Chapter 31: The End
“It’s a sad ending,” my mother whispered as she read the last line to my story…our story…
“Well, it was a sad life. A sad year,” I countered.
“Cloud, he is coming back,” she tried to assure me, “You just can’t give up…”
“It has been three months mother, I doubt it.”
She rose from my bed, “That’s the problem with you- you think just because it seems impossible it is. I thought Reno taught you better than that.” She took her leave from my room, leaving me to dwell alone in the darkness of my mind, wishing to god I could get rid of the pain that continually torments me these sleepless six months.
I had pretty much given up on the fact that Reno was going to come back- I knew back then in the hospital bed that he was never going to return. Why continue assuming that somehow, someway, he would be back in my arms? Six months, six long tearful months waiting for him to walk through that door, with that smirk on his face, and that glint in his eyes. He wasn’t coming back, and the sooner everyone got over that simple fact, the sooner I would be able to move on.
Question was…did I even want to move on?
Could I ever possibly love again? After I had been with perfection?
I suddenly felt physically ill. Thinking about this tragedy was suffocating me, trapping me in a state of denial and depression. I had to get out of my house…I had to get some air before I died.
-
A lot had changed in the six months I locked myself away from people- not so much physically, but mentally. Most of the houses were able to be rebuilt, but a lot of the old neighbors left, leaving room for more people to enter this vile place. Too my surprise, people from all walks of life decided to try their hand at upper class Staten Island life. We had a multiracial couple move in, an Indian family and even…haha…a homosexual couple. Two guys, Jared and Gerard. They had a little boy named Frankie who liked to run out on the front lawn in his diaper. Even though I was happy for them, that they were able to find acceptance in this place, to see them together made my heart break…
That could have been Reno and I…
Things have changed for my friends as well. Luckily for Cid, Tifa wasn’t pregnant. However, that didn’t stop him from getting on his knees and asking her to marry him. I told him he was making a mistake- but I knew I only said that because I was jealous. The ring on my left finger meant nothing anymore. Barret has already been getting offers from colleges- and senior year hasn’t even started yet. Despite his responsibilities at him, his mother is urging him to go to college and make something for himself. He is thinking of staying some what local; Maybe Rutgers in New Jersey. Vincent Valentine chopped off that mess of hair to short, spiked up, black hair- he said he grew his hair out to mourn Lucretia, but now it was time to move on. He and Elena still go out, but I don’t see a future between those two- Elena is fucking insufferable.
Speaking of Shinra, they finally disbanded. Rufus Shinra said he owes a large debt to society, and now donates most of his time speaking to junior high kids about the dangers of gangs and hatred towards others. He changed most of all I think. Rude still wears his sunglasses like they are attached to his head, and he still refuses to speak to anyone…but he has silently become Rufus’ personal body guard. Perfect job for him I think.
I walked past the empty lot the once held the church Aeris and I used to hang out it, where Zack and I had our first kiss. The tore it down and plan on building more ugly semi-attached houses that Staten Island is sadly infamous for. The lot was cleared- the pond and flowers were destroyed. And all that was left was brown grass and broken dreams. It was the final realization that Aeris and Zack were truly dead…and that the hope in the flowers were truly gone. My sanctuary…gone.
I walked amongst the brown, dead, grass, and tried to get back that feel of happiness. I almost felt as dead as the grass. I didn’t want to feel this dead…but it’s hard when a part of you has died.
I sat in the middle of the lot, cringing at the sound of cracking grass. I closed my blue orbs, and allowed the warm August breeze caress my face. The wind enveloped me once again in that feeling of comfort I had long for. I could almost feel the multicolored flowers surround me. A false sense of hope? Or maybe the most real thing I have felt in a long time. My heart started to repair itself…
Now I guess it was the perfect time…
“Cloud Strife…” my named traveled through the air, carried by that voice I had begged God to send me…that voice that brought me to tears the moment I it reached my ears. I didn’t want to turn around, in fear that I was only dreaming again- I couldn’t disappoint myself.
But I had to know…I had to.
I turned…the light glimmered off him perfectly, almost giving him the wings of an angel. He had that smirk, that annoying know-it-all smirk plastered on his face…as if he fucking knew he was right all along.
“Sorry,” he said, “I kind of got lost. You know me; I have no sense of direction.”
I was practically heaving to keep myself from sobbing like a child, “Reno, is that you?”
I rolled his beautiful green eyes at me- oh god how I have missed that. “No, it’s God. I have come to tell you that there is no hell. Duh! Of course it’s me…”
I kept screaming at myself to get up…to get up and fucking move- run to him before he disappears. With a mental push, and ran with all my might, and engulfed him in a tight hug- making sure he had not room to leave. I buried my face in his unruly red hair, taking in that musty scent of Axe cologne that he seemed to be drenched in. His arms snaked around my waist; his hands clung to my shirt for deal life…
“I missed you,” I sobbed uncontrollably, “You fucking jerk!”
“I know,” he laughed, “I missed you too…”
He was real, not a figment of my over active imagination. Reno had come back, just like everyone said. Just like he said…even if it took six fucking months of loneliness, I got him back. Back in my arms where he belongs…I never felt happier than I did…and all I could do was cry like a child whose toy was stolen. And that snob Reno, all he could do in response was laugh in my chest to hide his own will to cry. Everything that had been weighing me down was finally lifted…and I was free.
A brush of brown hair caught my eye…and my head jolted up…scanning the street for the owner of that soft brown hair…the only person it could be…
On the sidewalk, standing as if nothing was Aeris…looking at me with a smile on her face…
“See,” she said, “I told you…everything would be all right…” She slowly turned away from me- her message clear- and walked into a blinding white light that engulfed her.
“You’re right,” I mumbled, a smile growing on my face, “Everything will be alright…
“I’m finally free…”
The End.