In the earliest, most agonizing hours of the morning, a coffee table sits by it's lonesome in the center of a barren living room, with moonlight sneaking through the curtains and casting across it's polished wood surface. The only thing that settles on top of it is a small, white envelope—an envelope that contains a simple ticket that leads to, essentially, the end of a road. A long, twisted road that contains both the best and worst of times—a road that has been driven on for years now without one stop. A simple road that comes to a sudden halt at the edge of a cliff.
Next to the table are bags. A suitcase, a briefcase, a dufflebag, even a bookbag—all neatly packed, ready to go. They are heavy and thick enough to look as if every belonging he ever owned has been stuffed inside his luggage. Actually, that's probably the case—after all; he's going to need quite a bit for a trip like this.
Around the corner of the vacant, quiet room rests a set of stairs that gently creak with even the tiniest step. And beyond such stairs is a small, dark hallway—blacker than the sky outside. You could barely see the doors that lie at the end of the hall, sealing away the room that houses a young, peacefully sleeping pair. The only sounds that fill the entire apartment are those of the heater's quiet humming, and the soft breathing of two young adults wrapped in each other's embrace, all whilst tucked underneath a mountain of blankets. One sleeps silently with even the faintest smile planted on her face, but the other lies wide awake, having come to the point where he has to practically force his eyes to stay open. He knows that he has a long flight tomorrow, and that he should really get some sleep, but he also knows that once he falls asleep…well, he'll have to wake up. And waking up would mean saying goodbye.
He lies in bed, simply waiting, with his frayed blonde locks falling against his face and eyes—although he remains too undisturbed to care to move them. He knows that he'll have to leave soon, and he wonders exactly why it is that he's still holding on.
After all, they both knew this day would come. They knew it all along.
The real question, though, which he continues to ask himself over and over again, is how did it come so fast? It's their last night together, and he's trying his best not to sleep, no matter how late it is—because he knows that once he wakes, he'll have to slip away. Conflicted, he lets out a quiet sight, rolling onto his side and tucking his arm around her small body.
When the daylight comes, I'll have to go. But tonight I'm gonna hold you so close.
And so he wraps his arm even tighter around her, pulling her closer to him. He takes every waking moment to closer observe everything he had ever loved most about her, staring at her perfection. The way her soft skin feels against his fingertips as he runs his hand across her arm, and the way the shimmering light from the moon rest perfectly against her bubblegum colored hair.
Reluctantly, he looks over at the window that remains only half covered by sloppily shut blinds and sees that the sky is getting brighter and the stars are burning out. He screams internally, begging for someone to slow it down.
This is way, too hard.
His heart's pace quickens, towing her even closer with each thump of his racing pulse. He knows this will be the last time, for a long time, he gets to hold her like this. He lets out another heavy sigh, nuzzling his nose against her neck and doing his best to focus only on the beauty that rests in front of him. Unfortunately though, all he manages to really think about is the fact that as soon as the sun comes up, he'll have to go. Glancing down at her now, he realizes that everything he sees in front of him will soon be only memory.
Cause in the daylight, we'll be on our own, but tonight I need to hold you so close.
I don't want to go, he thinks quietly to himself. I don't want to leave her. I don't want to. Maybe I can—maybe I can cancel the flight. I'll—I'll pick a different school. There's plenty of good ones around here, right? The thoughts course throughout his mind at the speed of light, but they're all quickly washed away by the sudden sting of reality. He would have to go, whether he liked it or not. Maybe there were plenty of other schools that were more local, but they had talked about this. He couldn't pass up the opportunity. They had decided—together—that in the long run, this choice would benefit the both of them. He'd start off with a better job, he' be able to support her more…
But thinking about it now, he wonders if all of this is really worth a 'better job.'
The silence of the night time soon fades away, with the first twittering of early morning birds rising from their nests. He cringes at the sound, and forces himself to refrain from looking at the clock while his stomach ties into knots. At one point, darkness would be something he feared. Darkness would bring nightmares; darkness would come from XANA-inflicted power outages. But now, the darkness was all he wanted. If it were up to him, it would stay dark forever.
And when the daylight, comes I'll have to go.
But tonight I'm gonna hold you so close.
Cause in the daylight, we'll be on our own.
But tonight I need to hold you, so close.
A heavenly sigh and gentle stirring next to him drags him out of his frozen state of mind, and he smirks slightly as she stretches outwards before rolling over and resting her head against his chest. Instinctively he drapes his arm around her and runs his fingers through her hair, but his smile quickly fades away.
"Good morning, Jeremie."
Three words he never thought that he would dread hearing more than anything else in this word.