"Final Goodbye" Flynn Dennehy

The old beat up rain jacket Rilie wore stopped being water resistant long ago. Rain water trickled down her face, mixing with a tear every now and then as she stared at the memorial site for her friends in front of her. She clasped a bundle of flowers that, as she stood there, had begun to droop under the weight of the rain drops bombarding the petals like tiny asteroids. 

Rilie took a deep breath, taking in the smell of fresh mud and magnolia blossoms that lined the park. Behind her, the grass rustled under the weight of footsteps. Rilie looked over her shoulder to see a tall figure, dressed head to toe in black. The hem of their trench coat dragged in the grass as they stepped. And the most peculiar thing Rilie noticed, was the wide brimmed hat angled in such a way so that their entire face, save for their mouth, was obscured. 

The figure blended in with the dark sky creating the effect that they were merely a shadow; one moving of its own volition that is. The figure settled next to Rilie, head tilted to the ground and silent. 

They stood beside each other, giving little acknowledgement towards the one in which they stood next to, until Rilie spoke. “It’s not all too often I see someone else come by here.” 

The mysterious figure didn’t speak.

“Did you know any of them?” Rilie prompted again. 

The figure’s shoulders tensed as they gave a small nod.

“I’m sorry. You know, it was my fault.” Rilie waved her hand, gesturing at the stones in front of them all lined up under a single tree, each marked with a name. “All of this.”

She had planted that tree herself a couple of years ago and it had just recently grown to be taller than her. All the rest of it, the memorial existing in the first place, that was her too. She had gotten the city to set it up in the park where her friends died. Their bodies weren’t buried there; the police, or perhaps Alix themself, had taken them away. Rilie never got to give Karah a proper goodbye.

Every Tuesday evening Rilie would visit them. She would stand, sometimes sit, and just talk for hours. People who saw her ushered their kids away, walked on the other side of the road, called her crazy behind her back. She didn’t blame them. She’d been an absolute mess for the last two years. 

“No it wasn’t,” the cloaked figure finally said, stopping the cascading waterfall that was Rilie’s thoughts. Their tone was surprisingly kind. 

“huh?” Rilie looked up at the figure. 

“Your fault. It wasn’t your fault.”

The figure was quite tall, Rile observed. Her head was only as high as their shoulders. Karah was tall. Rilie pushed that thought away. If she kept looking for her friend in every above average height stranger, she’d be looking forever. 

“You didn’t do it.” 

Now that was something Karah would say. She was always so decisive in the way she spoke. 

Rilie started fiddling with the bunch of flowers in her hands. “I was out of town when it all happened, on a stupid business trip. If I was there I could’ve gotten Alix to stop. I could’ve-“

The figure interrupted Rilie. “You know if you’d been there then, there’d be no one left to remember them now.” They took the flowers from Rilie’s hands and if not for the figure’s gloves, their hands would’ve touched. They wiped dirt and fallen leaves off every stone then placed a couple flowers by each one. 

“I know this sounds weird, but you remind me of a friend of mine, just all the stuff you’ve been saying is kind of like stuff she’d say to me.” Rilie pointed to the stone situated in the center of the memorial. “Karah, she was my uh, we were close. I never said goodbye.” 

The figure didn’t respond; they didn’t move a muscle. 

“Never mind. Ignore that I said all that. Just… never mind.”

Before the figure left, they took one of the flowers that was laid across Karah’s stone and tucked it inside their coat. They then walked away without saying a word.

Rilie watched the mysterious figure as they left, until they were out of sight. That wasn't her friend; her friend was dead. But just this one time, Rilie let herself believe that It was. She let herself believe that she got that final goodbye and she’d been forgiven.

END