One Last Time
"Hey, Mr. Shue. " I say, walking into the choir room, I notice him stacking papers. Music sheets, probably.
"Hey Rachel." He said, adding a pause before speaking again.' I get flashbacks when you walk in here and say that… good ones." He finished, sighing.
I let out a sigh too, "How are you doing?" I ask, unsure of what his answer would be.
"Everyone keeps asking me that." He responds,
"Well,' I pause 'from what I hear, you've been a rock for everyone. So…" I say, still feeling shaky as ever. 'I know what that means that sometimes you don't get to grieve yourself."
There was a short silence, before I could say anything else, "I'm fine….I mean I'm.. I'm really not okay. But, uh yeah. I'-I'm okay." He paused once more,
"More importantly, how are you?" He asked, curiously. Reaching out for my hand,
I took his hand, and held onto it. Sniffling, "I have no idea." I whisper, adding a sigh.
"I talk to him a lot, I can still see his face…and can hear his voice so clearly." I pause, the sniffles continued on.
"Do you think that I'll ever forget it?"
'Cause I'm afraid that one day, I will." I finish, I was now sobbing
"What do you talk to him about?" Shue questioned me,
"Anything,' I answered
'I mean when we were dating, it was, you know pretty much me talking all the time, and him just pretending to listen… so it's not really that different" I finished, I look back at him, whom was in the middle of chuckling. It was true though,
"I had it all planned out,' I stopped, I was getting shaky again. "I was gonna make it big on Broadway, and maybe do a Woody Allen movie."
"And then when we were ready, I would just…" Shaking my head, the thought about this now hurt my head. 'Come back, and he'd be teaching here, and I'd walk through these doors and I would just say 'I'm home.' And then we would live happily ever after." I finished, giving a small, sad smile.
"It's a good plan." Mumbling,
"Did you tell him?"
"I didn't have to…he knew." I finished, I was nodding my head without even knowing. Finn had known this, I've told him this before. I remember.
"…And, now what?" He queried,
I shrugged, a small tear shed, and landed on my cheek.
"I don't know. Something different."
"Maybe something better," He interrupted.
"I just… I don't think that's possible." I held my free hand up to my chest, where the necklace with the name Finn was placed.
"He was my person."
I began wiping my face, all the stained tears, I soon covered my mouth. More tears were probably about to shed.
"But, thank you so much for doing this. I felt like I didn't know, if I'd be able to sing again, but now I know that I can." I say looking back up at my old choir teacher, giving him a half-hearted smile.
"I know that there have been a lot of memorials for him, but.. I had this made" I stopped, beginning to look away to find it. Sliding it over for to read
"So I was hoping that we could hang it in here." I finished, Will walked over so he could get a good glimpse of it himself.
After a few seconds, he sighed. I had whimpered at the thought of Neglect week.
"Did he really say that?" He asked, all serious. Now we were both chuckling.
"He was smart, just, you know in an… untraditional kind of way." He looked up as he chuckled a little bit more,
Wiping my eyes once again, he held onto half of the plaque.
"Come on, let's hang it right over there." I nodded, as I helped him place it on the wall."
I rested my head on his shoulder, rereading the plaque that was below Mrs. Alders' plaque the crazy, beloved glee teacher of twenty years ago who stood before Ken, and before Will.
Finn Hudson
1994-2013
"The show must go all over the place….or something."