Epilogue of Ladders

She didn’t want to let go. He didn’t want to let go. They broke it off cleanly on the second attempt. Her face was beyond red. His was solidly serene and composed.

He said “thank you”

The rumbling of the bass in his voice lit a fire in her that made her rethink her choice to give her word to another.

“You can go ahead and forget about me, even if I don’t forget about you” he told her as he pulled away to vanish into the crowded hallway.

Trying hard to steady her throat, she pulled her sweater closed and moved into the hallway to vanish out of his sight.

Bret watched her move. He understood. He had not trusted his gut. He had not braved the establishment. He had let others dictate his focus. He made a mental note not to ever let fear grip him again. He was watching his first ever love walking permanently away from him.

Everything about how she moved away was moving his heart. Pulling on his soul. Nourishing his imagination. His only saving graces, he had failed to tell her how much he wanted to hear her scream his name in the throws of passion. That would have totally ruined their goodbye.

Sure, school was not yet over. Sure the competition was done. Sure a lot had changed over the years. But, saying those dirty nasty things would have totally ruined the angel that she was.

Bret saw her look back to see if he was looking. He saw the look of doubt in her face long before she looked his direction. The only proper thing to do in that moment was to avoid eye contact. She was with another man. She was happy with him. He saw that. He sensed that. He doubted he could give her that. So he ducked out of sight.

She looked puzzled scanning the crowd. Then, her face recomposed itself. She was convincing herself that she made the right decision. Then, she disappeared.

Bret understood that in that moment, his life was permanently changed. There would be no second enchanting. The beautiful gal on that trip must have been Zoe’s spirit reaching out to him and inviting him to connect with her.

He had to laugh. That was the most silly of thoughts.

As he pulled himself away from his thoughts and proceeded to leave the school building, Bret’s legs went completely numb.

The boy-ish thing was sitting in Bucking Betty looking at him with a very sad look about itself. He had not seen that thing in a while. The air grew cold. The world seemed to turn dark.

He faintly heard a voice behind him screaming “LOOK OUT!” as the blaring horn of a bus pulled him back into reality.

He had walked out into the path of an oncoming school bus. A brand spanking new one at that. The sweet powerful diesel motor idling smoothly, waiting to rev up and work.

He looked up. It was Betty. She had aged. Aged a lot. But her fierce spunk was still there. They recognized each other. Her anger cooled.

She waved him by.

As Bret finished crossing the street, he scanned about to find Bucking Betty. She was resting where he thought she was supposed to resting, a monument in front of the administration building. It was empty.

Shaking his head, that cold feeling was gone. Something told him that he had beaten that boy-ish looking thing that loved to stay dressed in black.

What was the meaning of this? Bret probably would never find out.