One Small Step | ✔

Good Bye

Adam

"Damn right."
Adam says to no one,
as his mother tells
Tallulah what he wants.

Carina walks up
behind him
and her brows
knit at the scene.

"What?"
she asks him.
He doesn't respond, instead
he walks around Roman.

Adam looks at
Roman up and down
Tallulah and his mother
talk about him.

Roman is almost completely still.
He stares straight at Diana,
blue eyes unblinking
his hand holding Tallulah's.

And 
yet,
Adam swears he sees
a muscle tick in his face.

He's fighting
a smile,
Adam realizes.
So he tries something.

"You take good care of Tal,
alright. If I ever see you mistreating
her or make her unhappy,
I will come and haunt you. Understand?"

Carina sighs.
"How many times do I have to tell
you? No one can hear us."
But then Roman nods.

He doesn't voice his words.
Instead, he mouths them,
looking right at him.
Understood.

Again, Adam stares at
him, assessing if he means
it. Then he breaks into 
a grin and gives him a thumbs up.

"Alright. Tal is all yours
then. But I do keep my promises."
Adam warns him.
Carina is still dubious.

"How are you sure he's 
seeing you and not someone
else? We're in a cemetery,"
Carina says logically.

Roman can't do anything
that will tip him off
so instead,
he locks eyes with Carina.

The smallest of smiles
appears on his lips.
A ghost of one
meant for two ghosts.

Carina stares at the boy
by her sister's side,
jaw wide open
in shock.

She struggles
to form words,
"What? How-"
she splutters.

Adam grins widely.
It's one that threatens
to break his face
as he looks upon the living.

He can't resist the last word.
"I knew he was the one."
And he looks to Tallulah
and his mother.

He commits to memory
their every feature.
His eyes taking in
all the beauty around him.

He memorizes Tallulah's
ash blond hair.
Her hazel eyes.
Her soft smile.

Her laugh.
The way she said his name.
Her habit of chewing on her lip
when she was nervous.

He looked to his mother
and remembered his childhood.
The breakfasts as a family
and the dinners.

How his mother laughed at his jokes,
read him stories and
bandaged his knee when he fell,
running too fast.

A warmth over comes him.
A content, satisfied feeling
washes over him.
He begins to step into the light.

He takes one final look at the
green trees, the grey clouds,
and the people living,
learning.

He salutes to
Roman
and waves to
Carina.

And he murmurs
his final farewell,
to the world,
to Tallulah and his mother.

"Good bye."