If there’s anything I’m not good at, it’s goodbyes.
I was just lying down the old willow tree when she started shaking me and throwing pebbles at me.
“Wake up Catchy! Wake up!”
“What now?”
“I’ve got great news!”
“What?”
“I’ve been accepted into a prestigious High School. Wait for it, as a Scholar!!”
“Wow, great job Hope!”
It really did sound like great news at the time. I couldn’t help but be happy for her. But life has a funny way of picking you up with its left hand just to pimp slap you with its right.
“So, how far is it from here Hope?”
“Well… that’s the thing. It’s not… here.”
“What do you mean? If it’s not here… then where is it?”
She wouldn’t say anything. She just stared at me blankly.
“Hope. Tell me, please?”
“It’s in France; Lyons, France to be exact.”
And just like that, life had managed to slap the stupid smile right off my face.
“I don’t… understand.”
“Look, Catchy, I really, really like you. But this is a once in a lifetime thing. My parents would kill me if I passed this up.”
I wanted to tell her I understood. But I didn’t. I wanted to tell her I’d be fine, but I knew I wouldn’t. I wanted to kiss her, hold her, and convince her that she shouldn’t go because honestly, I wouldn’t know what I’d do without her now. Her mother called her from a distance, and just like that, she was gone.
YOU ARE READING
Hope
Short Story'Strange; that was always the word used to describe me. My teachers knew me as the strangely quiet kid in the back. The other children knew me as the strange kid who was always reading. Their parents knew me as the strange child who was always alone...
