Goodbye?

Renhard Sebastian

 (Top 10 Short Stories English Language Fiesta 2021)

“Foyth…”. The voice that keeps calling his name. that voice tingles in his ears from left to right whoosh… the wind howls towards him, gentle but strong. The voice itself is quite soothing, the more he hears it gives him warmth and comfort. “Should I open my eyes? Maybe I could give it a try….”. His body felt swayed like a falling snow.

“Maybe not now, the grass somehow feels fluffy,”.

“Foyth, wake up”. His eyes slowly open and reveal a figure standing in front of him as he’s lying under the lush tree. Their eyes met, an almond shaped pair of grey eyes, sleepy yet sparkling.

“ah, you’re finally awake, Foyth”. A gentle smile carved on her face. He grunts and reaches for his head.

She chuckled. “that sleep must have been messing up your head a bit, eh?”. She gave me her hand and helped him stand up from the ground. “we better get going before sunset.”

“going where?”. She raises her small backpack from the ground. “Just have a little walk, you wouldn’t mind right?”. She reached into her backpack and gave me a bottle of water. “Here, this might freshen your head”. She stepped away from under the shady tree, walking alongside a breeze that howled her raincoat.

He followed behind her, He moved against the swaying grass as he tried to reach out to her whilst looking at both of his palms that had a few grass on it. As the sun beamed above the light blue sky, he tried to trigger a glimpse of memory that resembled her.

“Hey Foyth… you forgot your little friend there”. She points back towards a camera that’s dangled on that same tree branch.

They stumble upon a hill that leads to a barrier to an abandoned highway with wild plants growing even in such tiny spaces such as cracked roadways. Buzzing road lights sparkling under the broad daylight.

She leans her body forward, gazing towards the light blue sky whilst keeping her hands in her pocket, as a gust of wind howls towards them swaying her hood in the process. she raises her hand revealing a twinkling necklace on her grasp.

Looking back into the far-away meadows made out as a greenish-brown background with a hazy sky up above. Even so, the tree remains there as the centre. The silence seems absolute.

The camera strap compressed with his neck as he weighed up his camera. as he panned his camera onto that tree. A small beep, followed with a blinding lighting flash.

Once the scenery of the dancing grass on a small field changes to a little town, a quiet little town surrounded by small grassy hills on the north covered by the clouds, the noon-zephyr blows from the twitter hills. Two small-billed birds chirped from the distance and began to fly towards the blue sky.

She leaned her body forward on the highway barrier, Foyth stood beside her and did the same thing. Her eyes are wide open at the same time she takes deep breaths, a smile resembling a reminisce on her face.

“It’s really peaceful here, isn’t it?” “yeah…it is”

“this kind of feeling… is this what home feels like?”

A quiet playground under the broad sunlight in front of them, the rustling leaves branches. A pair of dusty wooden swings, one was dangling from side-to-side, “maybe…”

She picked a sprig of phlox, a sprig of tricolor phlox tangling on the ground. She gazed towards the flower, and smiled for a brief moment.

“you don’t sound too sure…” the flower flees from her grasp. slowly swayed away down the hill.

“the word home is too contradicting to resemble that kind of feeling” “…”

From the far distance the sky began to rumble. The thunder whispers.

The dark sky comes in a view. The veil of leaves falls behind them. Tears began to relinquish from the sky, the raindrop splashed louder than the rustling leaves. Puddles formed and scattered on the roadway, reflecting the boundaries between the sky and the ground. A strong smell of the rain on dust appeared. Sounds of the vines fluctuated, revealing An umbrella rises above his head. Come on, says her eyes.

Puddles were splattered. They walked under the rain. For a brief moment Foyth glances to the dark sky, for no reason, he thinks.

“The sky seems relieved”

***

The rumbling rain extinguishes as they walk afar, the mossy stone brick structure sets a cold ambience between them. Flickering blue lights buzzing above their heads, Even so the darkness remains there. In each of every step they take reverberated the crackling concrete pathway.

“Interesting…”. Foyth glances towards her

“contradicting, huh?… what makes you see it that way?”. He tried to let his mind speak. But, the air suddenly felt heavy for him to breathe in, making his mind feel uneasy. leaving his words dangle on the tip of his tongue.

Silences approximate between them. only the same sounds remain to fill the emptiness. “if it’s about the bridge between your past and future. nobody could ever know,” She said That heavy feeling vanished.

A flower petals drop onto the ground. The last petal lay in the back of her boots. “You must be hungry after thinking about that, right?”.

“close your eyes,”. She said, He gave a puzzled look on his face. The necklace on her neck began to twinkle. the lights begin to flicker under their head. slowly the lights began to fade and dark voids were creeping closer.

The wind repels.

Whisper throughout his thought; His eyes slowly open vastly.

The sun sets on the horizon, as the sky’s painted red. Silhouette marks the sand and twittered cliff around it. The burbling waves are roaming, swaying into the ocean. Foyth was greeted with a cup of noodles in his grasp. A cup with nothing but plain noodles with pale yellow broth. And so the smell of curry flavored broth evaporates to the sky.

“It’s nothing like home cooked meals. But, hey it works,”. She softly smiled as she sat down beside him. The girl took off her pair of boots. Gently rolls off her socks.

Waves after waves sweep off the white sand off the shore. The pine trees dance alongside its own silhouette. Seagulls sings, march their way towards the sunset.

He took a slurp of the warm noodle.

“this tastes better, somehow”. He thought. The warm broth formed a harmony for himself. He gazes towards the clouds. Passing by slowly in the red painted sky. He wrapped his hand around the cup. He let his thoughts speak.

“What if all of this was a dream? and I wake up in the middle of it” “something awaits you the end of the journey”

“What do you think about the sky?”

She gave a quick glance towards him. She leans back gazing towards the sky. She lightly smiled.

“it’s completely naïve”. He responded with a brief chuckle. As he was about to take the last bite. The girl stood from the ground. Sweep a spare sand off her coat. “It’s been quite a day, Foyth. but I’ve to go,” The word ‘thank you’ was said from the tip of her lips.

Foyth rose from the ground leaving the unfinished cup noodle on the ground and stood in front of her. “so… this is a goodbye then?”. She raised both of her shoulders, and with a faint smile on her face she said to him. “Let’s just say it’s a farewell… at least for now”.

“Could you do me a favor?”. she’s asks him to take a photo of her and the scenery that was bestowed upon them, ‘to commemorate the day’ she said it passionately with her soft voice. He willingly accepts her request.

She jogged towards the swaying waves. She took off her hood, as a gust of wind howled her medium frizzy hair. Foyth pointed his camera towards her, The girl stood far away in front of him gazing towards the sunset on the horizon.

His lenses began to zoom in, turning up his iso to lighten up the visuals. Slowly focusing his lenses onto her. “Farewell…” he said, and then the light flashes into the scenery.

Foyth was woken up by a leaf that fell onto his head. Usually, he always feels nauseous right after he wakes up, but this time it’s an exception for him. He gazed into the afternoon sky and felt the breeze passing through him.

A quick glance to his side, he saw an unfinished cup of noodle on the ground. Next to it, his camera was turned on. A recent photo on the display. Foyth took a closer look at that photo.

The painted sky with the sunset, with the ocean reflected the scenes of the horizon. Amidst the whole scene, A girl with a white colored raincoat stood there gazing towards the horizon. A letter beside him says;

“I’ll see you again, Foyth” ~Sora He lightly smiled in relief.