I woke up on the floor of my living room. There was no confusion now. I knew exactly why the walls were blank the minute I woke up. I looked at Emily, who fell asleep with her arm reaching towards me. My heart saddened looking at it. I know I've said it a million times, but I'm going to say it again. I can't express how much I'll miss her. If you have anyone like Emily in your life, you'll understand.
I figured I wasn't going to be able to shut out the world in my thoughts forever, so I got up and began moving as stealthily as I could. Even with me being all sneaky-like, it couldn't keep Emily asleep. I swear she could wake up at the whisper of wind. She got up without saying anything and followed me to the kitchen. We went in and made coffee still not saying anything. We sat down at the island again and drank for a few minutes before she broke the silence.
"What are you gonna do?"
"Don't know," I replied putting my forehead on the cool countertop.
"I'm not going to let you do this alone, you know", she stated looking at me seriously. "We've been too good of friends for too long for me just to leave you hangin' like that."
"I just don't see how we're going to do it. I know we're going to be across the ocean and stuff, but that's not really what bothers me. I'm just going to miss looking at you across a lunch table and know exactly what's going through your head before you tell me. I don't think I'll ever have that connection with someone else, ever."
"Yeah, I'm pretty amazing", she said leaning back from the counter with her hands behind her head winking at me. I laughed
"No kidding. You're the best", I said leaning over to hug her again.
"Well, you'll just have to write me every day, I suppose", she said giving me an accusing look.
"Hey!" I said trying my hardest to look offended. "When you say it like that, you make it seem like I forget everything. She just rolled her eyes at me.
"Well, I guess we'd better get Taylor up. You're going to be leaving soon", she said pushing her stool away from the island.
"Yeah…." I said letting my voice trail off. I didn't want this to happen.
I slid across the floor in my socks, trying to make this the best I could. I jumped on my brother on the floor. I gave him a big smile and hugged him.
"Good morning, big brother", I said laughing at the incredulous look on his face. He sat up looking in a daze, and I got off of him. He rubbed his eyes and reminded me of a 4-year-old instead of the 5'10", stocky 20-year-old that he actually was. He looked up at me and realization lit up his face. He cleared his expression immediately, standing up in his pajamas. He went straight into the kitchen at the smell of coffee. I looked at Emily and gave her a questioning look. She shrugged her shoulders and we went into the kitchen after him. He looked at us when we walked in and put on a fake smile. Anyone could see through that. Still, he kept it up looking right at us with that phony smile.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked unconvincingly cheerful. I lifted my eyebrows at him, but he acted as if he hadn't seen it.
"Yeah…." I said playing along with whatever game he had going through his head. "We're all ready to go. We're just waiting on you."
"I think we'll leave in like 5 minutes. Just give me a second to get dressed and let me send a word to Dumbledore. He's going to be your new head master at Hogwarts. That'll be your new school. Don't worry; he'll explain it all when we see him."
"Alright, I'll go get ready", I said pulling Emily with me out of the kitchen. We went straight out the door. I was wearing shorts and a tank top, but it was still sweltering outside. We walked along the sidewalk under the lush, green trees.
"Race you!" I smiled and took off, running fast. The wind whipped my hair up, and I felt this burst of energy. I ran faster, and I saw Emily keeping up with me on my left side. I slowed down and we came to sit under a particularly large maple tree. We sat and laughed for a minute, both of us completely. We'd run about 5 blocks.
"What was that all about?" she said lying back against the tree.
"I just needed to feel alive."
"I know what you mean," she said looking up at me. I smiled and said "Okay, well I'm going to bet he's dressed. We've had our fun. It's time to go back to stupid reality."
We got up and briskly walked back to my house. By the time we got there, Taylor was tapping his foot, but he seemed to be holding out with his temper.
"Alright, I'm here", I said hurrying next to him.
"We need to get going, he's going to be at the house soon!"
"Alright, alright", I said rushing over to his arm. I took it and he spun on the spot. The last thing I saw was a tear running down Emily's face.