Angela left Cleo after three months. Well, physically left. Angela moved often and didn't like staying in one place too long. She met Cleo as a junior in high school and they had the happiest three months together, then she left. The girls would spend late nights talking about their future, where they would live, what they would do, how they would die. Nothing seemed more romantic to Angela than dying holding Cleo's hand. Just the two of them, alone, dying.
The sun shone bright through Cleo's window. The air was fresh and her small room smelled like her boyfriends cologne. He had gone to work before she woke up, so she laid in bed alone taking in her surroundings. Her window looked out on an open, green field with many trees and bushes and various little plants. It almost distracted from the high way on the other side of her apartment. She stuck her arm up and let the striped shadow of her blinds move across her arm. It reminded her of Angela, a lot of things did. Angela was part of her distant past at this point. They hadn't spoken in two years, still she thought of her often. Cleo climbed out of her bed, put on a pot of coffee, and opened her phone to call her mom when she saw there was a missed call.
Angela sat in her car on the side of the road crying. She couldn't keep living like this. She bounced from town to town, shitty apartment to shitty apartment, moving almost every three months. She was restless. Nothing ever met her standards, nothing kept her satisfied long enough for her to live a decent life. She ran away from home when she moved to start college. She couldn't go back there. Not with Cleo living in the area still. She couldn't say she loved her, she didn't, but Cleo had made living in hell enjoyable. Cleo made Angela smile on the most miserable days. But Angela did leave. The memory of kissing Cleo quickly behind a truck so her parents wouldn't see was still locked in her mind. The way Cleo's eyes teared up as she said it was time she head back home was still vivid. The way their voices cracked as they said good bye for the last time rang in her ears like it had just happened. Angela had never met someone so much like her before Cleo, that's why she was so hung up on her, or at least that's what she told herself. It was half past four in the morning, she told herself what she was about to do was a horrible idea, but picked up her phone and called anyway.
"Hey, it's late, I'm sorry, call me when you can, if you want, I'd appreciate it, anyway yeah, if you want call me." Cleo could hear the sadness in her voice, she'd heard Angela cry many times before. Cleo set her phone down and walked into the bathroom. As she looked in the mirror she could see Angela hugging her from behind, kissing her neck and cheeks like she used to. Cleo spoiled her, giving in to anything Angela would say or ask, all Angela had to do was kiss the back of her neck and she got her way. She pushed the memories out of her mind and washed her face. She was happy with her boyfriend. He was happy, he didn't have issues, he was everything Angela wasn't. They were polar opposites, Angela and Cleo's boyfriend. Call me when you can, if you want, she needed Angela's sad voice out of her head, she heard it enough when they were together. Walking past her phone and her untouched coffee, Cleo set out for a run.
"Angie! Ang! Lala!" Angela jolted awake. Julia was knocking on the window. "You had me worried sick, what the hell are you doing here?" Julia continued to hit the window until Angela rolled it down. She apologized to her and explained her friend back down south found out she was pregnant and had to get there as soon as she could. Angela had promised Julia she wouldn't lie to her anymore, but promises like that are hard to keep with overprotective, worrying friends. As Angela sped down the road her phone went off.
Cleo got home from her run. It went horribly. She found her feet carrying her to a hidden spot in the forest a mile or so from her house. This had been her and Angela's spot. She ran from there almost as quickly as she had got there. She decided to run up the hill to challenge herself more, to get her mind off Angela. She ran past a neighborhood and as though it was muscle memory she turned into it. She made a left and after some time she stood there. Starring up at the house. She remembered walking through the front door for the first time, Angela and her friend, the dogs, the movies, the nervously grabbing Angela's hand under the blanket, the way Angela felt sitting on top of her later that night as the two girls took turns scaring their other friend, waiting for the third to fall asleep so she could kiss Angela. Kissing her for the first time was like nothing else. She ran home as fast as she could. Angela seemed to be following no matter where she went. She was happy, she had moved past Angela, they hadn't spoken in ages.
"What's up, are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm good, amazing, um, I'll be down south tomorrow, do you maybe want to go on a picnic?"
"Yeah definately, it's been a long time,"
"I'll be in a dress, if you wanted to dress nicely, you don't have to but.."
"Yeah, I'll meet you by the trail at 11"
Cleo kissed her boyfriend good bye the next day at 10:50, she lied about where she was going. He didn't like Angela. Their phone call was short but Cleo knew what was going to happen. She called her mom and best friend as soon as her call with Angela was over.
Angela was in a black, lacy, witch-like dress, Cleo wore a sweater dress, they used to joke she looked like a mental hospital patient in it. They walked for a long time, heading out into the middle of nowhere. They talked, caught up on life, smiled, laughed, remembered old times. Finally, they sat down and ate their lunch on the side of a sunny hill. The grass was green and soft and moved in the wind. The trees not far from them rustled their leaves. Twigs would snap as a small animal ran through. A bird would occasionally cast a shadow over the girls. Everything was beautiful, everything was calm, everything was perfect.
"I brought some wine, would you care for some, I'll only drink if you do," Angela had made eye contact with Cleo while saying the whole thing, except she looked down and away, as though she was ashamed at the last part.
"Yeah," Cleo said, inhaling deeply, "I'm ready" and at that, two glasses were filled with the bitter red wine. They each said their cheers, touched glasses, and took a big sip. They continued to talk and drink until the glasses were emptied. Angela stood up, reached a hand out to Cleo, and led her a few feet from the picnic blanket to lay in the grass. Cleo reached over, grabbed her by the chin and kissed her for the last time before looking up at the sky. Angela blinked and a few tears rolled down her cheek. The same happened with Cleo. It was too late to turn back and both girls knew this, it was scary but exciting. No human sound could be heard for miles, the trees swayed in the breeze, the grass was soft and warm beneath them, birds were crowing in the background, the sky was a beautiful blue. Angela was finally calm, relaxed, happy. It was probably the wine she thought. Their bodies grew colder and colder, a little bit of life left them with every breath. As her vision was growing darker, Cleo told Angela she was happy it was with her, she was happy with her. She squeezed her hand one last time, closed her eyes, and took her final breath. Angela wasn't far behind.
"The two girls that had gone missing earlier this year have been found, though their bodies have been torn apart, they are still identifiable. They were found in a field, holding hands and it looks like insects and foxes have eaten away at most of them. A cause of death is not certain at this point, however there was a bottle of wine with traces of arsenic found not far from them. We may never know if it was suicide or murder." The reporter acted as though this was information not worth anything more than those few sentences.
