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Five Card Story: Memories
a Five Card Flickr story by Lily created Aug 23 2021, 05:04:53 am. Create a new one!
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Memories
I approach the high school with a deep, shaky breath. My heart races in my throat. I can’t believe I’m back here again. After everything that happened two years ago, I can’t believe I’m here.
It was all my fault. Everything was my fault. She’d still be here with me if only I’d listened to her.
The crack in the corner of the high school makes the knot in my stomach tighter. I thought that they would’ve fixed that by now. It’s been so long since everything actually happened, you’d assume the school would make adjustments, but no.
“Hey Celeste!” someone calls from behind me.
I quickly turn around, my hair smacking me in the face. Brisk fall air tickles my nose as I furrow my eyebrows. Someone runs up to me and pulls me into a big hug. My ears start ringing randomly. What’s happening?
“I’m sorry, do I know you?”
The girl tightens her embrace, “C’mon Celeste, you know me! We’re best friends, silly.”
“No… I don’t think I know you…”
The woman pulls away from me, a sad expression crossing her face, “Celeste...?”
I feel so bad, but I just can’t seem to remember anything. She looks unsettlingly familiar to me. Her short, fluffy brown hair is pulled back in a very small ponytail. The stranger stares at me with big, bright blue eyes full of hope and wonder. I know her from somewhere, but I genuinely have no clue where from.
“I’m sorry.” I apologize, shoving my hands in my pockets.
“It’s me. Ellie.”
My heart drops. So does my face. A rush of regret and anxiety floods my body as I quickly step away from her.
My voice breaks, “Listen lady, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here-”
“Wow.” she sadly chuckles, “You really don’t care about me, do you? So much for this stupid bracelet then.”
The girl yanks off a purple and blue friendship bracelet, throwing it on the ground, and suddenly, I’m back in highschool. Senior year. Two years ago. My best friend, Ellie Hemmings, stands there in the pouring rain, a heartbroken look contorting her features. Tears stream down her face, her nose, cheeks, and ears a feverish shade of red. Her lips are almost blue. I jump back again, looking down at my hands. I’m back. It’s happening again.
“YOU LIED TO ME!” she shouts, her clothes soaking wet.
I continue to back up, in fear of the events taking place around me, “Ellie…”
“No, you know what? I’m done! I’m done trying to be good enough for everyone and I’m done trying to keep up with the ‘status quo” or whatever, because it always seems like I’m just not good enough! I never will be good enough! So I’m done!”
Ellie runs past me and into the teal doorway where the entrance to the staircase to the roof is. I freeze up. It’s always the same. She runs up there and something always happens.
What is she gonna do? What am I gonna do? I stand there for a second. What did I do? What did I do at this moment in time?
I ran. So that’s what I do. I run to the doorway, chasing after Ellie. Someone grabs me by the hand.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Vannesa, the “popular” one, shrieks.
I pull away from her as she fades into thin air. I don’t care about her now. I care about Ellie and I want to save her. Vannesa doesn’t care about me and I don’t care about her. All I wanted to do was to please her and make her happy. I wanted to be popular. I gave up everything to be cool. And what did that earn me? I lost the only person that cared about me in this school.
“ELLIE WAIT!” I call up the staircase, booking it as fast as I possibly can.
As soon as I get up there, I slide over to Ellie. She stands on the edge of the building. My stomach twists into a butterfly, wanting to fly away.
“ELLIE!”
She turns around as she cradles herself. I bolt to her side, grabbing her arms.
“Elle, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean any of this to happen. This is all my fault, okay? All of it. You shouldn’t have to feel lesser than anyone else because anyone else says so. I made you feel that way and I am so, so sorry. You’re so amazing and kind and unbelievably smart. So please don’t … please don’t leave me. This is on me. Not you. Me. Please stay with me. Please.”
At this point, I’m crying as well. I shake uncontrollably. I regain control of my body and almost lose everything. This is always as far as I can remember. I don’t know what happens. It must be horrible if I can’t remember. It’s gotta be awful. I want to be sick.
And then she does something I don’t expect. She hugs me. Ellie lunges into my arms, squeezing my neck tightly. I stumble back a little, stunned by the sudden act of kindness. My knees almost buckle. She didn’t… she’s not… she’s okay. I just about collapse in her grasp, hugging her back, relief warming my heart.
“Oho Ellie, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I won’t ever do that again, I promise. It’s just you and me, okay? I’m so sorry.”
All at once, the world disappears around me and I’m left hugging the girl from before, but my face is dry and I’m back to the future. She pulls away like nothing before that happened. I finally recognize her.
“Ellie?”
She snorts, “Uh… yeah?”
I pull her into my embrace once more. Oh thank God. Nothing happened. She’s okay.
“Celeste, are you okay?”
I laugh, “Yeah, yeah. I was just thinking.”
Ellie sighs, “Oh. Okay! Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go get coffee and catch up. I mean, it has been a year. You’ve been so busy with college these past few months, I thought it’d be nice to get some of that off of your chest.”
“Sure, coffee sounds amazing!”
We sit there for a few minutes before I speak up again, “Hey Ellie?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you forgive me for messing up so bad back in high school?”
She backs up a little, “Of course I do Celeste. We were kids. We learned. It’s okay. I forgive you.”
A weight is lifted off my shoulders. It’s been sitting there for so long, it finally feels good to get it off.
“Okay.” I smile brightly, “Now how about that coffee?”
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flickr photo credits: (1) bgblogging (2) bionicteaching (3) bionicteaching (4) Serenae (5) bionicteaching