Turning the Page

TURNING THE PAGE1

He had always lived next door. Ever since Sarah had been born, Robert had always lived next door. Born only a few weeks apart, they had never truly been separated. Until today…2

Sarah turned the pages of the worn photograph album. So many memories; they had sure been through a lot together. She laughed aloud at the picture before her - their first beach holiday; a pair of eager three year olds, building sand castles on the beach. Sarah vaguely remembered kicking Robert’s sandcastle over because it was better than hers, resulting in him throwing a huge temper tantrum and biting her arm. He got in so much trouble from both of their mothers. She had a large mark on her arm for weeks.3

Sarah smiled sadly and turned the page again. Her 5th birthday party. She grinned at her former self – a small, dark-haired girl with rosy cheeks and a missing front tooth. Robert was standing in the background wearing a purple party hat, with the same cheeky grin and mischievous twinkle in his eye as always. He’d blown out all of her candles that day and she had started crying and wouldn’t stop until her mother re-lit them.4

Another photograph – a school trip to the zoo; the two gangly eight year olds stood outside of the Bat Cave. Sarah remembered the older boys teasing Robert about being scared of the dark. In the end, the two of them walked through, hand in hand, conquering their fears together. It was actually the older boys that ran away screaming as Sarah and Robert jumped out at them from the shadows. That was a fun day.5

The page had turned to seven years ago. An eleven-year-old Sarah was learning to climb a tree. Robert had taken that photo of her climbing, just before she slipped and knocked him over. He had taught her how to climb the tree at the bottom of their street. She had fallen many times and he had helped her back up until she finally managed it on her own. That was the last week of summer. The last week before the two of them had started high school; Robert would be going to the grammar school out of town and Sarah would be going to the local high school. Going to separate schools meant that they didn’t get to see each other as much. They began to drift apart, their interests changed, they spent more time with new friends. Suddenly, everything that Robert and Sarah used to do together – climbing trees, playing hide-and-seek, building sand castles – began to appear very childish. For the next five years they seemed to neglect their friendship. Sadly, there were few photographs taken from this period.6

Sarah flipped the album to a photo that she treasured more than anything in the world; her high school prom picture. Sarah was sixteen at the time. Two weeks before the prom, her first boyfriend, David had broken up with her. Robert had found her crying on her back doorstep that evening. He had sat outside with her all night until she had stopped sobbing. Sarah had been without a date to the prom, which normally she wouldn’t have minded except for the fact that she had been boasting to her friends for weeks about it. It was then that Robert did the most surprising thing ever – he offered to take Sarah to her prom - limo and everything. At that moment, underneath the stars, sat on Sarah’s doorstep, she realized that what she felt for Robert went beyond friendship.7

She turned back to the prom photograph. Sarah was wearing a shimmering red dress that her mother had bought her for her sixteenth birthday. Robert looked good in his tuxedo, yet he still had that grin that all of the girls fell for and he still had that sparkle in his eyes. That night they had danced and laughed and throughout it Robert was the perfect gentleman. It had felt good to finally have fun with him again, like they had done when they were younger. At the end of the night they had kissed outside of Sarah’s house. It was the most wonderful and magical and probably the best night of her life. She wasn’t sure how it had started. They had both gone to hug each other - a friendly but uncertain goodbye hug. Then, before she knew it, their lips were touching.8

Sarah closed her eyes and smiled at the memory. She had played it over and over in her head. That was the night before it had all gone wrong, and that was the last photograph that she had of him.9

In the weeks after ‘the kiss’, Robert had purposefully avoided Sarah. It wasn’t because he didn’t like her – he did! In fact, he’d liked her for many years. He had first felt this way when Sarah had started going out with David – he’d been so jealous. It was only on that night, sat on Sarah’s step, underneath the stars, that he thought he might actually have a chance with her. But it was a chance that Robert hadn’t been ready to take straight away. Sarah had just broken up with David, she was upset and vulnerable and the only thing that Robert could do was do what he had always done – be her friend.10

The prom had been amazing. Robert had kept the photographs from that night hidden in his drawer. He took them out, seeing Sarah’s face smiling back at him - The girl next door, his best friend. The kiss was incredible, but deep down Robert knew that it was wrong. They were too close, they knew too much about each other and they had too much history together. All of these reasons had scared Robert. So, instead of facing Sarah and talking about what had happened, he had taken the cowardly way out and began ignoring her. Sarah had tried to call him several times but he had made excuses that he was busy with exams or work. Eventually, she gave in and stopped trying to talk to him. They were the worst months of his life.11

The following year, they had both started at the same college. Gradually, day-by-day, they began to speak again. It started off with brief exchanges of “hi” whilst passing in the street. It then progressed to them actually walking to college together. Being next-door neighbors with somebody meant that you couldn’t ignore them for long. Slowly, they began to get back to the way they were. But they never talked about ‘the kiss’…12

This year – the final year of college – had passed by so quickly. Robert and Sarah had become close friends again. They went to the cinema together, went ice-skating, bowling and even clubbing. Robert laughed as he remembered the night that he had taken Sarah home when she had drank too much on her 18th birthday. He had a picture of it somewhere… It was of Sarah slumped against him, waiting for a taxi home. His friend, Mike, had taken it. Robert had been meaning to give it to her but he had never gotten around to it.13

This past year, particularly this past summer had been a strange one. Both Robert and Sarah were getting ready to go to university. Robert would be moving many miles away to a southern university whereas Sarah would be staying in the north. Many nights had been spent that summer, lying on the grass, watching the stars and contemplating the future. Throughout all of the fun and the joking though, something had always been there, looming in the background. That something was the fact that they would be separated, no longer living next-door to each other, no longer seeing each other every day. It was a frightening thought. 14

And now, Robert knew that he would be leaving tomorrow. He was filled with anticipation and excitement about a new place and a new life but was also filled with regret and sadness at what he would be leaving behind - who he would be leaving behind. There were so many memories and he just didn’t want to give them up. He wanted to tell Sarah that he loved her. He wanted to kiss her again and to explain to her that he never meant for them to leave it. He wanted to be with her. But it was too late and now she would never know…15

Sarah walked past Robert’s house. His curtains were closed and no light shone from his window. She knew that he would be gone tomorrow, out of her life, except for holidays and odd days now and then. And she could do nothing to stop him. Finally, Sarah reached the large oak tree at the bottom of the street. Many memories had been made here. Slowly, she began to climb to the top. It had been years since she had climbed but Sarah still remembered what to do. Robert’s teachings would always stay with her. Nearing the top, she sat for a while, looking down at the street below - everything so calm and quiet, even though tomorrow her life would change. It began to grow dark. Sarah was about to climb back down when she noticed a figure approaching the tree. Robert.16

“Hey fancy seeing you here!” He grinned up at her and then began to climb his way to her, carefully perching next to her.17

“Nice night, huh?” He glanced up at the orange sky streaked with grey.18

“Yeah”, Sarah sighed.19

“So watcha doing out here?” Robert asked, searching her face.20

“Just thinking…”21

“About anything important?” Robert studied all of her features; he didn’t ever want to forget anything about her. Maybe I should tell her how I feel…22

“Nah, just worried about uni. It won’t be the same without you.”23

“Ah you’ll be fine, everyone will love you there. You’ll make new friends in no time. Honestly, you’ll be fine without me.” But I wont be fine without you.24

“I guess,” Sarah turned away from him, staring at her feet. Should I tell him?25

“So, are you looking forward to tomorrow?”26

“Yeah…” Robert replied, a distant tone to his voice.27

“Cool”28

”Yeah”29

“Well um…” Sarah started, her heart pounding. She wanted to reach out for him and hold him tight and never let go. But she didn’t.30

“Yes?” Robert said, more eagerly this time.31

“Er… I should be going. It’s getting dark and you should get an early night.”32

“Oh, yeah. Big day tomorrow,” Robert looked crestfallen. He began to climb down the tree, helping Sarah along the way. Then, they walked back to their houses, Sarah linking Robert. They walked in silence; no words were needed now. There was nothing left to say.33

“So this is it…” Robert stopped outside his house, reaching for Sarah’s hand.34

“Yeah… It’s not as if you’re going for good, right. We’ll still see each other on the holidays. But I just want to say that it’s been a pleasure living next door to you, despite your poor taste in music and strange sense of humour.” Sarah laughed.35

“Likewise,” Robert winked at her, “I’ll miss you though.”36

“Likewise,” Sarah winked back. Awkwardly they hugged each other. This is the part where I don’t ever let go, Sarah thought unhappily.37

“Don’t forget to phone me,” Robert warned her – he was not good at goodbyes; he hated emotional scenes.38

“I won’t, and make sure that you work hard and party lots, okay! I want to hear all the details.” Sarah wiped her eyes with her hands to stop herself from crying.39

“Definitely,” He grinned at her, one last time. His eyes twinkled in the moonlight, one last time.40

“Okay… well goodbye then,” Robert leaned over and patted Sarah on the back. I love you…41

“Goodbye,” Sarah went to kiss him on the cheek and then turned to enter her house. I love you…She paused on the doorstep and then finally shut the door behind her and didn’t look back.42