Goodbye
The school year was coming to close, and with that brought a strong sense of sentimentality to the glee club. Mr. Schue gave them the theme of 'last words' for the seniors to sing to the underclassmen and vice versa. Blaine stood in front of his team for the last time singing a song he fell in love with.
"It's my happy ending, now it's time to say goodnight. We can stop pretending, tell the spotlight man turn off my light," he sang. Two hours away in Westerville, Ohio, Sebastian Smythe left his last lacrosse practice quietly, drawing no attention to himself. They were state champions, again, but that meant nothing to him now.
"Cause the show is done now, and it's time to leave the stage. The good guy won now and the band has no more songs to play." Blaine continued, pouring his heart into his final song. Sebastian threw open his dorm door, glad his roommate was out. He threw his blazer on the floor and hurried into the bathroom. "It's a happy ending, so I'll say goodbye."
"Goodbye to all the make believe, goodbye." Sebastian returned from the bathroom with what he needed. His mother emailed him "Can't wait to see you next week!" He wanted to gag. "There's no more magic up my sleeve, there's nothing left to act up here. I'll take my bow and disappear." Disappear. No one would even notice. It was so close to graduation, he doubted it would make the paper. "No questions left for answering, there's only one word left to sing: goodbye." He scribbled a quick letter to Hunter. He assumed the other boy would be the only one who would want an explanation.
"It's a happy ending to the greatest show on Earth." Blaine thought of the last four years and the friends he'd made, the songs he'd sang. The New Directions was the perfect team to leave with. "Now the curtain's descending and I hope you got your money's worth." A picture of last year's Warblers sat on Sebastian's desk. He wanted to break it. "I'm gonna stop the show now, 'cause I wanna leave on top." He was captain then. That was before Hunter came in and stole his spot, before the group used drugs and destroyed their reputation. "So get up and go now," he turned the picture face-down; he didn't have the guts to break it. "'Cause there's nothing left inside my head." Empty. "Everything that's left to say has been said. Goodbye."
"Goodbye to all the song and dance, goodbye." Fourteen-year-old, freshman, Blaine danced in the back of his mind. He was so young, so broken, yet full of heart. He remembered his first day with the Warblers. "Off stage I stand a better chance." Sebastian knew he never truly belonged with the Warblers. Sure, he had the look and the talent, but never the soul. "The show is through, the part's been played." He did what he had to. He put on a smile and wowed the crowd, but it was never enough. "No standing in the wings afraid, no violins or phony tears. The word that's music to my ears: goodbye." Blaine thought of the future awaiting him, and for the first time he was ready to embrace it. He couldn't, wouldn't, dwell on the past; he would move forward to the future. Sebastian knew he had no future. He was a short-lived star, one whose light couldn't last too long without collapsing upon itself. "Oh goodbye, goodbye. Goodbye!"
"I'm not afraid of stopping, this end could be my start." The choir room had been Blaine's home for two years, and prior to that the Warbler Commons had been. But he was ready to move past the childish hope of success. He was ready to become it. "I wanna live a life and not just play a part." Sebastian wondered why he even moved to America in the first place. If Europeans hated him, there was no way his own people would take to him. He was done being the "perfect son". It was no secret his peers hated him. Why pretend otherwise? "I'll walk into the sunset, I'll sail across the sea." Sebastian wondered if there was a heaven; and would it be waiting for him? "The final word, the last you'll hear of me, of me, is goodbye!" He made a quick text to the one person he was never acting around.
"Goodbye to every night alone, goodbye." Blaine wouldn't think "what if?" anymore when it came to love. He was ready to let go of his old fantasies. "Goodbye to lives that I don't own." Sebastian wondered what Blaine would think of him. Would he come to the funeral, or would he just send his 'regards'? "I'm tired of living on the stage. A life that's only on the page." Sebastian Smythe, age 17 was all he would be. "Empty lies are in the past." "That means nothing to me," he had Blaine. Blaine knew it wasn't true. It meant everything. He wondered if an old friend would have time for him. "I've tried before but here's the last goodbye." Sebastian wouldn't fail this time. He would be gone. "Now goodbye," he downed the remaining half of the bottle. These pills wouldn't fail him like the others. These were Hunter's pain relievers, and there was no way they wouldn't stop his heart. "Oh goodbye." His vision blurred and his head felt light. This was it. "Goodbye!" Blaine hit the final B-flat, which was met with the claps of his friends. He smiled and took a seat next to Sam. A phone vibrated loudly underneath his chair. He picked it up and read the message. One word, two syllables: from a person he hadn't dared to think of in months.
Goodbye.
