Smiles Echo In My Memory

23rd July.

The day before I left.
Frank wouldn’t let me stay – he always got teary and said that I had everything there. He couldn’t see that I had everything here with him, too… and I could never ask him to come with me, when his father was so ill and in the hospital. How could I?
Linda did something amazing, and what I still cannot believe – she put the house in my name, too. I kept asking her not to, but she smiled, and insisted that I was really the only person that she trusted with it. She said that the gas and electric would already be paid for. I’d just have to buy my own food.
I couldn’t believe this. She’d given me her house!

So, while I packed the remaining of my stuff, I willed myself not to cry. I’d have to leave in two hours, for the airport. My flight was in the first hour of the next day, at 1:00am, so I had to leave three hours before – at 10:00pm.
“Sazzy?” I heard Frank’s quiet voice sound, breaking the chain of my thoughts. I looked up at him.
“Yes?”
“Do you need any help…?” I looked down at my suitcase on the bed, with only my toiletries missing. I shook my head, my head still down.
“Um… no, I’m okay,” I mumbled, walking out the door and into the bathroom. I could hear him sigh. When I walked back into the room, my blue and white toiletries bag in hand, Frank was sat on the bed, next to my suitcase.
“Sazzy… Listen, I… Don’t want you to go-” he muttered, looking at his hands that were resting on his lap.
“Then let me stay,”
“But can’t you see? You have to go!”
“No I do not, Frank. I can stay here with you!” I replied bitterly through my teeth.
“You cannot. Your priorities are there, Sazzy.”
I gritted my teeth, not wanting to start a fight on what may be our last day ever together. He sighed.
“It may be our last day we’re going to see each other for a while…” he whispered, speaking my thoughts out loud. I nodded, not looking into his eyes. He walked over to me, taking the bag from my hand and throwing it into my case.
“I just… You know… You have to be there. Your mother… You know why you can’t stay, Sazzy. For Gods’ sakes. You think I want you there?”
I shook my head, and felt my eyes sting. I leapt at him, wrapping my arms around his neck. I felt his arms circle around my waist, and his breath ruffle my hair as he sighed.
“I’m sorry… For being such a bitch about this whole thing,” I murmured into his chest.
“It’s okay. And understandable.”
“I will see you again, though, won’t I, Frankie?”
He stayed silent for a while, and I could hear him sigh a little.
“We better make a move.”