Just Another Lie, Right? [Kleinsen]

ii

He ran.

He ran and ran and ran.

Miles on end, he just ran.

He's obviously more fit than I was. I would've ran out of breath. Not Evan, though. He kept running.

And I had a pretty good idea as to where.

He slowed down as he approached the open gate, pausing only for a moment to look up the the sign. The sign. The sign that he created just that summer.

He threw down his backpack angrily, and I heard something break.

"Nothing important, anyway." I heard him mumble.

And he continued running.

He left his backpack on the paved sidewalk.

He slowed down after a couple of seconds, panting. He straightened his back and continued walking, not stopping for anything.

He looked like your average tree-obsessed teenager.

I had a sneaking suspension that he wasn't here only for the trees.

My sneaking suspension was right.

He slowed to a stop at a 42 foot tall tree.

Dear Evan Hansen,

I didn't need to look over his shoulder to see what he was typing on his phone. Ghosts are cool, they can hear basically anything they want to. Including what he's typing.

Once again, a day.

Thanks, Captain Obvious.

I don't need to go in to detail, right? The person this is really addressed to will know the details.

I can't read people's minds.

But I had a sneaking suspension he was addressing his letter not to himself, but to Jared.

And I had a sneaking suspension that this wasn't gonna end well.

Maybe it's not anyone's fault. Sometimes, out of no where, you just feel like you're not needed, really.

Definitely wasn't gonna end well.

But hey, hey. It's fine. It really is. I'm not gonna die tonight, not really. Because if you really love something, you let go. You don't fall, you let go.

Sincerely,
(Do I even have to say it?)
Me.

Definitely was not gonna end well.

Evan is some edgy teenager, though, if he wants to let go for the small reason on Jared rejecting him.

But Jared didn't reject him.

Of course, Evan didn't know this. He's like a light. He's either shinning or dying, there's really no in between.

Unless of course he was one of those weird fading lights that fade off and on.

He's not one of those lights tho.

Evan left his phone on a bench beside the tree, and started climbing.

He got a couple scratches.

He got to the second topmost branch and sat down, taking in the view.

"Welcome back, Evan." He mumbled to himself before looking down.

Definitely was not gonna end well.

"Hey. Don't do it. Please." I said, gliding in front of him.

"Oh great!" He said sarcastically, "You again! The weird-ass voice that convinces me to do bad things. Like the Connor Project! What a bad thing!"

"And now your convincing me to live! Another bad thing!"

I chuckled. "You're so fragile. One wrong step and now you're just leaving?"

His eyes glossed over a little as he spoke, "Oh boy! It's not like I have a mom who doesn't care enough to stay home! It's not like I only have friends because of a huge lie! It's not like my oNly friend dOesn't-"

He voice cracked on the word only and doesn't.

And he wouldn't continue talking.

"Hey. I've done it. I know for a fact that it won't favor you." I said.

"Says the weird-ass voice that convinces me to do bad things!" He stood up quick and swung his hands over the branch above him.

"Evan, please! It's not worth-"

"SHUT UP!" He yelled.

And then he let go.

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Published: 7/17/19
Word Count: 620