By: Jocelyn Chen

The leaves from the tall maple trees that danced in the chilly autumn breeze fell to the ground softly. The bright colors on the ground contrasted with the cloudy gray sky above. The array of cheerful students walked by the gate to the school. The frame of the windows painted a pleasant shade of deep green that, combined with the dark crimson color of the bricks made a welcoming scene.

“Last day huh.” I was suddenly interrupted in the middle of my trance by one of my close friends.

“Yeah,” was all I could reply with. I was still in the middle of registering the fact that it would be my last day at this school. Time really does fly. The doors flew open as the flood of students rushed to enter pushing and shoving along the way. I reluctantly took out my crusty hand-me-down phone and opened it to the health screening no one enjoyed doing. But today was different. As I looked down at the half-broken website, I felt a wave of gloominess wash over me. I would never be able to experience this anymore.

It felt like any other day. It felt unreal, like a never-ending dream. I didn’t want it to end though. Who knows what could be in this other place nobody’s heard of. I went through the day like every other. I even presented a Spanish project I spent two weeks on, though I knew that I wouldn’t be taking Spanish at my new school. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Before I left the class, my homeroom teacher handed me a card. The card had everyone’s goodbyes and good luck. Never would third grade me think that after signing so many goodbye cards I would finally receive one.

I approached the exit and suddenly it didn’t feel normal anymore. I didn’t want to go. Having to move to some place I wasn’t familiar with, having to make new friends after I just reunited with my elementary school friends for the first time in two whole years. Nothing mattered more than being able to hang out with my friends every day and not having to care about the world. The exit seemed to pity me as I stared at it for the last time. All of this was so frustrating. Why move all of the sudden and why on the day before Halloween? I was supposed to be able to go out with my friends and be empty-headed the whole time. Instead, I was packing my things into big boxes that would probably be too heavy to carry.

It was the last day. The last time I would be in the home I’d been in for 13 years. I looked out the window to the colossal pine trees towering over all the houses. The light red, orange and yellow leaves seemed to fall in slow motion. The breeze rustled the leaves quietly. The tall trees that grew big beautiful green leaves and tiny divine flowers of all colors in spring were half empty. The stage-like wooden platform that once stood there was reduced to a big pile of soon-to-be discarded planks. The small shed seemed to melt into a puddle, clear with the droplets of memories from years and years ago.