expression a little more. I was worried about her.
The morning she arrived with her hair shaved, Alexe didnt talk to me. She sat there, quietly crying. She got out of the car, but as i saw her walking to her class, crying and shivering, i couldnt help but to run after her. "Alexe you're the prettiest girl i've ever seen" i said. She turned, stared at me as if i said i believed in satan claus. I walked up to her. "I was in love with you the second i saw you" i said with all my courage. She shed a tear, smiled, grabbed the colar of my coat and brought me closer to her. Then, Alexe kissed me. I wraped my hands around her small waist and we kissed for a long moment, as the first snow began to fall. It was magical.
Alexe became my girlfriend and i started assisting to her chimotherapies. She was weaker and weaker. Everything was going so fast. Too fast. I couldnt help but thinking that getting attached to her was a bad idea but i couldnt just let go of her, she was haunting me and she still does.
This cold december night, a year after our first kiss, Alexe called me from her cellphone. "i was in love with you the second i saw you too", she said. "You're my other half" i answered like i always did. She hunged up. I thought that was weird, but Alexe was so special and somehow weird that i didnt realize what was happening. Its the next morning, when i presented myself at her house that i really understood. Alexe's mum was in her daughter's room, her face burried in her child's favourite sweater, crying her eyes out. I dropped the small gift i was about to give her, fell on my knees and felt my soul vanishing. I can't remember everything that happened next...the funerals and the pain...but i remember this cold winter night i went to her grave. I was feeling completely broken. I had stopped driving people to school, i didnt go to school in weeks. I brought with me the present i wanted to give Alexe the day she died. I opened the box with my icy cold fingers, got the small necklace out of it and looked at it. it was a heart that said "you are my other half". I burried it in the snow, where her heart would have to be. She was my other half, and will always be. I remained haunted by the girl who wouldnt speak a word for the rest of my days.