It was well lit outside. And the neighbors’ dog barked incessantly.
He put his head under his pillow, trying to sleep a little longer. In his semi-dream of dawn, he relived a little more attenuated the last night with his high school colleagues on the trip. He was upset again by the fact that Octavia had left him that day for that idiot footballer. He relived embarrassed the evening when everybody was having fun, dancing and drinking champagne. Only he was in a corner, without a partner. Just with the bottle of whiskey. He remembered it as if it were now the entry into the scene of Helen, beautiful as a fairy, for which many had stopped dancing to admire her. But Helen ignored all, she had struck a cup of champagne with her close girl and boy friends, and was about to leave. Dan hurried to get in her way, asking her to stay a little longer. Encouraged by the many glasses of whiskey, he had made her the most affectionate declaration of love. Helen had looked through him rather than to him, and she said this is not her concern. No trace of irony, no trace of compassion, no mercy. Cool than the ice cubes in the glass.
Dan frowned. He expected to any reaction, but not that indifferent cold. His world had collapsed at that moment.
He came to complain to himself of mercy, and now as well, as he dreamed that moment.
“Dan, wake up, it’s 10 o’clock! At 12 o’clock we’re leaving.” His mother knocked in the door for a couple of times, and went to the kitchen.
Dan jumped out of bed, washed, eaten, and rushed into the room to pack his stuff. Most of them were already gathered in a corner. Dan had gathered them there for a few days, every time he remembered something he knew he would need he put it near the others, making sure he would not forget it. He kept only what he still needed.
Before leaving, he called Michael to say goodbye to him.
“Well? Where are you going?!” Michael asked surprised.
“I succeeded, man! I was admitted to London!”
He was admitted to one of the most prestigious universities in the capital of Great Britain.
“Good job! Good luck! I will visit you when I will travel through England.”
“I’m looking forward to you. Greet the other colleagues on my part, and tell them I’m waiting for them too. Anyway, I’ll come home on holidays, even if you will not come to me. Give my greetings to our class master, I heard he left the hospital.”
“That’s right, he is out, and the geography teacher is in now.”
“How so?”
“You still remember the revels during the trip. His wife came in the room only the next morning. They are in divorce now. It is not known which one of them has filed for divorce. Anyway, he seems to have suffered a shock, and now he is under a treatment.”
Dan liked him. He was a good teacher, even if he was old enough.
They talked about things for a few minutes and they said goodbye.
His parents were already waiting for him by the car, leading him to the airport.
“Come on, do not miss the plane!” His mother’s voice was shaking. He also felt his heart tighten. But he had to take this step. He will come back, anyway, quite often.
It will fly for the first time with the plane!
His father was the driver, his mother near him, and Dan on the back seat. They had a long drive to the airport, so he opened his tablet. Logging in on Facebook, suddenly his gaze gets clouded. On the Helen’s page, instead of the cover at the top of the page, there was a black stripe. Below, a single line, written after the trip.
He called Michael again.
“Michael, what’s up with Helen?”
“What, yo do not know?! I thought you knew. Three days after the baccalaureate, they found her crushed on the alley next to their block of flats. It is not known whether it was a suicide or an accident.
Dan could no longer hear what his friend was saying to him. Everything had shrouded in a dense, cold fog. He closed the phone slowly and leaned against the tablet. Helen’s last words seem to have been typed on Facebook right on the night before the tragedy:
“See you in another life!“
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