The Winter Project

51. Isabel

The time had flown by so quickly that Isabel could not have guessed it was two in the morning. She had spent a great deal of time chatting with Minoru's parents, casually explaining why her own parents were unable to attend when they had politely asked to meet them. His father had asked her what her plans were the future, and she told him that she did not have any, for she did not see the need to place any expectations on herself. She told him that she had strived her entire life for happiness, and now that she had found it she did not need to plan any further. She believed that she had been steered in the right direction by fate or coincidence to get to where she was that day, and that the same thing would happen again should she ever find herself lost.

She did not tell them that she had planned to use the money she had left from the sale of her grandmother's house to purchase a café near her new home. She had a vision of a little café serving vegetarian food by day and alcohol by night, so that Minoru could quit the job he had tried to escape for so long and finally do something that he would also love. Now that she had the van, she pictured it sat in the café garden, with tables inside it for people to sit and drink and create plans for their own trips, trips that would change their lives the way that the van had changed hers. She didn't care if the plan didn't come to life, but she knew that she had the determination and willpower to make any of her dreams come true, and so she would wait until she was ready and then she would bring it to reality. Until then, it was her own little secret that she had so far shared only with Steven.

By the time most people had retired to their hotel rooms, it was nearly morning and the only people left in the garden were herself, Cleo, Minoru and Stephanie. She had yet to speak to Stephanie properly, as Stephanie had been engaged in deep conversation with Ricco for the entire evening. Isabel recognised the look on Stephanie's face when Ricco said goodnight to her and jokingly shook her son's tiny hand; it was the same look Isabel had given Minoru right after he had crashed his bicycle into her and covered her in paint. She hoped that they would get a chance to talk more before Stephanie returned home. Isabel approached Stephanie cautiously as Ricco departed, but before she had a chance to say anything Stephanie told her that she was beautiful and that she was nothing but happy for her and Minoru. Isabel could tell that Stephanie was a strong and confident woman, comfortable in her own skin and not at all the person Minoru had described her as in the past.

The four of them sat together and talked about their lives and how they felt. Isabel talked about her complete satisfaction with where she had wound up, and they all unanimously agreed. Cleo was sure that she had many painful years ahead as she worked through her complex thinking patterns with her therapist, but that she was finally able to see that life wasn't a terrible accident that she was being forced to live through, but simply a journey that she hadn't fully understood until now. Stephanie talked about how she had let go of the expectations she had held on herself for so long and that she was now so focused on her son that she didn't care about the little things anymore, that she felt prepared and powerful in the face of any challenges. Minoru was the same as ever; happy to be alive and sharing the world with others. Cleo talked about a man that had listened to her once and changed her perspective on things, and she thanked Minoru, something Isabel did not understand until it came to light that Minoru had met Cleo once before and talked her out of suicide. Minoru stayed modest and refused to accept thanks, saying that all he had done was talk to her and listen to her.

Isabel looked at the three people in front of her and was amazed at how so many people in the world experience the same things through a different lens, and how it takes only a change in perspective to bring beauty of out something ugly. A year before, she would have laughed in the face of anybody who told her she would be sat by a lake, between glorious mountains, talking with strangers about how much she loved to wake up every morning and experience the world.

How a year ago, she would have found the moment to be terrifying. Cleo could have been suicidal or dead, Stephanie could have been devastated, still wrapped up in her heartbreak and daydreams. Maybe she was just infatuated with him, but as Isabel looked at Minoru she couldn't help but wonder how many people he was able to change, how many times he had altered their perspectives and made people view the world as positively as he did.

She knew that Minoru was not the only person like this in the world. She thought about Steven and how he was the only person who had been able to help her process the grief she felt at the death of her grandmother. Even with Minoru, she would never have been able to let go had it not been for Steven's intervention. She hoped that somewhere in life, be it past or future, she had changed or would have the ability to change the perspective of somebody else and give them hope for the future. She felt that every interaction with anyone, stranger or close friend, could have incredible impact and change the direction of somebody's life, and she vowed to always consider that.

She looked up at the sky and thought of her grandmother, and for a second again she thought she could smell her perfume, just like she had done on the first day she had arrived at the lake. She closed her eyes and breathed it in, thanking her grandmother in her head for raising her, guiding her and being with her throughout her journey.