One last goodbye

Harlem was quiet that evening, a city above the rest of the world. The clouds were its earth, and the sky was its home. Ships came and went, and people lived in peace. The people of Harlem were separated from what remained of the plane below. And it was better that way.

The wind ripped through Reina’s dark hair, evening creeping over the city, clouds covering the sky with purple fog. There was a disturbance that night, the balance offset. She knew he was close, she could feel it.

Coren had once been her best friend, her companion. She had thought they would live out their days together. But what he had done was unforgivable, and the future he was planning would cause so much pain to so many people. The familiar sounds of ships coming to and from the space port beneath her had once been comforting, but the sound was growing more and more unnerving with each passing ship. It was all so loud. Reina tried to drown it out. Focus, just focus. Don’t think.

Reina stood at the edge of a platform above the rest of the city. He would find her, she was sure of it.

* * *

Coren’s ship landed in the all too familiar space port in Harlem city. He felt the presence of his best friend. He was sure she was there. He would change her mind, she had just overreacted. He had been justified in what he had done. Reina would see things his way, he just needed to talk to her.

Reina's uncle Jared had always kept her in a cage. He would have never let them be together. To start the new world together, one where children and families could not be abandoned. Where the punishment for any crime was an eye for an eye, and judgment was severe, hard, and fast. It would fix the world.

With Jared still in the picture, Reina never would have come to his side to be second in command. Even though the two of them had always dreamed of exploring the galaxy together, eventually settling down.

The old man had such a tight grip around her neck...

“Aah!” Coren yelled as he slammed his fist down against the dashboard of his ship. He was angry. He had to change her mind, he just… he had to. She was his everything.

Coren ordered his soldiers to keep guard outside the ship to wait for him. When he returned home, he would have Reina by his side, as it always should have been. As it always had been. He exited the ship and entered the landing bay, looking around the familiar port. The scents lingering in the main garage were that of ship fuel and polish, the smells that he related to his childhood. He had spent most of his young life there.

She’s here. Of course. Coren knew where she would be. The two of them would hide on the roof of the spaceport from their guardians, go up there at night and watch the stars and ships sailing through the sky. This was the moment he'd finally bring her home.

* * *

Reina stood with her eyes closed, almost in a meditative state. She was trying to control her emotions, but she felt everything so sharply. Her best friend’s betrayal, her uncle’s death. She felt hot pokers behind her eyes. She was so alone in the world now. How could she ever find peace again?

At once, the hatch to the roof squeaked open behind her.

Reina’s blood ran cold. Her heart raced in her chest. She hadn’t seen Coren since that horrible day, and he was about to come through that door.

“You found me.” Reina trembled. She did not turn to see him.

“You never did get that squeaky hinge fixed." Coren chuckled. "Besides, how could I not know you would be here? This place belonged to us, once.” Coren gently closed the hatch and walked up the short distance behind her.

“It did.” Her eyes now brimmed with tears, but she would not let them come. Remember what you have to do. He killed Jared. He’s not Coren anymore. She told herself, trying to blink the tears away.

“But not anymore.” Reina said steadily. She turned around, looking at her uncle’s murderer. “You changed. How could you do that to Jared? Do you even realize what you've done, Coren?” Reina gritted her teeth. Her facing showing unparalleled rage and sadness.

“What do you mean, Reina? Jared chose his own fate. I tried to reason with the old man, but he would not let you go! He chose to die, the moment he tried to take you away from me.” Coren stepped closer to her, they stood a mere few feet apart.

Coren was tall. His black hair was cut short and his blue eyes piercing as they always had been. She could never tell what was going on behind them, but it was never like this before. His eyes had never been cold. They were now unfamiliar... They were dangerous.

“That was not your place to decide. Jared never controlled me, Coren, in any way! He was my uncle, my father, my friend. And you took him from me. You did that. Jared wouldn’t have stopped us from being together, but you have. I could never… we will never be together, Coren. Not now.”

Coren’s face turned crimson. His heart pounded with rage. “No. No, he would have kept you here for your whole life! You never wanted that, we never wanted that!” He roared with pain, like an animal shot with an arrow just missing the heart.

“You were supposed to be with me… we were always supposed to be together, Reina.” He inched closer, putting his hand on her cheek. His hand found her heart-shaped locket, a token he had given her many years ago. She never took it off, not even now.

Her face flushed with the familiarity of the gesture. “Reina.” Coren whispered. Her lip quivered, her heart was breaking all over again. The tears that she had been trying so hard to hold back rolled painfully down her cheeks. Reina placed her hand on the back of his neck.

“Coren, you have always been my best friend. I’ve always loved you. She looked into his glassy blue eyes. The excitable, loving man that had been there was gone. She no longer recognized the blank slate staring back at her. She felt like she would be devoured by those eyes at any moment. For the first time in her life, she was actually afraid of him.

“I know,’ he said, looking down at Reina. He had done it, he had changed her mind. She would come with him now. He loved her deep brown eyes, her chestnut brown hair, her freckled face, and her arms. The sunset behind her was intoxicating, she was perfect. “I know.” He said, and leaned into her.

Reina pulled him close and kissed him, hard. He was tall and rough, and she had loved him with all her everything. The two were, for a moment, completely engulfed in each other, as they had once been.

A stunted pause.

A cough.

His eyes had already been dead, but the ones that looked back at her now had a spark of the boy he had once been there. “Why…?” He coughed, his eyes pleading. He was confused, tortured. Heartbroken. And her heart was breaking for him.

A stream of blood trickled down the blade that was thrust through Coren’s heart, leaking onto Reina’s hand and down her arm. Her face was streaked from the tears running down her face. “I’m sorry, Coren.” She pushed him away, gently pulling the dagger from his body. He staggered backward and fell to his knees. Coren held his hands over his heart, trying to stop the blood from flowing, but it came thick and red anyways.

Reina covered her mouth with her hand, the other dropping the dagger. “I’m sorry,” she choked. “I’m so sorry.” Her body wracked with pain, her heart dead. The man she had grown up with. The man she had been desperately in love with. The man who gave her life adventure, and the same one who killed her only family. He had a future planned for them, but the path he had chosen led to not only his destruction but that of so many others. As he trembled in her arms, he looked into her eyes for the last time.

Coren lay in front of her in a pool of his own blood. She knelt down with him, laying his body gently on the floor. His eyes were closed, his already pale face looked like a sheet of snow. She pressed her fingers to his neck, searching for a pulse, and found none.

Reina stood, feeling broken and empty.

As she walked away to the hatch and climbed through, a memory pierced her vision.

A young girl sat at the edge of a platform, in a city above the sky. She loved watching the ships below pass by, and sitting up on that ledge made her feel like a bird. No one knew about this place, except for her uncle Jared. Suddenly, the hatch behind her squeaked open, startling her, but it wasn’t Jared who crawled through.

“Who are you, and how did you get up here?!” The ten-year-old Reina shouted, her arm’s shaking as she held a dagger out in front of her. A young boy, tall with dark, messy hair, blue eyes, a quirky smile and some missing teeth, stood in front of her. He was probably twelve. He threw his hands up in surrender.

“My name is Coren, and my father is buying a ship from here. I found the hatch.” He pointed back behind him to the open hole in the roof. Reina looked at the open portal, her eyebrows knit together.

“I can fight you know.” The girl said, unmoving.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” the boy laughed. “I would like to be friends! I'm new to this city, and we don't really know anyone yet. What’s your name?” he asked. The girl lowered her weapon with caution, a gift from her parents with the inscription, You will always be loved.

“Reina."

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-Leah H.