An eventful trip the two friends had enjoyed together...for the most part, enjoyed. Elphaba seemed focused, zoned out. Every time Glinda looked up at her, she seemed distant, her dark eyes clouded and blank to the blonde, who just looked back down, sighing to herself. They would return to Shiz to continue their schooling, Glinda soon settling down with a man shortly after they graduated, Elphaba set on becoming a scientist. When the two started to board the train, Glinda ready to return home with Elphaba, the brunette stopped.
Spinning around to face the still Elphaba, Glinda stared at her with wide, confused eyes. "What is it, Elphie?" she whispered, glancing around for anything that seemed like a danger to either of them. "Why did you stop?" The blonde despised silence more than anything else in all of Oz. Elphaba knew this. Yet she didn't speak. She just stared at Glinda, her dark eyes showing the slightest hint of sorrow. "You're...not coming with me...are you...?" Elphaba shook her head slowly, as if she were still coming to terms with that fact herself. "Elphie, please come with me. I can't return alone - please. That is all I ask." Neither girl spoke for a long moment, the both of them just staring into each other's eyes, as if saying silent goodbyes without completely realizing it. "Please," Glinda begged, her voice barely a sound at all.
Elphaba leaned forward just a bit, bending down until her mouth was level with the petite blonde girl's ear. There was a pause that felt like an eternity to the blonde, her breath caught in her chest, her heart beating rapidly, threatening to break out of it's cage and escape. The brunette sighed softly before speaking, sending shivers down Glinda's spine. "If you should ever need my help, Glinda, just whistle, and I'll come to you."
Before Glinda could respond, the brunette swiftly turned her back to the small girl, hurrying away, disappearing into the crowd. Half-tempted to whistle then and there, Glinda weighed the pros and cons. Before she could act, though, it was far too late and she had to return to Shiz to tell Nessa and the others what had happened. Turning her back to the crowd, Glinda stepped back onto the train, hiding her fresh tears, wiping them away before they could fall.
So many years had passed since Glinda was left to return to Shiz alone in the Emerald City. And three years had passed since the supposed "Wicked Witch's" demise - murder, more like it. Glinda much preferred to refer to it as her murder.
As she had done for three years, every night, the blonde approached her window, leaning on the sill, her head poking out into the chilly night air. She closed her eyes - taking in the stillness of the night, slowly breathing, hearing and feeling Elphaba near her again. The words - Elphaba's final words to her - were etched into both her mind and heart, fated to remain there as long as she breathed.
It was the third anniversary of her murder - demise. Glinda had to remind herself that she couldn't blame the poor girl, and she certainly couldn't blame anyone but herself and Elphaba on the anniversary. Had either of them done anything, they would surely both be alive and together still.
"Damn you, Elphaba," Glinda mumbled, opening her eyes quickly and sighing. "How could you abandon me like that?"
"Just whistle, and I'll come to you."
The words echoed in her mind, bouncing around endlessly, aimlessly, waiting for her to react. Just as she had done years before, every night, in the same place, Glinda lifted one hand to her mouth, gently running her fingers over her lips, words begging to pour from them. Words burned her tongue and lips, words begging to be shouted into the night, never to reach the ears of the person they were meant for.
Quickly, Glinda whistled, a sharp whistle that would surely reach her dear Elphie. She paused, closing her eyes once again and waiting for her name to be said, the sound of a broom flying through the air, anything.
There was no response to the whistle, as Glinda had expected, deep down where her hope had long since died and faded. Rage built up within the petite woman and she opened her eyes, glaring out into the dark night sky. "You promise to come when I whistle, yet you have not done so in the past three years. Elphaba, why have you broken your promise after so many years. I have been waiting for you since you left me - I have memorized your voice, the final words you whispered to me before you left me alone. I can't..." She paused, tears beginning to cloud her vision. "I can't even remember what you look like. I can't remember what you...what you look like...Elphie...why have you left me here alone...for so long...?"
The words, the realization, burned in her eyes as tears and in her heart as it began to break. They burned her tongue and lips as she spoke, catching in her throat for a second before she could continue. "Please, return to me, Elphie. All I ask is you return for one night, so we can properly say goodbye. Please. You can't...you cannot be dead, Elphaba Thropp. That is a reality that I refuse to believe as true - Elphaba Thropp couldn't be killed by a simple bucket of water...by a little girl. No, that was impossible. Not her Elphie. Not the Elphie that defied the Wizard, the one that fought so hard and so long for a hopeless cause.
Glinda exhaled slowly, the soft sound wavering as if she were shaking. Elphie had to be somewhere. Maybe she was just having trouble reaching her...that had to be it. "Please, Elphie. Please come back to me." The blonde whistled again, a clear and sharp sound cutting through the peaceful and calm night. The whistle was short, but surely it had to have at least carried some ways from the window. It had to have.
Her decision had been final - she had promised herself that, on the third anniversary of Elphaba's melting, she would stop whistling. She would stop hoping, stop waiting, and stop whistling. And, sadly, tonight was that night. So she stayed there, leaning on the window sill, head poking out into the cool night air, on the verge of crying. A few minutes. Just a few more minutes, and then she would go to bed, leaving the childish hope behind.
Rustle.
Glinda snapped her head to the left, towards the source of the sound. She heard it, there was no doubt in her mind. There was rustling of tree leaves. "Hello? Is...is anybody there?" she asked, struggling to keep her voice a respectable level. The answer was more rustling. "Why do you allow yourself to become filled with hope? It was just a bird...or Bird...either way, it was not Elphie. It can never be Elphie. Elphie has been gone for three years...why can't you understand that..."
As she returned to her bed, the petite girl continued to mumble to herself, not glancing over her shoulder at all, missing the sight of a green-skinned woman holding a broom in the tree to the left of the window. Glinda didn't see the woman, instead returning to bed long enough to begin crying. While she cried, there was a sharp whistle from outside that didn't reach her ears. The whistle was lost in the air, no repeat of the sound. It was simply gone.
With that final gesture, the woman in the tree disappeared again, leaving Glinda truly alone and heartbroken in her bed, so many unspoken goodbyes and regrets left to burn a mark on her heart.