Let It Be (A Beatles Story)

Chapter Sixty-Nine

A few mornings later, I woke.  But there was no fear in my heart.  No pain anywhere in my body.  

Paul felt me wake and immediately got up, afraid that I was about to get sick yet again.  But I just looked at him, and I think he knew before I said anything.  

"Paul, it's time for me to go back home."

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Even though I could tell it was the last thing he wanted to do, he helped me pack my things.  When I was done with that, I wandered around his apartment a bit, in Liverpool, the place I would have called my home, for all of the lads and Brian lived there.  I loved them all so much.  

I still do.

Paul helped me bundle up in my coat as I tied on my Paris scarf.  He handed me my bag, and tried to smile.  I tried too.  

John was the first to arrive outside the apartment where we were standing.  He engulfed me in a hug that made me so desperately want to stay, but I knew I couldn't.  Even if I tried, something was going to take me.  

Ringo and George came in the same car, but the drummer was the first to get to me.  "I'm going to miss you so much," he broke down into tears.  When George turned to hug me, he said, "You don't have to leave.  You'll be safe here."  I couldn't reply, afraid I would start crying and make the situation worse.  He kissed my forehead, both of my cheeks and gave me a tiny peck on the lips but none of the Beatles saw, for they were comforting Ringo.  

It must have been a bit of an odd scene to watch from then on.  Most people must have thought I was going off to college, or moving out, but it was so much bigger than that.  True, I was leaving, but I was leaving behind all of my heart.  

We stood on the sidewalk, just looking at each other.  But then Paul said, "Wait...I have something for you."  I wondered what he was going to give me.  I had my postcards and photographs.  George had brought the things I had hid at his house to give back to me.  

Then Paul produced my locket from his coat pocket. "You left this when you ran away."  He put it on me, and then, with teary eyes, I gave him the necklace I had came there with.  "Keep it," I said, before my voice broke.  

I gave my individual goodbyes.  

I hugged Ringo so tight and he did that to me I thought I was going to be stuck to him.  "Don't be afraid to sing out too, Ritchie.  You've a good voice.  Keep John and Paul in line for me, alright?"  He nodded and gave me a smile.  I kissed Ringo's forehead, and his big nose which I loved.

Turning to George, he hugged me, picking me up and spinning me, kissing my cheek once more.  "I'm going to miss you forever." he began to cry.  In a nearly inaudible tone, he said, "I love you so  much."  

"I love you too."  I couldn't stop the tears then.  "You shouldn't be afraid of doing your own thing.  John and Paul don't have to come up with all of the good music, do they?"  I kissed George's forehead.

John locked me in another hug, and said, "When you get back, you kick that bastard of a father out, alright?" I nodded.  "That's a good girl.  That's my brave girl."  Even he was crying then.  "I'll never forget you, Elle.  We all won't."  When he let me go so I could get a bit of air, I said, wiping my eyes, "I know you already to this now, you swine, but if things get bad anywhere on Earth and you know it, raise hell.  You already know how to get people to listen.  Be yourself, John.  Preach for peace."  He nodded, doing his best to give me a teary smile.

"I promise, Elle."

I kissed John's forehead.

Paul looked at me with his watery hazel eyes.  "Elle, what am I going to do without you?"

Looking him straight in the eyes, I told him this: "You've got to learn to let it be.  When they die, when she dies, and when this all ends, you'll learn and you're going to be alright."  I was sure he didn't know what I was talking about, but he nodded.  "I will.  I love you so much, Elle."  He was sobbing into my coat.  

Lastly, I kissed Paul's forehead.  

After looking at all of them, I waved goodbye, picked up my bag and started to walk down the sidewalk.  I could hear all of them crying, and couldn't bear to just walk away.  So I ran back into their arms.  If time really wanted me, it would take me from them.  

"Oh, God," I sobbed, "I love you all so much.  I'll love you forever and beyond."

And that was the last thing they ever heard me say.

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Elle vanished from their embrace.  She was their for one small second, and then she was gone.  All of them felt empty, heartbroken.  No, worse than that.  Shattered beyond repair.  

They went into Paul's apartment, all silent.  No one knew what to say.  What could make them stop crying?  All of them had loved Elle.  

Even Brian appeared at the door.  Later, when the lads asked him why, he said he didn't know how to explain it, but he knew that Elle had left and wanted to join the lads.  

The Beatles and their manager didn't know whether to mourn to reminisce.  She wouldn't want them to be sad, but what if she didn't make it home?  What if she was caught in a different time, and needed help?

What if Elle Sullivan was dead?

The five men shed so many tears that night and into the early morning.  But then the sky revealed something that hadn't appeared in months.  

The sun.  

And it was a beautiful sunrise.

She was alright.

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I wasn't asleep, but I was suddenly snapped awake.  

And there I was.  In my room, on my bed.  

I was wearing the sweatshirt and jeans I arrived in.  No coat, scarf or bag to be seen.  It was gone.

Suddenly, I felt a loss for air, and gasped, thinking that it was finally the end for me.  Time would take away the Beatles, and then my life.  

But what was the difference?  I had left my heart back in the sixties with them.  

In my urgency to get a breath, I clutched my neck and felt a familiar chain.  As my grip slid down it, I recognized the teardrop shape.  

Maybe it wasn't a dream...

With trembling fingers, I unclasped the locket to see the picture and to my surprise it wasn't of the Liverpool skyline.  It was of the lads and I.  On the other side, it was a piece of paper that said, "Love, the Beatles."

Unable to hold it in anymore, I broke down and sobbed.

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There will be an epilogue.

OMG I'm crying...