The last time

by Eloise Zhang
(USA)

I sit under a tree with Ophelia, sipping lemonade and eating watermelon. Watermelon juice drips down my mouth and rolls down my arms. Ophelia laughs and says, "Oh Emily, You're already seven. Why must you be so messy?" But as always she takes a napkin and wipes the juice off my mouth and arms. I smile at her with a happy, jubilant grin. She smiles back, but her eyes seem, oh so sad. There is a lost soul in there, I can tell. Something that is just dying to break out. I've never seen her that way; she always seemed so happy and beautiful but I could see the hopelessness in her eyes as she looked at me that one tiny fragment of a second. She quickly turns away and gathers our remains. We walk back to the house and she looks at me again with those sad eyes. "Goodnight Emily," she whispers softly and hugs me fiercely. Then she turns and walks away without looking back.

That night, she left. She took off in the dark when the air was still and there was no noise. She left her parents, her friends, and me. Nobody knew why, I guess she just wanted to leave. The day she left, I was heartbroken. I didn't talk, I didn't eat, I didn't cry. I just sat there, my heart breaking off into pieces. I had never expected it in my entire life and had no clue to why she would leave me. Us. But I will wait for her for the one day she will come back. I know she will. I can feel it.