The Last Night in Town

This was it. The moment it finally happened. My breaking point.

I was finally ready to leave the town that had made me and destroyed me all at the same time.

One problem, though. I had nothing and nowhere to go.

I just knew that I was leaving, and I wasn't coming back here. I had nothing here anymore. No boyfriend, no friends, just my empty thoughts.

I couldn't stay here anymore. I'm not seventeen anymore.

I knew one thing, though. I wanted to visit a few places before I departed from this town for good.

I guess I could start with Pete's Diner.

Pete's Diner was where my dad and I would go for breakfast every Sunday when I was a kid. We stopped going when I was ten because my dad became too sick.

It was my favorite place as a kid. Pete's had the best pancakes, and I can still picture the red diner chairs, the pictures of Elvis on the wall, and the smell of burnt coffee in the air.

I get on my bike and head to Pete's Diner.

The bell above the door doesn't ring when I enter. Strange, I remember how loud that thing used to be.

It feels like the first time and the last time all at once. An overwhelming feeling of nostalgia overtakes me.

I look at the table, the one with the view of the parking lot where Dad and I would always sit.

I see a little girl with pigtails and a pink dress on. I see a healthy man sipping his coffee, watching his baby girl laugh with syrup on her face.

I see a young girl who's unaffected by the world and completely free.

They walk past me, father and daughter holding hands, but they don't notice me.

Isn't it strange how we can become strangers to ourselves?

I exit Pete's because that memory is too bittersweet.

I ride my bike again. This time, I take it to the arcade.

I walk in, and it looks exactly the same. Nothing has changed since sixth grade.

I see a girl with her best friend. They're playing games and eating pizza. They think they'll be friends forever, but sometimes life has other plans.

Sometimes people grow apart. Not necessarily because of a huge fight, but because of the quiet growing apart that keeps you wondering what if things were different.

I hold this memory extra tight.

I stay and watch the girl and her best friend laugh, hug, and claim they'll be friends forever.

Oh, to be young and naive again.

The two girls walk out, and just like the father and daughter, they don't notice me. They walk out like everything is fine.

I try to catch them, but they disappear.

I call out, but my voice seems to disappear with them.

Weird.

I go to my next stop: 555 Apple Lane.

I tried to forget this address. However, after all this time, I still remember it.

It's pinned to my heart.

I don't go inside, though, because that would hurt too much.

Instead, I look through the window.

I see a girl, seventeen years old, with a guy.

They're kissing and dancing. He's holding her close. She's so in love that she can't see his flaws.

She's just happy he's hers.

For a while, I thought they would live together in that house on Apple Lane.

However, the house burned down.

And when I get ready to leave for my next destination, I see the ashes of the house.

The boy and the girl are gone.

Where did they go?

One last stop, I tell myself.

One last stop before I leave this town for good.

I head down to the library.

I wonder why I came here. I mean, what could be heartbreaking or interesting at a library?

I walk in.

I see a young adult. She's laughing with her friends, and she's just gotten into college.

What a weird, bittersweet memory to witness.

It was bittersweet because I had to admit that this town wasn't always bad.

It had its good moments, and maybe some things were only in my head.

I wondered if the people I remembered still thought of me.

And suddenly, I wondered if they missed me, too. Not because I'd left, but because I was gone.

I wonder if my dad thought of me when he would go to Pete's by himself while I was away.

I wonder if the girl from the arcade even remembers my name.

And I wonder if the boy on 555 Apple Lane knows I still love him.

Either way, I still had to let this town go, or it would consume me. Consume me like it did everyone else.

I had to take my bike on a different path, one far away.

I couldn't look back.

So now I say goodbye to Apple Lane, the arcade, the diner, and the library.