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Dylan’s POV

Wiping the tears from my eyes, I was thrown back into the world after all the memories had resurfaced.

I felt that same deep pain that I always felt whenever I talked about my senior year...or Adena.

Even though I think about her all the time and I told the story of our senior year together, it still hurt knowing I would never see her again

I looked towards Cassie to see how she was taking all of it. She had set down the bottle down in between her legs. Tears sat in her eyes as she looked up towards the stars.

"So that's it?" Cassie questioned, looking to me. "Adena just... died?" I nodded, a horrible lump forming in my throat. "Do you still blame yourself?" she asked.

I looked out into the night, contemplating my answer. It shouldn't be that hard of a question, but for some reason, I couldn’t answer it right away.

But she didn't wait for me to reply. Instead, she kept firing questions.

"What happened to everyone after that? They just went on as normal?" I frowned.

"No. The last time I heard, Adena's parents got a divorce. They both blamed each other for what happened to Adena.  Charlotte was sad at first but got over it pretty quickly. Quinton..." I stopped, feeling blame for what had happened to him.

"What happened to Quinton?" She asked, raising a brow.

"Quinton...well...he broke. He couldn’t go on without Adena… And when he found out she was self harming, he refused to leave his room. He didn’t show up the last couple weeks of school. He didn’t even go to his own gradation.Then I found out that he had developed depression and was put on suicide watch. Brooklyn and Ryan, his younger siblings, quit their sports and rushed home to make sure Quinton didn't kill himself. They had quite a scare a couple months after Adena's death. But he is doing better now. Although..."

"You don't know for sure?" She questioned.

"No, I don't. I had to leave. I couldn't handle being there anymore. The pain was too great. I left as soon as I could. I haven't talked to Quinton since. I guess I am scared. Scared that things won't be right." I shook my head. "Its hard to explain," she nodded her head in understanding.

"What about Grady?"

"He couldn't handle the pain either. He left with me."

"What about you? What did you do?" I sighed.

"After she died, I lost everything. Without Adena, I didn't want to do anything. I never went to school, barely passed my senior year and I lost my scholarship. I fought with my dad over everything and then...that's when I just... left...”

“Do you still talk to him?” She wondered. I shook my head.

“I haven’t talked to my father in years.” We both sat there in silence, the only sounds filling the air were of the occasional car that would pass by. I looked down at the street.

The darkness of it all reminded of an abyss, the kind of abyss I felt I was in.

“Yes,” I said.

“Hmm?” Cassie questioned.

“To your question earlier… About me blaming myself about Adena… The answer’s yes.” 

“Dylan,” she whispered softly and sympathetically.

“You know, I think the mornings are the worst,” I began.

“What do you mean?”

“Every morning, when I open my eyes, I expect Adena to be there, lying next to me. And when I turn around and see I’m all by myself, I remember everything. I remember that she’s gone and no longer there with me. And you know what? It kills me.”

Cassie didn’t say a word. She only wiped tears from her eyes, as I found myself also doing.

“I can’t even think about another girl… I work at a bookshop right now, and anytime someone comes in, I can’t even look at them… It’s amazing how many beautiful girls who resemble Adena come in. But even looking in their direction makes me feel disgusting, like I’m betraying her.”

“Dylan, I’m sorry,” Cassie whispered. I looked to her, seeing she was at a loss for words.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my wallet. Opening it, I took out the picture of Adena and I from the day we had gone out to eat.

Handing it to Cassie, I found myself smiling slightly at Adena’s beauty. My heartbeat quickened seeing her beautiful smile. It was as though she was smiling at me.

“So you can put a face to a name,” I said. Cassie took the picture from me and managed to see Adena’s face in the dim lighting of the moon.

“She was beautiful!” Cassie exclaimed, gently handing the picture back to me.

“Wasn’t she?” I questioned. “I told her all the time, even though most of the time she didn’t believe me. In fact… she probably never believed me….” Looking down at the picture myself, I ran a thumb over her face. 

I could feel a pain in my chest begin as well as more tears sprouting to my eyes.

“Life’s so unfair,” Cassie commented. A car rumbled near by and shot around the corner, stopping at the curb. Cassie looked down at the car. “That's my boyfriend…”

Her boyfriend got out of the car and started looking around as though he were searching for someone. She only looked down at him, tears glistening in her eyes, as she did.

“Don’t do what I did and leave words that needed to be said unspoken,” Cassie looked at Derek for another moment before calling out this name:

“Derek!” His head snapped up and to us.

“What are you doing?” He questioned.

“Stay right there, I’m coming,” she replied. I watched her get up. “Thank you,” she smiled at me, a tear or two escaping her eyes. “Thank you for sharing your story with me. Thank you for changing my life…” She stepped off the ledge. “I hope we meet again some day, Dylan Henderson.”

“I hope we do too,” I smiled as she turned to go, but paused.

“I wonder why life is so unfair,” she said, glancing at me before turning and walking away. I heard her greet and kiss her boyfriend far down below. They had a small conversation, before kissing again. Then they got in the car and drove off.

I sighed, looking up to the moon. Then I looked down to the picture in my hand. Tears fell onto the picture but I simply wiped them away.

“Because this is real life… and in real life… there are no happy endings…”