"You want to hear something funny?"
"Mmm... No. Not right now, kid."
"Well, I'm gonna say it anyway."
The lavender petals tickled their noses, the stars above them snickering at them from above. The garden on the roof of Dianne's apartment didn't seem to be enough for the two, as she imagined a glistening hill full of daffodils, crimson peonies, pastel roses, and, of course, pleasant lavenders along the way to say goodbye. It was one of her numerous, infinite regrets.
She tugged on Landon's feeble yet sturdy arm and placed it carefully under her head. Somehow, his disappearing body became a magnet as she was pulled closer to him.
"Now, missy, what are you doing now."
"I don't know. I'm trying to comfort you as a friend," she said, as if she was telling a joke.
Dianne scratched the open side of her face when she said, "I'll tell you the funny thing right now."
"Sure."
"When we first met, I remember you boasting to me that you've lived for about 1000 years now and that you've seen 'absolutely everything'."
Landon chuckled and replied, "I have. Stop doubting me, you little--"
She sniffed a little, catching his attention. But as soon as his faint eyes locked with hers, Dianne faced the sky and laughed. Laughed until her lungs began to hurt. She curled into a ball and continued laughing until the tears at the edges of her eyes evaporated from her false laughter.
"Kid, you're scaring me. Are you okay?"
"Puh-lease. I'm just extremely surprised that you openly lied to me back when we first met. Gonna live forever? Hilarious, Landon. Hilarious. And when haven't I scared you?" She giggled silently and twisted her finger into his loose, white T-shirt. Her cold finger barely touched his stomach.
He was always slightly thin. Not so thin that you could see the ribs, but thin enough to not have massive muscles. But it was wonderful to hug and easy to punch. He had silver eyes that somehow mixed with a light green and his auburn hair matched with his creamy, latte skin. But she wasn't going to see that anymore. Just like how she lost the sight of everyone else. Her mom, her mom's wife, her dad, and Aunt Clarisse. They were like mist on a busy port, they disappear as fast as the sun goes by in a day. Too fast for her to count.
But it was even more funny that time seemed to stop for Landon to disappear. It would've been better if he just flew away faster, so Dianne had more time for herself and the light blue blanket below them could wrap her and maybe comfort her the way Landon would.
Everything snapped when Landon whispered, "Hey, uh, kid. I think I'm gonna have to go now."
"Pssh, whatever. We'll definitely see each other again, right?"
"If I feel like it, I might just visit again."
He closed his eyes ever so slowly, his eyelashes brushing against the warm wind.
Dianne watched him closely, working her brain to memorize every single detail. The freckles scattered over his nose and cheeks, the sturdy frame of his jaw and nose. Everything.
She lightly tapped his chest, making Landon open one of his eyes for the last time. The swirling colors were fading.
"What do you want, Dianne."
"Before you go, I just want to let you know, that, I'm just holding your hand because you're my FRIEND. I emphasize friend, by the way."
"Go ahead. I'll hold yours as a friend too."
"I'll see you soon, old man."
"...I'll miss you, kid. I surely will."
Suddenly, right as their breaths exhaled for the last time together, the wind, the dancing lavenders, Landon's rhythmic movement of his big toe, the milky clouds, everything. All stopped as time itself stopped as well.
A monumental swirling of pastel yellow petals appeared above them. The flower petals grew bigger and bigger each second, slowly gluing themselves into a massive peony that lit up the whole garden rooftop. Its remaining petals became longer as it lifted Landon as if he was a newborn baby. Dianne backed up with panic spread over her face. She watched in discomfort and terror, but at the same time, the peony planted a hopeful seed into her heart, just not yet sprouting into action.
Landon was engulfed into the center of the flower. All the beauty and its brightness disappeared in a blink of an eye. The perfumed wind resumed its job, the flickering lanterns at the corner went back to flickering, the lavenders continued dancing, and the clouds unpaused its pause button and crawled across the night sky.
Dianne slowly grabbed the blanket and lifted it to her face. Her fingers failed to feel any tears bleeding through the fabric, but it definitely felt the violent shaking of her whole body. He was the only one left, the last one that gave her hope since he would never leave. But her curse worked on him as well. Her palms carried the curse of death within it as it created a pitch black tattoo across both of them. However, Landon made them disappear. He allowed her to touch her loved ones and keep them with her until the very end, but who was there to love now? Landon was not the first, but he was the last to ever see her truest smile. Her truest love.
Her shivering legs reached for her shoes to go back to their apartment room. The scent of Landon still lingering in the blanket, she wrapped it around her and barely made it back.
And lastly, the two never really had the chance to tell each other such an important fact. Friends? Not a chance. They were the definition of lovers. There were obstacles in the shape of ideas, lies, and souls themselves, but they never stood a chance against them. Love wasn't even the right word to describe their relationship. Their connection.
Their love would've lasted forever. 750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc467VH5Efw
But even the two can't live forever. Their love can't live forever.
Can't live forever.
End (1)
A/N: Just a few facts that I want to establish:750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYks7EvIoHe
1) Dianne at the moment is in her early 20's. 24 to be precise. Pretty young, but the two became so called friends when she was in 9th grade. That's a story for another time.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfccdJkJD4f
2) Dianne doesn't know how long Landon actually lived, which is actually over 900 years. He's an old guy. Supposedly immortal too.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8p6mPADNf
3) Landon lost his immortality because he helped break the curse that Dianne had, which killed her mother in 10th grade, her other mom (her parents divorced because her mom ended up lesbian) died in 11th grade summer, her dad died in her 1st year of college, Aunt Clarisse, her boyfriends later on, and so forth. 750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCb1EbCQ4C6
4) It might not be sad to you, but my heart sure did kinda break while I was writing it. I'm sorry, I'm kinda of a loser.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhljKHSG5hn
I absolutely cannot leave it as is, so I'm going to wrap this up the most cliche way possible. I just can't. So if you want to leave the heartbroken part at that, then you don't have to read this.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2FIegYBJ1L
7 years later...750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMV6WCe5pR
"Kaden... I just... don't have the same feelings as you have for me. I'm really flattered, and I've tried my best to like you. And the age gap... it's too much. I'm old, in my thirties, and you're 24. I... can't. And I'm sorry."750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1L3kCLCoy
Such an awkward pause.
"... It's okay, Dianne. You're a beautiful, strong woman. And I'm glad you told me the truth instead of leading me on. I hope you'll find someone you truly love, and I hope so for myself."
They both chuckled and waved to each other goodbye as they went on their separate ways. The road to Dianne seemed too long as she questioned herself, endlessly. In some sort of loop that went around her head every time. Time carried her in its arms as she blinked her eyes in front of her apartment door. Landon's playful answers when she arrived home still stuck to her as she waited for them even now. And just as Dianne placed the key into the keyhole of the brass knob, her neighbor, Mrs. Fleur, caught her. 750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7k5fiBRMp
"Dianne, dear, did you see the new, young man that moved right across?"
Dianne forced a chuckle. "No, I did not, Mrs. Fleur. Is he handsome?"
The old lady giggled. "See for yourself, dear. He's on the garden roof if you want to get to know him. He looks quite young, too."
"Oh please. Anyways, I hope to see you again, Mrs. Fleur."
"You too dear."
Mrs. Fleur walked away with a concerned look, as she knew from the start that Landon and Dianne weren't only friends. Weren't only lovers. But she cracked her back to change into a better posture, remembering what she had seen a few moments ago during the daytime. Confused but happy for Dianne.
The still-grieving woman stood in front of her door for what seemed like a million years until she stuck the key back into her skirt pocket and headed for the maroon carpet stairs. She didn't dare to go back up to Landon's grave, as she was afraid that everything was going to replay the scent, the stillness, the death. But it felt different now. Maybe she was delusional, maybe she wasn't. But it was up to her whether or not her feet were to sweep all the dust of the staircase and bring it to the cool night sky above.
Her mint, wavy hair flew with the wind and her frilly skirt as well. She absolutely hated these cliche, romantic, and uplifting moments like in the movies where the woman suddenly smiles and the camera pans to her long lost lover. But Dianne didn't dare to weep and jump into her lover's arms. It just wasn't her character. Instead, she smirked and leaned with her arms crossed on the door's edge.
"You came back for me as a true companion, right old man?"
A delightful pause.750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xB8B8lUZB
The familiar chuckle. "I sure did, Dianne. As a friend."750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0G9bPdME6
The End (II)750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvO8S2IiSv
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