Irony
Sometimes in life, irony can be so cruel…
I'd had a crush on you for three years, but you never seemed interested in me, so I gave up. About a week later, I found out that you had done the same… Three years of longing wasted, when I could have had you…
We had to leave our island. It was all we had talked about for weeks… Yet when we actually left, all we wanted was to get back home…
I asked if you would ever leave me, and you swore that you'd be with me forever… The next day your parents told you that you were moving away…
You left me three years ago. That was the worst day of my life. I remember running into your arms and I couldn't stop crying. I begged you not to go, begged you to stay there with me.
"I'm sorry, Kairi. I… I have to go," you replied, hugging me tighter and pulling me closer. I looked up at you and saw tears forming in your eyes, and that was when I knew that there was no hope left. You were really going to leave me. And there was nothing I could do to stop you from going. When I saw the car start moving away, I ran away. I couldn't stand there and watch you leave.
Riku took your leaving pretty hard, too. He was your best friend, after all. We supported each other through the whole thing, and everything was turning out all right. We seemed to be holding our own pretty well. At least, that was what I thought…
Riku hadn't come to school for the last few days. I went to his house to find out if he was okay. That was when I found him, lying face down on the floor with a bottle next to him. I had no idea if he was alive or dead. By the time the ambulance got there, I was panicking. I couldn't seem to think straight, and all I could do was cry. They rushed him to the hospital. One of the doctors told me that if I hadn't found him when I did, he would have probably been dead.
He was in that hospital for two weeks. I don't know that I ever left him. I found out some pretty scary things while he was there. He had been drinking like that for about a year. That hadn't been the first time he'd let it get that bad. It was because of you.
I begged him to get help, and he promised me that he would. The day he got out of that hospital, he signed himself up for treatment for alcoholism. Those three months were really hard for him. There were so many times when he almost caved in, almost picked up that bottle again. He never did though. He told me that every time he thought about drinking, he thought of me and you. That stopped him every time. You would have been so proud of him…
I was waiting at his house to congratulate him on finishing his treatments. I started to worry as the hours passed and he didn't come back. I was about to leave when the phone started ringing.
"Miss, do you know anyone by the name of Riku," a strange voice on the other end of the phone asked me. I said that I did, and I asked if he was alright.
"I'm sorry, miss, but he passed away an hour ago." I dropped the phone and fell to my knees as the tears started rolling down my cheeks. I couldn't believe this was happening. All over again, I was losing someone I truly cared about. Someone I loved, just like you…
I remember trying to find you and tell you that Riku had died, but I didn't have any way to contact you. He was on his way home from that last treatment when his car got hit head-on by another driver. The other person was drunk. He walked away without a scratch. He never even realized what he had taken away…
I was even worse then than I was when you left me. At least you could still come back. Riku, he was gone forever. It was about three months before I could go an entire day without crying over his death at some point. I thought about him almost constantly. Every time I saw him, I saw you there, too…
About a year later, we somehow got in touch. I don't even remember how. You said that you were coming back to the Islands. I promised that I would meet you at the Secret Place, just like the old days. I couldn't wait to see you, to hold you in my arms again. I had never gotten over you…
The night I was supposed to meet you, there was an ice storm. In the back of my mind, I knew I shouldn't have gone out there, but I couldn't stop myself. I was hell-bent on seeing you again. It had been so, so long…
I didn't see that patch of ice on the road. By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late to do anything. I felt the impact. That's all I remember. That's all there was to remember…
I watched you at my funeral. I was there, above you. When I saw you crying, I cried with you. Not for myself, but for you. I knew what losing someone you cared about felt like. I had to go through it twice. I wanted to be there. I wanted to tell you not to cry over me. I spent so much of my life crying. When I look back, the sadness is all I can remember. So Sora, don't cry for me, please…
I had been so hell-bent on seeing you, it ended up sending me to Heaven.
…But as cruel as it is then, it's even crueler in death.