The History: Chapter 15

Past

She was graduating. Her blue gown was loose around her ankles. She was crying a little.

He looked at her his eyes shining.

"We're one step closer." He whispered.

"One more step," she whispered.

She hugged him. He'd been there every step of the way. She would look back on her time in this high school as wonderful only because he shared it with her.

She smiled at him. "I'll miss you."

"I'll be a phone call away." He promised.

"I'm waiting for you to come." She said holding his hands.

"I'm waiting to leave." He smiled.

"Don't let her live your life for you," she whispered in his ear. Her breath was warm and
her touch was gentle.

"I won't." He promised.

She turned his wrists over. She would never forget that day when she saw those deep welts in his pale skin. They were now just scars. They looked like nothing more than marks from falling off a bicycle.

He finally wore short sleeve shirts in the summer. It had taken eight years but he did it finally. He looked so happy. It had taken eight years for him to find joy.

She looked into his eyes sparkling with love and happiness.

"You look so happy your glowing." She said with a watery smile.

"I'm happy that you're happy," he said. "You're going off to do amazing things. You're going into social work because I inspired you to do so. There is nothing more exciting then knowing you are the reason someone is doing something special. I know there will be hundreds of more me's out there and you're going to help at least one of them. Knowing that, knowing that they won't have to suffer anymore and knowing that I drove you to that conclusion is amazing."

"I don't like watching people suffer."

"And people don't like suffering. If there were more you's in the world we wouldn't have this problem."

"Thank you," she whispered. She kissed his cheek and joined the assembly.

"I love you and I'll miss you every day. I won't ever tell you that, but I'll whisper it in the tiny corners of the world." He whispered to himself letting the forced smile go.

She cast a glance at him right before they called her name as the salutatorian.

"In my life there has been great ups and downs. However, I've had one person who has accompanied me though out these ups and downs. He's been with me for as long as I can remember he's been here. He's always there for me. When the tragic event of my father's death happened when I was in eighth grade, this one person has stuck to me and loved me forever. When the events of my junior year didn't play out the way I had planned them he was there for me.

I hope for all of you that somehow you may find one of these special people in your lives. I hope that somehow you may find some beautiful friend in your life that you may come to call your best friend.

Best friends are people that no matter what happens to you will love you. By that I don't mean only one part of you. I mean every single part of you that has ever existed. The parts before they met you and those after. I hope that you may find a person in your life that can fulfill that need that we have as human beings.

Thank you."

Once-ler stood and clapped as did the entire senior class. She didn't need to say a word to anyone about who she alluded to, everyone knew.

. . .
Present

After the last tree fell he holed himself up. He refused to speak. He starved himself worse than before.

He pulled off one of his Gruvulous Gloves and looked at his wrists. He wanted it and now there was no one here to stop him. There was no one around to tell him no.

He found his axe. He found his first method of murder against the animals and the trees.

He took it in his hand and turned it over sideways on the table. He ran his arm down the blade.

He watched the blood drip down his arm. He did it again. He reveled in the sensation of the ax killing him just as it had killed the trees. He let tears soak down his pale skeletal face. He was dying day by day and there was nothing he could do.

The pain in his arm allowed him to forget the cramping stomach pains for awhile. It allowed him to disregard the asthma attacks that plagued his existence. It allowed him to neglect the chest pains that grew increasingly painful and frequent.

Laura ripped at the planks on the door. She pulled and pulled as hard as she could.

"ONCE!" She hollered up the stairs. "ONCE!"

He felt the world swim before him. "I fall the same as a tree."

"ONCE!" She screamed. She caught him as he fell forward in the chair. "What have you done?"