E p i l o g u e

MARIA'S POV-

The last few days have passed by so quickly.

It was so painful to watch people say their last words to the deceased.

I could still remember that day as clear as water.

Alex had just run out to God knows where with the letter written by Julia. I was so shocked I could do nothing except wail and cry. Brandon held me as we stepped towards his car and started hunting around the town for her. We called up the police, too. It was when we were on the outskirts of town did it occur to me - the cliff.

Julie's favorite place to see the most beautiful thing in the world.

The Moon.

It was exactly that time Brandon's phone rang. He picked up and found Alex on the other end. His voice was audible in the otherwise quiet night except for the sudden thunder and rain.

"She... She..." He sobbed. It was clear he was crying and I've never heard anybody sound so much in pain before. His voice was breaking and hoarse which indicated he must have been screaming. "She's dead."

"Where are you Alex?" Brandon's eyes filled with tears too and I realized that it was not only me who got affected by the agony in Alex's voice.

"Cliff..." His voice sounded far away. "I couldn't have saved her... Even if I wanted... She was already dead from inside Brandon!" He shouted and Brandon flinched. "I... am such a loser..."

Brandon handed the phone to me as he started driving up the steep hillside.

"Alex, Alex..." I tried to speak but my voice caught in my throat as the truth hit me.

We were too late. Julia was gone forever.

I wanted to tell him to not do anything to himself but I couldn't find the right words at that moment.

"Tell Veronica I am sorry and you guys too - for having you got messed up in my life..." I heard his car door slam.

Oh no.

I knew he was gonna do something to himself.

"Alex don't -" I started but his voice cut me off.

"I have nothing else to live for." Was his last sentence as the call got cut and the phone fell from my hands. Brandon kept driving forwards. We both knew how dangerous it was for us to drive - when it was raining - up a hillside but we could not stop.

Not after knowing that one of our friends was already dead and the other could die any moment.

I called him again and again, but he didn't pick up.

"Drive faster, Brandon," I whispered desperately, my heart aching inside my chest. "Brandon... we might be too late."

"No we will not be," he clenched his teeth and gripped the driving wheel tighter, unless his knuckles turned white from the pressure exerted by him.

When we did reach the spot, I had been proven right by God.

We were too late.

There lay Alex's body, all covered in a pool of blood. He was lying against his car, his body lifeless. I touched his forehead - limp, and pale in the moonlight.

Brandon checked his pulse and banged his head against Alex's car.

"He's dead."

I looked up at the sky, crying silently and praying because I didn't know what else to do. The rain had stopped, and the sky was clear once again.

I looked at the moon and even it looked sad.

"At least now you both are together," I whispered.

---

I stood looking at their coffins, both closed. Alex's family was there and though I didn't inform Julie's sister Richie - she was there, too. She looked sad but not much. She left quickly - before the digging was even done. I didn't hold her back; I didn't even want her there in the first place.

Brandon held my hand as we welcomed the guests and did everything else that had to be done. I wouldn't have been able to hold up this long for he hadn't been there.

When the police reached the clearing, Brandon was the one who had still had his rationality. He explained and told them what had happened. The police still took Alex's body to postmortem and asked some questions from us but after they revived Julia's body from the bottom of the cliff and read the paper Julia had written - everything became clear to them.

The released Alex's body, informing us that he had taken his own life and died due to massive blood loss.

Julia's body was in pieces, only her head remained attached to what was left of her body. I didn't see her, Brandon did - and his description was quite vivid enough for me.

Alex's family was quite in a shock and his ex, Veronica, was also speechless and mourned their death. She didn't hold anything against Julia and hoped for her peace along with Alex's in her speech.

I watched as their coffins were lowered together, and tombstones were placed.

Julia's last words were chosen by me - the ones she'd written on the paper.

Why had fate allowed some people to meet when there was no way for them to be together?

And Alex's were chosen by his father, a phrase he used to say a lot,

Life is the art of dying.

Brandon held my hand as I rubbed away the last tear and hoped for their happiness, in some other life because this one was too complicated.