The Visit

           - Are you coming tonight? – Asked Tracy.

           Ciara looked at her friend and simply shrugged it off and gave her the cold shoulder.

           - C’mon Ciara, when was the last time we went out? – She insisted.

           Today wasn’t a common day for the young Ciara, today was the first anniversary of her father’s death, something that her best friend, Tracy, had failed to remember.

           The two of them entered the dorm that they shared at university. Ciara went first as Tracy swiftly followed her, closing the white door behind her.

           - I’ve already spoken with Clair and Lillian, they said they’ll bring the cake for Samantha’s birthday. – Tracy said. – Why don’t you go pick something to dress tonight? – She insisted.

           Ciara was about to burst, but she refused to give Tracy any kind of explanation for her behavior that morning.

           Tracy handed her the frozen espresso that Ciara had bought in the cafeteria, Cinnamon Touch. Today was Ciara’s day off at the cafeteria, so she went there just for a drink, and, surprisingly, despite working there she still managed to enjoy some of the beverages there. Tracy was waiting for her friend to grab her drink, so she just stood there raising her right arm and offering her friend the frozen espresso.

           - Ciara this is cold, could you grab it already?

           That, for some reason, made Ciara lose it, she felt tired of listening to her friend’s voice, her selfishness, and most importantly, her pettiness. In a swift motion, she turned to her and kicked her left leg with full force, as to complete the action with a punchline, but in that burst of rage, she had forgotten that she had aimed for her friend’s steel-plated, prosthetic leg.

           Ciara quickly went to the ground, moaning and cursing in pain.

           - Oh my God Ciara! – Said Tracy as she quickly placed the espresso on the table. – Let me grab some ice for you!

           - There’s no need for it!

           - What?

           Ciara was silent for a moment, but Tracy quickly broke the silence:

           - What do you mean? You’re hurt! I’ll go grab the ice in the freezer!

           - I don’t need anything from you!

           Now, silence came from both ends. Having been hit directly in the heart with that affirmative, Tracy turned back to her friend, on the brink of crying.

           - Why would you say something so mean Ciara? – She said as she tried to contain her tears. – I didn’t do anything to you…

           That’s when Ciara finally noticed it, Tracy was a very forgetful girl. Even though she tried to remember everything, she would often forget important dates, to a point that she had even forgotten about her seventeenth birthday last year.

           Ciara got up and with some difficulty, she sat on the bed, took a deep breath, and asked Tracy to come to sit with her.

           - Tracy, come here.

           Tracy wiped off her tears and sat down with her friend.

           - Do you know what day’s today?

           - Samantha’s birthday, why? – Said Tracy, innocently.

           - Well, yeah. But besides that, today’s the first anniversary of my father’s death.

           - Oh my God…  - Said Tracy, making her shame clearly visible through her forest-green eyes. – I completely forgot about it… I’m so sorry Ciara!

           - Don’t worry about it.

           - Wait… That’s why you were so moody today?

           - About that, I’m sorry for that. I had assumed you remembered the day…

           Ciara looked down towards the mirror, where she could see her wavy red hair covering her blue eye, so she quickly moved her hair to let both her green and her blue-eye see the sight in the mirror. That of a frail-looking young woman, sitting on the bed next to her tall and athletic blonde best friend.

           - But I did remember. – Said Tracy, breaking Ciara’s trance.

           - What?

           Tracy went to her bed and grabbed a small calendar, that she kept on the top shelf of her wardrobe. She then turned herself to her friend once again, bending a little bit to reach Ciara’s eye height. On the calendar, a red “x” was marked on the current day with the phrase: “Ciara’s visit to the cemetery”.

           - See… I didn’t forget it… I just… Forgot to check the calendar. – Said Tracy, wiping one last tear from her eyes.

           - Yeah, then my bad… I shouldn’t have yelled at you. – Said Ciara.

           Tracy sat down on the bed once again with her friend and kept staring at the wall for what seemed like ages.

           In the meantime, Ciara remembered how the two of them had met up back in primary school. Back then, Ciara was taller than Tracy and she was a transfer student that had arrived from Germany. Because of a rare disease, Tracy had her leg amputated very early in her life, and was constantly made fun of because of it. One day, Ciara stood up for her and protected her from a couple of bullies, who didn’t like Ciara’s posture and started to make fun of her heterochromia, which prompted Ciara to offend the girls. Angry about it, they started to pull Ciara’s hair and scratch her face.

           Throughout that scene, Tracy kept to herself, shivering in the corner of the room. When a supervisor finally came to end the fight, they sent them all to talk with the principal, who after hearing both sides, punished the girls and sent Ciara to the infirmary. After that, Tracy was waiting for Ciara outside of the infirmary room.

           That was how Ciara remembered her first encounter with her best friend.

           - That’s it! – Said Tracy, almost startling Ciara. – The birthday party is at night. We can go to the cemetery now and pay our tributes. Then later if you feel that you have enough energy to go out, we can go to Samantha’s birthday. If not, that gives me enough time to prepare a nice friends night inside our room.

           Tracy had a wide-open smile while looking at Ciara.

           - That sounds great Tracy… Let’s do it! – Ciara said, a little reluctant.

           - Okay, wait here.

           - Why?

           - Just a sec. – Said Tracy as she got up and went towards the freezer.

           She grabbed some ice, rolled it inside a towel, and put it on Ciara’s right foot.

           - Thanks Tracy. – Said Ciara with a shy smile.

           - You’re my best friend, it’s my duty to take care of you, right? – Tracy replied with a bright smile.

           After the two of them got dressed they jumped in Tracy’s car towards the local cemetery.

           During that time Ciara kept thinking about Tracy:

           - She’s so different from back then…

           The once, shy, small and frail young little blonde girl was now a very tall, strong, and outgoing young woman.

           - Even though she’s still self-conscious about her leg. – Thought Ciara, with a smile on her face.

           Now the dynamic had changed between them, Ciara was very small and frail-looking while Tracy had become the opposite. But despite the huge difference in size, Tracy was still that same scared little girl from back then. She would still cry over simple things and she would still sometimes feel offended by Ciara’s cold personality.

           The two of them had become so different throughout the years, and although they protected each other something still bothered Ciara:

           - She always thought highly of me, I can’t let her know how messed up I really am. – She thought.

           Throughout the last year, Ciara had lost her father. Her mother had died a couple of years before that, but now Ciara was alone, living with one of her father’s friend, Cecilia, and going on with university to forget about what had happened.

           Through this time, Tracy would always praise Ciara for her strength, when, in reality, Ciara was dying inside. All the times she thought about the worst, that she wished she didn’t exist. But she had to be strong so that Tracy could still have someone to look up to.

           - Ciara! – Shouted Tracy.

           - What?! – Said Ciara, surprised.

           - I said that we have arrived, didn’t you listen?

           - Sorry, I think I was distracted, let’s go.

*

           - So, this is the place? – Said Tracy.

           - Yeah. – Said Ciara.

           The two had taken a trip to the cemetery, where Ciara’s parents were buried. On her left, there was her mother’s tombstone, Michelle Brooks O’Connor, with the writings “Wonderful woman and outstanding mother” written right below her name. Next to her gravestone, there was her father’s, Mike Brooks, with the writings “Great man and an even greater father” written under his name.

           - You know, I’ve never had the chance to properly ask you how things were going… I mean, things went too fast, and when I noticed you were already living with Ceci… It must’ve been devastating for you to go through something like this. – Said Tracy while resting her left hand over her friend’s shoulder.

           Ciara kept staring at the two gravestones statically.

           - Remember that no matter what, I’m still here for you. I may not be your biological sister but I’m your family too, and I’ll be here for you no matter…

           - I’m flattered by your words Tracy, but there’s no need for that. – Ciara interrupted her. - What happened to me was horrible, but that’s in the past. They wouldn’t be happy to know that I wasted my life mourning over their tombstones, right? – Said Ciara with a smile on her face.

           - Ciara… You’re so…

           Tracy jumped on her friend and hugged her.

           - You don’t need to do this anymore. – Said Tracy.

           And at that moment Ciara’s face slowly turned from confident to a complete mess as she collapsed on her friend’s shoulder.

           - You’re the most amazing person I know, but even people like you need to cry from time to time. – Said Tracy as she tightened the grip around her friend.

           The two stood there for a good minute as Ciara let everything go away until she finally stopped crying.

           - It’s okay to cry. Maybe not as much as me, but it’s okay. – Said Tracy.

           - I know. – Ciara replied as she cleaned up her face.

           - And this is something that you don’t need to hide, you are strong even if you cry.

           - Thanks Tracy. – Ciara mumbled as she returned to cry.

           - No need to thank me, you taught me that, remember?

           Ciara looked at Tracy as the redness from her eyes shined through those green and blue bulbs.

           - I’m so lucky to have someone like you. – Said Ciara.

           - No, Ciara. I’m the lucky one. – Tracy replied with a bright smile on her face.

           The two hugged for a couple more seconds as the wind started to blow, announcing rain coming.

           - Let’s go, it’s going to rain you crying baby. – Taunted Tracy.

           - Okay, let’s go. – Said Ciara delivering a light punch to her friend’s shoulder.

           The two walked to Tracy’s car and entered, Tracy sat down on the driver’s seat while Ciara sat down on the passenger seat.

           Things were going okay through the heavy rain while Tracy blasted some rock ‘n roll through her phone.

           - You know, I miss your mom too. – Said Tracy.

           Ciara turned her face to Tracy while she kept shaking her head to the rhythm of the song.

           - Remember that time when we were little and tried to climb that oak tree in your garden?

           - Of course, I fell and almost broke my leg.

           - Do you remember what your mom said?

           - “Ciara, I didn’t raise a daughter so that I could have some monkeys climbing over my tree!” – Ciara said.

           - And then she laughed so hard! – The two said in unison.

           - Dude, your mom’s the best Ciara. – Said Tracy.

           - Yeah, it was nice while it lasted.

           - Do you think this is what we’re going to remember when one of us dies? I mean, the good times?

           - Of course Tracy, these are things worth remembering, I’ll remember you for the rest of my life, the same way as I’ll remember how dad used to take us to the mall to play at the playground whenever my mom was doing her hair at the saloon nearby.

           - That’s what’s worth remembering Ciara, the good things. And the bad things are there to make us mad that we didn’t complain enough when they were there. – Tracy said while a giggle escaped from her mouth.

           - Next time we’re visiting your parents. – Said Ciara.

           - As long as my mom doesn’t try to feed you escargot again!

           - Dear Jesus! Never again!

           The two started to laugh as the song on the phone was ending and the rain created a rhythmic beat on the roof of Tracy’s car.

           Ciara may have lost her parents, but the family she had left here on Earth was more than enough for her.

           - Drive up Tracy. – Said Ciara.

           - Uh? Why?

           - We have to get ready for Samantha’s birthday.

           - Don’t you think it’s better if we just stay at home?

           - Well, if my best friend had time to bring me to the cemetery and didn’t make me come back home all wet, the least I can do is go to a party with her. Besides, Clair and Lillian’s mom’s cake is the best. – Ciara said with a smile on her face.

           Tracy replied with a warm smile and said:

           - Thanks Ciara.

           - No, thank you Tracy. – Ciara said as the two girls hugged.