She ... He ...

He turned and he walked away. Never looking back. His heart turning to stone, slowly, painfully. An ocean of salt water blinding him, filling his eyes, drowning his innocent love. He was confused. He was hurt. A little corner deep inside of him filling with darkness. Every moment of the past five years flashing across his mind. From the time he first noticed her talking to the teacher until now. Her smile. Her golden brown hair. The little mark of an accident on her forehead. The bright yellow uniform that she wore when she played basketball. Her fair spotless face. Her clear brown eyes. The sound of her voice. The mathematics book she once gave him. The way her lips moved when she spoke. The way she held the pen. Her handwriting. The day he sat next to her for three periods. He desperately searched for a sign. A sign that she knew. A sign that she felt something. Anything. A sign that she thought of him when she was alone. A sign that she cared. A sign ... any sign. He could not find even one. A little voice in his head begged him to stop, to go back to her and say it. For a moment he felt like he heard her scream, he stopped, as if he lost control. But he regained it quickly. "It can't be real", he told himself. And he kept walking, not turning back and not knowing where to go. Knowing that the only place for him was next to her. Knowing that he would never get that place. Knowing that she did not know.

She saw him turn and walk slowly towards the empty classroom. She knew it was over. She knew this was going to be their first and last conversation in the last five years. She knew he wouldn't stop. She saw him going away, helplessly. A thin sheen of moisture covering her sorrowful eyes. Darkening the brown of her eyes and reflecting his fading image as he went away with each step. She thought about the past five years. The way he was always around her. Always there when she turned. Always there when she played basketball. Always there when she went for her music class. Always hiding from her sight but being there in her mind. At the gate, everyday, when she left the school, to say a silent goodbye. Never speaking a word, but telling her volumes about how much he cared. Never making eye contact, but always looking deep inside her heart. Never coming close enough, but touching her in ways no one ever could. She opened her mouth to let out a silent cry, asking him to stop and come back. But she knew he would not return. For a moment, she thought he fumbled, about to turn back. But he kept walking. Walking away. She did not know what would she do without him. She did not know who would care so much for her. She was angry. She hated him at that moment. Why was he leaving her like this? What was her fault? How can he abandon her like this, in the middle of nowhere? Why doesn't he understand? Why is he leaving her alone? And then she whispered, "How could you do this to me?"