Chapter 15 The End is Just a New Beginning
Friday night went by quickly as did the other weeks and soon summer was only a week away. The four friends truly had grown close despite the fact that Gabriella and Savanna had many secrets they kept from Brinley and Abbie. During that time Abbie had grown to completely trust Savanna and Gabriella. All of this was not unfounded as Savanna and Gabriella had grown to truly and deeply care about Brinley and Abbie as well. They spent many fun nights together between that first Friday night and the weeks between then and summer.
The four of them looked up at the stars in the sky as they lay on a blanket out on the deck of the tree house. They sat there talking happily and reminiscing about the crazy events that had brought the four of them together. The next week would go by far too quickly for any of them. It went by especially fast for Abbie and Brinley though. In trying to cherish every moment that they had left together, they also spent every second knowing they were that much closer to Abbie’s departure. Just like many different young people in life they were simply caught in the middle of something that wasn’t their fault, yet they couldn’t escape the consequences that were all too real.
School finally ended and summer came along with Abbie’ last night in her house before she would move. Abbie spent the evening in the tree house with her friends, but there was a much different atmosphere than normal. The girls all lay out on the deck of the tree house on a blanket looking up through a hole in the trees at the beautiful starry night. They made small talk from time to time, but the mood was pretty somber as they all knew it was their last night in the tree house together.
As each of the girls nodded off to sleep they all thought about different things. Gabbi lay stricken with guilt and found herself constantly fighting between doing what she wanted and what she thought was right. Because she was so conflicted she was constantly doing things to try to prove to herself she was a real friend to Brinley, and in the process Brinley felt as though Gabriella was the best friend in the world. Unfortunately Gabriella felt the opposite when it came to this and her joy in the tree house with her friends was far less than what it could have been.
Savanna on the other hand felt only mild guilt from time to time and was instead enjoying the fact that she could wear and use diapers in the tree house and for once she wasn’t different. No one knew how much she enjoyed it other than Gabriella and it made her for the first time in her life feel completely normal. She felt bad that Brinley and Abbie couldn’t know the whole truth, but she thought maybe someday she would be able to tell them everything and until that time came it was just smart to make the best of the situation.
Brinley found herself feeling an onslaught of emotional highs and lows. She felt absolutely sick to her stomach anytime someone made fun of Abbie. She knew the teasing should have been hers and it some ways she wished it was. At the same time she was absolutely elated that Savanna and Gabriella accepted her when they had accepted no one else for years. It was like she was cool for the first time in her entire life even if it was only with a couple of people. Of course her strongest emotion was that of sadness though knowing her best friend was about to move to the other side of the country. She wondered how she would ever cope with her loss. She would have been surprised if she had known what the next couple years of her life without Abbie had in store for her both good and bad.
Lastly Abbie lay thinking about what would happen to Brinley. She never once worried about herself when it came time to move away. Instead her focus was all on how she could make it all right for her friend. She planned out the days and times they could talk on the phone and on the computer and already had future plans for the next two spring breaks for Brinley and her to visit each other. The verbal abuse she had received over the past few weeks should have been enough to drive anyone to depression. But Abbie just reminded herself that she had taken Brinley’s place. Every time someone said something mean she realized it would have been directed at Brinley if she hadn’t done what she had done. She had done very well with her time in Hudson, no one had changed someone’s life for the better as much as she had changed Brinley’s.
Brinley and Abbie cried a great deal the next day as Abbie waved goodbye as her families car pulled out of her drive way and left the house for good. Brinley’s life would never be the same once Abbie Taylor left. Many things were set into motion on that day as the Taylor car left the driveway. Not the least of them was the arrival of Benjamin Hamilton. That however is a story for another time, but for now, as usual, Brinley Kelser just cried.
The End