Another Wave of You ✓

Epilogue, Part I

P A R T  O N E

San Diego, California

     Four months had passed since he last saw her.

     He didn't know how or why he started thinking about her, but it may be the book that had caught his eye playing tricks. Sunflowers and Swirly Stars was its name, a tribute and an exploration on Vincent Van Gogh's late work, and it was in sudden direct eye sight of him when another student took the book in front of it and caused it to shift.

     And suddenly sunflowers and swirly stars took the form of a girl with curious eyes and an earth-shattering smile.

    "Earth to Theo?" Nicholas threw a paper ball at his head, startling him. "Have you been listening to anything that I've said?"

     He blinked. "Am I suppose to answer that honestly?"

     The other boy raised his arms up. "Seriously, man, we're all trying to graduate and get our Arts degree here," he muttered. "So, you know, we can turn jobless and have to resort to being a street artist begging for scraps for our entire lives. But hey, passion, right?"

     Theo really didn't know how to respond that. "Sorry. I just got a bit distracted."

    "What were you thinking about?" His other friend, Ian, nudged his shoulder. An oddly quiet guy but one who observed things better than people would expect.

     Just a girl with stars in her eyes.

    "Nothing," he shook his head. "Nothing."

     But it was everything all at once.

     His eyes wandered around again, stopping at the vast window illuminating their school library. Yellow, orange and red leaves whirled like a small tornado, the colours blending amongst each other so much that it looked like sunset. The sky looms over them — grey but bright — as if there was a threat of rain but it never does. He felt a lingering sensation on his back, like a revelation was about to unravel itself. A revelation of the past. His past.

     Curious eyes and an earth-shattering smile —

    "Right." Nicholas raised an eyebrow and flipped another page of their project, giving Ian a look. "I'm going to pretend you're not going through an existential crisis right now."

     He hadn't truly realised how much time had passed until he saw it. The leaves turning crisp and falling from the trees, blown away into oblivion. Would that mean other things may fall into oblivion, too?

     The thought of it made his heart clench. Made his mind lose focus and made his whole body ache. Ache for... for someone he left behind.

     And someone he had to find again before they too became leaves floating in different directions, never crossing paths again.

***

     His tombstone stood in front of him.

     TYLER MARSHALL, June, 29, 1999 — April 10, 2016.

     His friends wondered why Theo would make his way to a graveyard. At least that was what he thought — Nicholas and Ian always looked after him whenever he'd excuse himself during a seemingly mundane day, like they knew something was clouding his mind. He never told them about his past because he wanted a fresh start.