Chapter 2

I wanted something, and I didn't know what, so I fought and I kicked and I struggled. I struggled to the point that my brain became an illusive mess of elastics wrapped around my past, present, and future, tugging to the point that one of the 3 would have to give, followed by another, leaving the final elastic to lead me forward, backwards, or nowhere at all.

The first to give was the past, which vaulted into my unprotected and unexpecting face like a misfired slingshot, lancing the top layer of my cheek a vague red which felt slightly raw and pulsed every time I ran my hand over its now microscopically uneven surface. The next to give, to my shock and surprise, was the present, despite the very real fact that the elastic attaching me to my future had been stretched to the point that only a thin fray now held it in place, and even that connection seemed to be rapidly deteriorating. In fact, the band tethering me to my present had appeared quite loose the last I had checked, peering over only once during my doomed balancing act, in which I wasn't sure whether any of them were meant to break at all.

The past and present now detached, and my face still experiencing slight spasms of pain, I looked backwards one final time and saw a major player of the past 8 months, having removed themselves in the present, and as such, seemingly in the future as well, glancing back at me on her way towards her future, with a longing stare which stopped me for a moment as I stared back.

Fixated on her face, I saw the feigned smiles meld into the real ones, and the expressions of annoyance fade into the expressions of complete and unrequited anger to the point that it was all too hard to tell which was which. Part of me burned with hate and mercilessness for her, recalling the heart-break, humiliation, and pain she had caused me, while another part tingled with a mix of empathy and forgiveness, knowing she, too, had been and still was going through trial and tribulation of a similar nature, if not worse.

Regardless of what I felt towards her, I missed her. We had been best friends, and I had made a series of painful mistakes which compounded themselves below the painful mistakes made on her part. Feeling her close to me, physically, in any environment, always made me wonder if she felt the same pangs of sorrow I did from time to time, or if she ever felt fond nostalgia over what we had created together, yet had not the resources to maintain within both our hearts and our minds simultaneously.

I nodded at her and began to tilt my head, and as I was doing so I heard her whisper: "I'm not gone. Our paths will cross again, and they will cross for the better. Trust me." Although I registered what she had to say, I didn't bother with a response as I began moving forward, allowing the elastic band attaching me to my future to become progressively looser and looser... yet I hadn't taken 2 steps more before I heard her utter one last provocative ensemble of words: "Everything... absolutely everything...  happens for a reason."


I simply allowed my strides to continue, unabridged.

I'm close now to the first finish line in my life; closer to my future than I've ever been before, yet that can be said with every passing day, hour, minute, and second, I suppose. It just feels more tangible then it ever has before. It feels so real.
No longer is it an abstract 'someday.' It's now a very real 'then,' with a date, and a time, and a cause and effect. Or perhaps a lack thereof.

But I've still got a path to endure, and the final moments of an adventure to live out before the next chapter begins.

So here we go;
Brace yourselves for Chapter 2.