ELTHAM HIGH SCHOOL ANTHOLOGY   

The machine had worked. The old man walked along the station platform, leaning on his cane. He had one shot at this; righting the biggest wrong he’d ever let happen. He saw her at the other end of the platform and willed his frail, aged muscles to move faster. He could not watch this again.

He reached her side and she looked around at him. She stood with her toes aligned perfectly with the edge of the yellow line. He smiled at her and, after a pause, she smiled a small smile back. Just as polite as he remembered, but more beautiful. Time had faded her light auburn hair in his memory, and stolen the shine from her eyes. He looked at his watch and saw he only had five minutes until the train arrived.

“How are you?” He asked her. She looked back at him.

“Good,” She replied automatically.

“Are you?” He said pleasantly. “You appear to be…down.”

She blinked those pretty eyes at him. “I’m sorry, do I know you from somewhere?” She asked, confused.

“No, not me,” Another minute was lost and no progress had been made. “But you seem sad. Why?”

She looked forward, out across the tracks. “I’ve lost someone,” She told him.

“Lost, or misplaced?” He asked, echoing one of her personal mottos.

“Lost,” She insisted, missing his reference.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” He said quietly. “What happened?”

She took a deep breathe, which shook on her lips, and he saw she was crying. He wondered if she’d been crying last time he’d seen this. He wondered if she’d said anything as she jumped. He wondered if she’d heard him calling for her.

“I had the most perfect person, and I love him,” She said, still looking out at the tracks. “I was happy, but I ruined it, and now he’s gone.”

“Ah, a boy,” He confirmed. So it had been his fault. All those years not knowing, and now the proof was there.

“A very important boy,” She said. “The most important boy in the world.”

“Maybe you should talk to him?” He suggested. It was what he wanted more than anything.
Go and talk to him, he silently urged. She just shook her head.

“He doesn’t want to see me,” Was her excuse. There were only two minutes left.

“Listen,” He gently but abruptly took her hand and she whipped around and instinctively pulled away. “He’d rather talk to you when angry then have you do this. If you do, he’ll carry it forever. He’ll live his life bound by his promise to you not to end it all, so he’ll turn to different substances to numb the pain you inflicted and fill the hole in his heart shaped like your silhouette. The years will become a blur of hospitals and relapses, disappointments and depression, and he’ll never know exactly why.” She stared at him, right in the eyes. He saw the glimpse of recognition. After all, a life time of drug abuse and pain may have changed his face, but his eyes stayed the same blue she’d loved getting lost in all those years ago. She couldn’t comprehend, or believe it, but she saw the truth in his eyes and in his words, and silent tears ran down her cheeks.

“Everything hurts,” She whispered.

He nodded. “I know it does,” He agreed. “But you don’t have to punish him this way, you don’t have to hurt him. Please, please don’t do this.”

They heard the whistle of an approaching train, and the sound of someone running. They both turned and saw the young man running onto the platform. The train was nearing. The old man turned to the young lady, beautiful with only sixteen years and the only one he ever loved.

“Go to him,” He told her, and she did. She ran to meet the man she loved instead of the trains crushing wheels. The young man held her tightly and the old man knew the boy would never again let go. He old man smiled and boarded.

She looked over her should, but the elderly gentleman was gone, and so was the train she’d chosen to take her life. She looked back at her love, in the eyes, then kissed him, reminding herself to thank him in eighty years’ time.