So maybe this is how the world works. Happiness will come and go, and sadness will sometimes be thrust upon you. Cat didn't like to think that away, but sometimes she remembers that she isn't same as she was a few years ago. Brown hair had covered the deep red, and her baby-doll dresses had gotten just a little bit longer. In a way, high school seemed like a long dream to her. She practically laughs now at her dreams to be a star. It all seems so silly, all the daydreams and shooting-star wishes and nighttime wonders.
She figured that the world doesn't like to let you be too happy. Not that she was depressed; no, in a way she felt elated. But there was a sadness inside her that wasn't there a week ago, and a message on her answering machine that she couldn't get herself to delete. She couldn't say she didn't see it coming, though. She could remember exactly what he said when she dyed her hair and she told him it was like chocolate (still as sweet and savory as red velvet). She remembered when he claimed that they never did anything exciting anymore, how everyday just seemed so normal. She remembered every detail of when he left.
••••••••••••••••••••
Beck was a free-spirited, adrenaline-driven person. He told himself every adventure was an adventure worth taking. And every adventure he wanted to take with Cat. After they graduated, that was all they did. They found new and exciting things to do, new places for them to explore, they went wherever the wind (or the weekday traffic) took them. Beck was happy; his hands wanted to run through Cat's red hair every minute of every day, and listen to her humming as she baked. He was perfectly content, travelling the country in the old RV and never fully settling down.
Cat dyed her hair on a Sunday afternoon. He remembered because she complained how none of the drug stores were open and he wondered what was in the sack that she carried into the bathroom. She appeared in the doorway a different person, although maybe she had been changing long before that. He didn't like to think that her "chocolate-brown" hair really captured how she was now, but in a way it truly did. According to him, that was when everything started going downhill (at least that's when he started noticing it). Before he could stop it, they had an apartment, an RV sitting in the parking lot for months, and their adventures never took them far from home.
Beck still loved Cat, though. He still loved her smile and he noticed how she started to sing a little louder in the shower. He knew she still had the biggest heart of anyone he had ever known, and the craziest sugar high of any being on the planet. Maybe that was why it took so long for him to leave. Because she had done nothing wrong. She grew up, and that was it. That was the simple truth. And as simple as that truth, was the simple fact that she had outgrown him. And one winter morning, he packed his things and left the girl who deserved to be with someone who appreciated every little piece of her.
••••••••••••••••••••
"Cat, I hope you'll forgive me for doing this… like this… over the phone. It would've been too hard to look you in the eye and tell you… Cat, I'm not coming back. You've changed, and I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just… we're so different now… and you need to find someone who can be happy to settle down with you. I'm so sorry for this, Catarina. I guess this is goodbye." Beeeeep.
••••••••••••••••••••
Cat sat at a table in a coffee shop, looking out the window as snow fell slowly down to the ground outside. The sky was just starting to dim, and she thought about how the sun must have disappeared beneath the ground behind all the clouds. She thinks that it is a pretty good metaphor. She started to count back the days: what was it? Thirteen days now that she had come home to an empty apartment? She didn't feel like going back there. Even surrounded by people, she felt alone. It wasn't something she had felt in a long time, not since before high school, before Beck.
She stepped out into the cold and looked at the sky. The snow had ceased, and the moon was starting to peek out from the clearing clouds. And so maybe, just maybe, that is how the world works. Sadness is sometimes thrust upon you, but like the clouds, it goes away. And happiness will start to spread, like the light of the moon on the surface of the earth. And Cat realized that dreams are never as silly as they seem.
••••••••••••••••••••
Beck heard her voice on a Friday. It seemed like a distant memory, and by now, it was. He glanced to his right and he expected brown hair. But it wasn't. Not all of it anyway. Red streaks popped out from the brown curls (natural curls that he hadn't seen on her in a long, long time). She spoke to the man in front of her with an air of dignity, status… stature? She nodded her head and opened a door and Beck thought about how he might be invisible. She looked up and their eyes met and it seemed as if the whole world stopped.
••••••••••••••••••••
Cat smiled her smile and waved at the man she loved as if he was merely an old acquaintance. She continued, however, out the door and down the sidewalk. And maybe THAT is how the world works. Happiness comes and goes, and sadness only goes so far. And the person you love might still love you, and maybe it's better if you choose your own path.
...Maybe the world works however you want it to.