Leap of Faith
She's dead.
Those two words kept running and running in my head like a train running in a circular track and I could not find the off button for it. I wanted to scream, I really do but I just sat there staring out the window while Ryan and Gabriella tried, but failed, to bring me back to reality. Finally they left me alone. But God I don't want to be alone…
Sharpay…
I remember back when I met her in Milan. I didn't know where I was until I bumped into her… and her many shopping bags. One thing led to another and there she was pinned underneath me, plastered with booze, and running her perfectly French-tipped nails down my back screaming that I do her harder. Man did I oblige…
I think my neighbors down the next two rooms at either side heard us at the Le Meridien Gallia, not that I care. We did it again and again for the next two nights of my stay. She's a lovely animal in bed… I wish I could still hold her now…
She promised that we would meet when I get back to New York, secretly of course. I waited for a month, became paranoid, when she finally came.
When she did my life took a weird twist. I was happy but seen as a lunatic by all others. My wife badgered me about calling a person who's number had been disconnected (Gabriella caught me talking to Sharpay who I tried to pass as a colleague), she visited me in the office once and my colleagues wondered who I was talking to (ironic, really) and when we walked through Central Park dogs barked viciously at her. We both found that weird.
Until Ryan came along…
I was about to propose to Sharpay and serve Gabriella with divorce papers when he came. He came into our apartment looking all somber and everything and wearing a dark suit that made him paler by the minute. He sat down in front of us and gave us a black embossed envelope with tinges of pink.
It was an invitation to a private funeral and no other people, except the invitees, were allowed. Before Gabriella could open it I asked who died and…he said… Sharpay did. She was on a plane back to New York when it crashed… somewhere and it took them a month to retrieve her body.
At that point I wanted to put a fist in both their faces!
My Sharpay is not dead yet! She's been with me the whole time!
But come to think of it, I've never gotten to touch her the whole time and whenever we go out, she tells me where she wants to go and those places were safe bets that I wouldn't know she was dead. That made me all the angrier…
The funeral…
I wore a dark suit, Gabriella's choice, and put on a somber face, Gabriella's nagging, and drove her to the funeral, Ryan insisted. We parked and went to the newly erected palatial mausoleum of the Evans. It was all marble and pink from there.
Looking around I saw a lot of our old East High buddies looking somber, out of respect. Up front were Vance and Darby and Ryan and a lot more blonde people with fierce and intimidating faces they could only be her relatives. The priest talked and Ryan gave a tear jerking eulogy and it was time to pay our last respects. I felt myself go ashen at the thought…
Everyone stood up and stood by Sharpay's coffin for a minute then they went back to their seats. After a while, Gabriella nudged me and I stood up. I walked towards her beautifully carved ivory coffin, up the carpeted steps, and looked down.
She looked drop dead gorgeous…
What a pun! She would've smacked me for that one but it was true. Sharpay looked beautiful even in death. The pallor of her face did nothing to hide the beauty she had been bestowed with and her corpse looked like she was sleeping peacefully. I also noticed that her outfit was the one she wore when we saw each other again for the first time.
I was touched, she thought of me…
I reached out to touch her face but the glass barred my hand and it made my heart ache. Tears started cascading down my cheeks and I started to whimper, my knees buckling underneath me. The truth hit me like a rain of bullets and I was shaking.
My divorce with Gabriella: not gonna happen.
My future with Sharpay: not gonna happen.
My life's true happiness: not gonna happen.
All I could do was look up to high heavens and scream my brains out. It echoed all around the place and people gave me worried looks. Gabriella went up and tried to bring me back to the chair, Ryan was helping her but I would not let go. I pushed them off me and threw myself back at her coffin.
She lay there amidst the chaos looking as angelic as ever and I cried over her glassed corpse. I could hear the people whispering and talking and I didn't want to look around. Suddenly I heard it. Faint at first, I would've missed it if the place weren't made of marble.
Click
A very impatient clicking of the heels it became a loud stomp that I could only hear. I looked around and saw her standing beyond a side door. She was looking at me behind dark sunglasses with a smirk. She crooked a finger and beckoned me towards her. I tried to get her apparition out of my head…
Bolton…
Her sultry voice floated in my head and I stared at her. Many shut up and looked where I was looking. Boi, her dog, started barking. Everyone else was looking curiously between me and the side door. I guess I looked mesmerized or something.
Bolton, I want us to be together…
Come to me…
Bolton!
That was all it took.
My feet felt like it had lead in them but I walked. I walked towards my car and fumbled with the car keys. I could hear Gabriella calling out to me but I ignored her. People tried to stop me but I dodged them or pushed them out of the way… she was calling me, we would be together, I know now what to do!
I was running to the car and the damn keys nearly slipped out of my finger. I got in, locked the door and strapped on my seatbelt then I floored it right out of the cemetery. I felt like flying as I rushed through everything. Buildings and people became a blur as a I zoomed to my goal.
I could hear her egging me, telling me that I'm so close… just a little bit more.
The gas pedal was flat on the floor and my Lamborghini went as fast as it could go. I could hear the sirens behind me and knew that I must have triggered the cops. Whatever, I was gonna be with Sharpay and no one would stop me!
As I neared my destination I slowed down a bit and checked my hair. The suit was too dark and formal but a voice in my head, probably Sharpay's, told me she won't mind. I checked myself out one more time before haphazardly parking at the side of the road.
I threw the car keys on the passenger seat, I won't need it anymore. I got out and cars started honking but I couldn't care less. I ran onto the pedestrian lane, found the stairs and then found myself at the very top of the middle pole on the Brooklyn Bridge…
Did you know that 35 people try to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge each year, most because of broken hearts?
I looked down and saw the expanse of water before me. Sharpay was standing beside me holding my hand while the police officers tried to get me down. I didn't have a broken heart, on the contrary I was here to mend my broken heart, cheesy as that sounds.
I'm waiting, she snapped efficiently stemming the flow of all my other thoughts.
Without further ado…
I jumped.
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