In Another Life
The train gives a small, final jerk at the station and the cardboard box, filled with reminders of the happiness we shared in previous months, shifts in the seat beside me. I catch my breath and adjust my scarf. I could feel my brows knitting together and eyes burning. Stop, I command myself, shutting my eyes and exhaling slowly. No. I already told myself I wouldn't. Lifting the box carefully into my arms, I sidestep the row and queue up to exit onto the platform.
All around me, the flurries of frost pepper the station, contrasting against the gray and somber sky and buildings on this December afternoon.
Amid the honks and zooms of passing cars, the shrieks of laughter from kids building snowmen, and tinkling of non-profit Santas asking for charitable donations, I cross the street to the park where we first declared our feelings for each other. God, I didn't know it would be this hard. My vision is already blurring so much that I have to blink repeatedly just to see where I'm going.
Past the frozen bench and the circlet of skeletal trees, I can make out a bundled up figure leaning against the railing overlooking the frigid lake. I'd know the outline of his back anywhere, having spent almost every one of my free days with him. He turns as the snow crunches underneath my boots.
I don't think I will ever learn to forget his face. Those lavender eyes stare knowingly back at me from behind a curtain of sandy blonde hair and against a tanned facade. "Hey," he says, attempting a smile. Heh, you're always gonna be the bigger person between the two of us.
"Hi," I reply, smiling and fighting back the tears from my eyes. My forehead aches like it usually does on the countless occasions when I lose my cool and try to hold myself back from senseless bawling. We both know it's only a matter of time before the water works start and there will be no stopping it afterwards. "I have some things for you," I say, hoping that my voice sounds normal.
"Me too," he responds quietly, holding out a box previously hidden from view by the tree. Who knows how long he has sat there on our bench and in the cold, probably recalling all of the memories that are running through my head this instant.
We stand not talking for what seems like eternity, though I know it's really only a matter of seconds. "Mitsuki," he calls with a playful attempt at berating before stopping short.
I glance down at his footprints in the snow and approach him, hugging the box to me. I could feel the edges of the cardboard flaps pressing against my jacket. "Thank you," I manage to whisper, offering him the box.
There is so much I want to say that we've already said to each other a million times. I can't go on. The tears are already streaming down my cheeks and I can feel my nose running.
He takes the box of gifts he previously entrusted to me and sets it on the stone bench beside its counterpart. The weight of his arms wrap around my back and his head rests above my shoulder. "I love you, he whispers with a shudder.
My hands tighten around his waist. "I love you, too," I sob, not really sure anymore of what we had decided. I can't think clearly.
I don't want to break up, so why are we breaking up?
I feel his hold on me loosen. He stoops down to pick up my box and straightens back up. "Take care of yourself, Mit," he says.
I nod and ask him to do the same. "Don't give up," I add, running a finger across my lid. "I wish you all the best."
He grins wryly and nods.
I close my eyes, catching his cologne as he passes me by and listening to the sounds of his footsteps grow gradually lighter and softer the further away he took them. Goodbye.
Goodbye…
The backs of my thighs feel cold as the rest of the afternoon light wanes and the first street lamps flicker on. I know I have to head back soon, but just a moment longer… This is the last time I can say we've met.
I burrow my hands in my jacket pockets and pull my shoulders upwards, burying my face into my scarf. I half-wish that I had believed in all of his stories. That I am her, my disputed past self. That we really were continuing what we had lost in our former lives.
But it isn't me.
I am not the same person I was back then. And maybe…we were meant to be together in another life. But if fate is true, then this is exactly how things are supposed to play out.
A beep sounds from my cellphone and the blue light of the screen flashes, signaling that it is time to go and leave the rest of this behind. Taking a deep breath, I pull my hoodie overhead and grab ahold of the box that Mar—that he left me.
Each step feels heavier the farther I stride away from that place, from the us of the past, and toward the humming black limo with its headlights illuminating the dark sidewalk beside it.
The door opens and my younger brother bounds out from the backseat. "Onee-chan!" he calls, reaching his hand toward me. I balance the box to one side and gladly take his hand, warm from the heated car despite being gloveless.
Isono takes the box from me and I slide onto the warm leather seats beside Nii-san, Mokuba following after. "Hi, Nii-san," I murmur shakily, feeling sorry of the poor state in which I am greeting them for Christmas. He says nothing and drops a small box of mochi ice cream in my lap.
On my right, Mokuba wraps his fingers around my arm and tells me that I feel cold. "But that's okay," he says reassuringly, rubbing his hands back and forth on either side of it, as if making a fire. "We'll get you warmed up."
A/N: I don't know why but I've been in the mood for sad stories and sad songs recently. I do have an inkling though. It's probably because it's around the time of my grandpa's passing. Goodbyes are always hard when you really love someone.
This oneshot was intended to channel the anguish of separating, even separating on mutual and peaceful terms. In this story, my OC and Marik end their relationship, albeit reluctantly because they still love each other very much. Their teenage emotions are running high and they want to beat the odds, but they decided it was best to part because they each have to discover what they want from life. Marik has to return home to Egypt and rebuild his life with his siblings. Part of his love for Mitsuki stems from what he believes is a past life connection, destiny and legend being integral elements of his family history. Mitsuki lets him go because their romance was already strained by his insistence on fate; she's new to the whole duel monsters and ancient lives concepts, having only come to Domino so she could ascertain her origins. She is insecure that Marik loves her more out of who he imagines her to be rather than for who she really is. In my subdued state, I kept imagining their goodbye.
My original stories written years and years ago (Oh My Ra! and Legend of the Winged Dragon) were never finished bc school and life caught up with me, so I never got to tell of their backgrounds nor their futures.
Preview icon is from Google. Props to the artist.