Saying Goodbye Is Hard, So We'll Just Say, "See you later."

A Story by jamesmonroe

Well, I'm working on a story, but the epilogue/ending came to me thanks to a song, so, i decided to type it up, and post it here. critcism is welcome.

He didn't know where he was at, not that he cared all that much. He didn't even remember what time he climbed into his car and decided to drive away from everything and everyone.

His sweater had soaked up the blood from the battle much earlier; it was definitely a difficult one. Hell, he wasn't even much of a fighter, or at least he thought he wasn't, but he proved himself wrong, apparently. "What am I doing...?" he asked himself as he continued to drive down the highway, easily going above the speed limit; if a cop decided to pull him over right now, they would have every right to, and he knew that, in fact, he was driving at high speeds for that exact reason; he wanted to be taken away and locked up, he didn't want to look anyone in the face anymore, he was tired, so, very, tired. "Why am I doing this...? Oh...right." the memory had come back to him; what took place before the fight...the reason he fought in the first place. It all came back to him in that single moment. "..."

He slammed his foot against the brakes, forcing his car to stop after wearing out the tires a bit and leaving a long, black skid mark across the road behind him as he pulled over. He took a deep breath while allowing his entire body to go limp, releasing the wheel and pressing his head against it, causing an echo of his horn to travel throughout to dark, empty roads. He was stuck here, forced to think about the entire scenario over and over again, and each time it replayed in his head he cringed and more tears built up in his eyes, refusing to fall; they were probably just as stubborn as he was. "Hey..." he quietly said under his breath, his voice trembling. He slowly reached up to yank the glasses off of his face with his bloodied hands and toss them into the front seat before his tears began to fall from his eyes, landing on his lap before being absorbed into his blood stained jeans, causing the blood to once again become wet, but he didn't care, he just wanted everything to go back to normal; he didn't want to lose anyone, that was never his intention, he didn't want to fight anyone, he just wanted it investigate the unknown, and look where that got him; a split up team, a lost friend, and a girl he wanted, but could no longer have. If he could turn back time and stop all of this from happening, he could, but he knew that was impossible, so he had to deal with his decisions in the only way he knew how: Running away....that was something he was good at, at least for the time being.

"I...want you to know I miss you..I don't even know if you can hear me..." speaking to spirits was never his thing, but he tried this time around anyways. He was desperate, and no one was around for once, so he tried this one time. "I..." the tears that he had been building up before allowing a few to fall began to pour, slowly causing the blood in his jeans to become even more messier than before. "I just..I should have told you so much more before all of this happened. I had so many things to say, so many things to try, so many things planned, and whenever I looked into all of these plans I had...." his shoulders began to bounce up and down and his breathing had become heavier; he wasn't even trying to hold back the emotions at this point; he had been trying to hold them back for so long, but today was his breaking point. "you were always in them; every single one included you, and now..." the boy slowly pulled himself up and sat back in his seat, still crying. "I can't even remember any of those plans." he slowly pulled his arm back and slammed it into the steering wheel, causing the horn to abruptly begin, before slowly coming back to a stop. "Just one night. That's all I wanted, one night to go through with one of those plans with you, and despite forgetting most of them...one etched itself into my mind, and now? Now I can't even go through with it." at this point he felt like he was talking to himself, it wouldn't surprise him. Her spirit was probably long gone, she had probably gone off to some sort of special afterlife- not that he believed in that kind of thing, he just wanted to imagine that she wasn't 6 feet under, seeing nothing but darkness.

"I've seen too much...hell...I've DONE too much. I got involved in the world of darkness, expecting it not to get involved back at me. I was too cocky...I put together a team of misfits...people who had no business working together...and then I decided to become an investigator of the unknown...how f*****g dumb was I? It was all unknown for a reason, people aren't supposed to mess with those kind of things." he said, his voice no longer shaking, progressively becoming more and more angrier as he spoke, "I got the girl I love hurt, the girl who loved me vanished, my best friend left me, and my team has essentially fallen apart, all because I couldn't listen to them. I had to find the 'next big scoop', and it turns out, I wasn't ready for any of i-"

"Are you done talking to yourself?" a voice called out, sitting in the front seat. The voice was gentle, and sweeter than honey, and as it spoke, a slight glow filled the car, everything felt warmer. The girl reached out and slid her hand through the stereo system, causing music to play.

The music was slow and calming, and as it played, the driver seat and front door swung open as the girl slowly slid out of the front seat, floating out of the car and standing in front of it, looking the boy directly in the eyes, "This the song you wanted to play, right, Alex?" a gentle smile grew on her face as she turned around and sat on the hood of the car, slowly rocking her head back and forth with the enchanting beats from the music. There were no lyrics, it didn't need any, the song was perfect as it was, and the reason Alex wanted to use it was even better. All she had to do now was wait for Alex to take action. "You had something you wanted to tell me, right?"

Alex wiped the tears from his eyes as he watched and heard all of this happen, his eyes widened before slowly going back to their original state: full of guilt, tears, and pain. "I, uh." he climbed out of his car, slowly making his way to the hood of the car and sitting down next to the girl, she was glowing, she was pale, and she was mostly see through, but she was still as beautiful as ever. "I just wanted to tell you that-"

"It's alright, you don't have to. We both already know." she smiled as she pressed her hand on top of his, this would usually cause chills to go up the spines of most people, but for Alex, this was the warmest embrace that he had received in awhile.

Alex slowly stood up, gently wrapping his hand around her's as he did so, gently pulling her off of the hood of the car and closer to him, "I was just wondering if....before you leave..." tears were once again forming in his eyes, he didn't like the idea of Madilyn seeing him like this, but with the current situation, he decided it was somewhat acceptable, "we could share that dance that we never got to have." a small smile began to grow on his face, the tears were slowing down, and in that moment, time stopped for him. He ignored all of the small details, the things that had gone wrong, and the friends he lost; he only cared about this moment.

Madilyn reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and nodded, "Of course we can." she said with a smile on her face. She didn't think that ghosts could cry, but today she proved herself wrong. As her tears hit the ground, they slowly faded away, leaving behind a small patch of ghostly fog in that area.

And just like that, the two, for once in their life, were in complete and total sync as he slowly moved his hands up to her sides before they began to sway back and forth with one another. Neither of them were very good at dancing, so they just decided to keep swaying back and forth while slowly moving in a circle.

There was no moonlight, no cars driving pass the two as they danced together, no fancy scenery, there was nothing spectacular about this moment aside from the looks the two exchanged with one another, the beam of light from the car that lit the area around the two, the wind that gently slid across their bodies, causing Madilyn's long, ethereal hair to gently flow in the direction with the wind, and the music playing as they danced in perfect sync with one another.

This, was Alex's ideal dance, with the ideal girl, with the ideal scenerey- simple, yet meaningful to both sides-, and the ideal music, all while in the not-so-ideal-situation.

The music was coming to an end, and so was Madilyn's time with Alex. They both knew this, and they both took their chance, after all, it would be their last chance to do so. Alex slowly leaned forward, his lips slowly moving closer towards Madilyn's, who was also leaning forward for their first, and final kiss.

It wasn't the perfect kiss, no, it was far from it, but it was a kiss that belonged to both of them, so, in their eyes, it was easily the most beautiful thing to happen on a planet filled with such beautiful things to see. This was it, there would be nothing more important to them than this moment. Alex would remember it for the rest of his life, and Madilyn for the rest of her afterlife.

"I'll see you not-so-soon, Alex. Be safe, and don't give up. You'll become such a great person, you'll eventually be happy again, and I'll be waiting for you, just don't rush to come see me." she smiled as she began to glow brighter. It was nice to be able to leave like this. A perfect dance, a perfect kiss, perfect music, and a perfect guy to share all of this with.

"See ya later, Paranormal Investigator." These were her final words before her spirit slowly faded from Alex's vision, leaving only a single, crystallized tear behind.

Alex smiled as she faded away, his hands were once again empty, he was alone, but he was happy, even if it was only a little bit. "Yea, I'll see you later..." he said in response to the now gone Madilyn. "But...for now...I have some dreams I gotta follow." Alex said as he crouched down to pick up the crystal that was left behind.

"...I love you, too." he said to himself as he gently placed the crystal within in his pocket. He didn't need her to say it, he just knew she felt that way as well. He only wished they could have told one another under better circumstances.

Alex slowly made his way over to the driver's door of the car, climbing in and shutting it after he sat down in the seat, a smile on his face, and tears once again flowing down his cheeks as he did so. This was the end of a chapter, but the beginning of a new one. At least, that's how he felt about it.