Chapter 3
Applause filled the stadium as Sara's year-end photo-montage flashed across the screen, set to Green Day's "Time of your Life". Sitting up on-stage, waiting to give her speech, Sara looked out across the stadium at the familiar faces she had known all her life - - her classmates, fellow church members, her family, but she didn't see the one face that she wanted to see more than anyone else's.
In her head, Sara knew why John couldn't come, knew that it wasn't safe for him to contact her or return to Paradise right now. But in this stadium especially, the place where he had saved her life and defeated the Mogadorians, Sara's heart always longed for him more strongly, always hoped to see him standing there, smiling his crooked grin in her direction.
"Ladies and gentlemen, graduating with honors in photography, Miss. Sara Hart . . ." The principal announced as the music ended, ushering her to the podium.
"There's a famous saying that 'a picture tells a thousand words' . . ." Sara began "But sometimes, a thousand words aren't nearly enough. A picture is a memory, frozen in time, a moment where everything you saw or felt was captured forever on film. Sometimes these memories were major milestones, and sometimes they were merely a Tuesday."
Sara thought back to the first time she'd seen John, looking through the Venetian-blinds of Mr. Simms' office eavesdropping on their conversation, and how irritated she had been at the time.
"For the class of 2012, these memories will go with us as we start the next phase of our journey, as we leave home and look to find ourselves in college and beyond. The friends that we made here in Paradise and the memories we shared with them, we will carry forever in our hearts."
Sara remembered the day at lunch again, when Mark and his teammates had been harassing Sam. She remembered the fire in John's eyes when he'd thrown the football back at them, she had felt that same fire in her own belly then, she could still feel it now, burning. Sara had captured that moment on film, and a dozen others all priceless to her heart, but too dangerous to keep. So she had destroyed every physical copy in order to protect him, searing them into her memory instead, where she could look at them anytime she liked.
o
o
o
One of these days the sky's gonna break
And everything will escape and I'll know
One of these days the mountains
Are gonna fall into the sea and they'll know
That you and I were made for this
I was made to taste your kiss
We were made to never fall away
Never fall away
o
o
o
"The sacrifices that we've made, the people that we lost, will always be a part of us. And no matter where life takes us, we will always return home, to Paradise"
o
o
o
One of these days letters are gonna fall
From the sky telling us all to go free
But until that day I'll find a way
To let everybody know that you're coming back
You're coming back for me
o
o
o
As Sara's eyes swept over the crowd once again, a strange movement caught her eye. Beneath the bleachers, lurking in the tunnel leading back to the school, was a figure standing deliberately in the shadows - -
It was Sam.
Sara gasped, turning to Mark who had sat beside her on the stage, having already given his speech as Senior Varsity team-captain. Sara's eyes motioned toward the tunnel, asking him to look, as if needing his confirmation that she was indeed seeing what she thought she saw.
When Sara turned her gaze back toward the tunnel, Sam's eyes were locked on her, holding her transfixed with their intensity. Sara's breath caught in her throat at his expression - - there was no levity, only darkness as he turned away, disappearing from her view inside the tunnel, beckoning her to follow him.
Suddenly, her heart clenched inside of her chest and Sara knew what her nightmares had meant - - - -
John was gone.
o
o
o
tbc