The Well

The Well

It feels like it’s been raining for days. A stubborn mist smothers the sky, blotting out any semblance of the sun. It’s been like this since he’s been gone. For weeks the weather has served as a good excuse not to come here. That, and the fact I don’t believe in this place. But with each passing day, its pull draws me closer. I can’t put it off any longer. 

            You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in our sleepy, little town who doesn’t know the legend of the well. The place where most townsfolk say life meets death. A boundary between two realms. No one knows where the legend, or the well itself, came from. They’ve both been around longer than the town itself.

It’s said the well grants you a connection to a lost loved one on the other side—if you’re willing to part with your most treasured possession. A price worth paying for a moment’s more time.

            I always told myself the stories were just folklore, never having had a reason to visit the well myself. Now, once and for all, I’m prepared to discover if there’s any truth to the stories I’ve grown up hearing.

            I have to.

            For Elliot.

            The sounds of birds and rustling reeds fill the air. Coupled with the sounds of my own heavy breathing, I descend further into the tangled brush of the woods, which has grown over the trail leading to the well. It seems no one has been on the path in some time. Maybe I’m not the only one who doesn’t believe in the legend.

            Even though my skepticism runs deep, I did venture to the well once before, with Elliot. Shortly after his mom died. Perhaps it’s why I’m drawn back here now.

I’m not sure if Elliot believed in the well any more than I did. But he was willing to do anything to see his mom again. He wasn’t ready to let her go. The same way I'm not prepared to let him go.

            Things weren’t supposed to end like this. Not for us. We had our entire lives ahead of us.

Continuing my trek, I search for the two large oak trees that remain seared in my memory. They come together to a point, reaching toward the heavens. It’s underneath their canopy where the well lies.

            I remember how eerie it felt being there. Something about the place made it seem as if time itself came to a stop. Elliot and I spent what felt like a few minutes there, only to find it had been closer to six hours upon leaving. To this day, just the thought of the place creeps me out. But it’s worth it if it means being able to see Elliot again.

            As kids, I watched as Elliot dropped what had been his grandfather’s ring into the well. It was something he treasured with all his heart. Elliot swears he saw his mom afterward and had a conversation with her. I was at his side the entire time, yet I never saw anything. A part of me thinks his brain saw what it wanted as a way of providing him a sense of closure.

            Is that the reason I’m drawn there now?

            I think back to how things were before the world completely changed on us.             Our senior year of high school was already half over. College acceptance letters and prom seemed to be the only things that mattered to any of us. As they sent us home that last day, none of us realized that for some of us, it would be the last time we’d see each other. 

            So began our lives in isolation.

            Elliot and his dad lived nearby, so we’d see each other regularly from a distance. We thought we’d be able to easily maintain our bubble and weather the storm. Everyone had been told the town was safe, so we deluded ourselves into thinking we were invincible. By the time our bubble inevitably broke, there was no one to protect us. 

            Traipsing through the overgrown brush of the forest, my mind drifts to the last time I saw him. The sounds of the machine taking each labored breath for him.

            Click.

            Wheeze.

            Click.

            Wheeze. 

            The image of him lying there, gasping for air, remains scorched in my brain. Despite his body being ravaged, he continued to put up a fight for as long as he could. I held on to the hope that he would pull through, but I knew he was tired of fighting. I promised him I’d be okay if he couldn’t fight anymore, even though I knew it was a lie. In the end, it was a stranger who held his hand as he left this world behind, taking a piece of me with him.  

            Clearing the last of the brush from my path, I emerge into a clearing, spotting the two overgrown oak trees ahead. It’s as if I stepped into a vacuum, as the silence is deafening. Even the sound of the birds is gone. What little sunlight had crept out from behind the clouds is blotted out entirely by the canopy of the trees.

            I approach the stone-clad well, noticing how much smaller it seems compared to what I remember. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my selected offering: Elliot’s class ring, a replacement for his grandfather’s. It's been my most prized possession since Elliot gave it to me the night he first told me he loved me. I swore I’d hold on to it forever.

            Standing frozen at the well’s base, I’m not sure how much time has passed. I stare down the well, never seeing its bottom, as all I can make out is darkness staring back at me. Looking at the ring in my hand, I hesitate. I’m crazy for even considering this. But, if there’s even the slightest possibility the well is real, I have to take the chance. 

            Putting the ring to my lips, I gently kiss it, whispering a silent prayer before letting it fall from my hand into the darkness. I stand there, unsure of what to expect next, as I continue to be met by the utter silence of my surroundings.

            “That may have just been the dumbest thing you’ve ever done,” I tell myself, immediately regretting my decision.

            It was bad enough losing Elliot.

Now his ring is gone too. 

            “I’m sorry, Elliot,” I say aloud, hoping that speaking his name will provide me a sense of comfort.

            I look back to the bottom of the well, searching for some sign that this wasn’t all a folly. Instead, I’m only met by the deafening silence. The realization begins to creep in that Elliot’s really, truly gone.

            I take a seat in the grass beside the well, ignoring the dampness seeping up the back of my pants from the wet grass. The tears begin to well in my eyes.

            “I must have been crazy to think this would work,” I whisper, leaning my head back against the well as I close my eyes. 

            My mind is filled with all the things I wanted to say to Elliot. Did he know that he was by far the best thing that ever happened to me? And how a part of me knows I’ll never be able to open my heart again?

            “You promised you’d always be here for me, yet here I am, all alone,” I spit at the air, surprised at my sudden anger. Anger at him for dying. “I never knew you were such a liar.”

            The words feel freeing, if only for a moment. Opening my eyes, I realize how foolish this all is.Elliot isn’t here. 

            I stand to walk away, but I’m overcome by a gust of wind that comes from nowhere, blowing past me. 

            “You're not alone...” I hear faintly, as if carried on the wind itself. The voice is unmistakable to me. It makes every hair on my head stand on end.

            Turning back to the well, I see nothing. My mind must be playing tricks on me.

“It’s just my imagination,” I tell myself, walking a few steps away.

            “You’re not imagining it, Robby," I hear the voice say. In that instant, I know that it’s Elliot. He’s the only person I ever let get away with calling me Robby. From behind me, I feel a heat, unlike anything I've ever felt before, radiating against my body. As I close my eyes, afraid to turn around, I sense a presence rest against my shoulder. Tears stream from my eyes.

            “How did you do that?” I question, fighting back my fear, which has taken hold. How can I explain this, Elliot being here with me?

            "Because you let me," he says as I slowly turn to face him. I prepare myself to realize this is my imagination getting the best of me. I’m not prepared for the sight before me. Elliot stands there silently, watching as my body trembles.

            He looks exactly as I remember. Standing there, a cavalier expression across his face, as if it’s perfectly normal for him to be here.

            “It really worked,” I say in disbelief. “You're here.” 

            “I made you a promise that I would always be here for you.”

            I turn back to face the well, filled with questions. 

            “What is this place? How is any of this possible?”

            Elliot inches closer to me. I think to back away, yet almost instinctively find myself drawn closer to him.

            “The separation between life and death is a fragile line,” he tells me as we stand here in the clearing. “Whatever this place is, it allows that line to blur, if only for a time.”

            “How long?” I ask, afraid to take my eyes off him. I already sense I won’t like his answer.

            “Not long.”

            I take in his words, my anger returning as I comprehend their meaning.

            “But that isn’t fair,” I spit, stepping away from him. “It’s like losing you all over again.”

            “It’s how things have to be,” he says to me, a certainty present in his voice. “I know this isn't what we wanted, but you have to consider this a gift.”

            “You think this is a gift?” I question, turning back to face him. “Do you know how absurd that is?”

            “Not everyone gets this,” he says, his expression remaining steadfast and unwavering.

            “What, a chance to torment themselves?”

            “A chance to say goodbye.”

            I slump back down beside the well, taking Elliot’s hand as he sits down with me. “This just isn't fair,” I repeat for what must be the hundredth time. “We were supposed to have the rest of our lives.”

            “You'll move on.”

His statement is absurd to me. How can he expect for me to just forget about him?

            “How can you say that to me?” I ask, angered by his statement.

            “Because it’s true,” he says, the irresistible twinkle I’ve always been mesmerized by still present in his eyes. "Someday, you'll make peace with this. You'll leave this town behind, fall in love even.”

            “You don’t know that,” I argue, determined to make Elliot see my point of view. “Besides, there’s a problem with that whole scenario.”

            “What’s that?”

            He looks at me puzzled, seemingly unsure of what I'm about to say.

“I’m already in love—with you," I tell him, noticing his demeanor begin to soften. He begins to laugh, confusing me.

            "Why are you laughing?"

            "I see you're as stubborn as always."

His remark causes me to laugh along with him.

            “You used to like that about me.”

            “I still do,” he smiles.

            I realize how easily we’ve fallen into familiar patterns, forgetting for a moment what this really is.

            A last goodbye.

            Suddenly I realize I hadn’t considered the ramifications of Elliot being here with me. Does his presence here somehow disrupt the natural order of things on the other side?

            “What’s it like where you are?” I ask in an attempt to justify my decision.

            “I’m at peace,” he says with a certainty that gives me no choice but to believe him.

            I can feel the moments we have left slipping away. We sit together, our backs leaned against the well. I try and savor the moment. And yet I'm afraid to even blink. What if he's gone when I open my eyes? 

            “We don’t have much time left,” Elliot reminds me. My mind races at the realization of how much I still want to say and ask.

            “Can I ask you something?” I look over at him as I think back to the last time I was here.

            “Anything,” he nods.

            “When you came here to talk to your mom, what did she say?”

            A smile instantly comes over his face as he looks back at me.

            “She said she wanted me to live.”

He certainly knows how to hammer home his point.

            “Don’t go,” I plead with him, leaning into an embrace. Closing my eyes for just an instant, I try to make the moment last forever. “I love you.” 

            I feel the warmth of his hand reach for mine, sliding something into it as I hold on to him for dear life, not wanting this to end. I know that, when I open my eyes, he’ll be gone.

            “I want you to live,” I hear him say. Another strong gust of wind blows between us. 

            I open my eyes. I’m all alone. I feel the empty pit in the bottom of my stomach that I’ve grown familiar with. Looking at my hand, I notice it hanging loosely open. Just moments ago, I had felt Elliot’s touch there.

            I’m startled by the object I find tucked into my palm. A ring.

            I realize quickly it’s not the ring I dropped into the well. It’s the one that belonged to Elliot’s grandfather. The one I watched him drop into the well himself all those years ago.

            But how?

            I quickly push the thought from my mind. Instead, I focus on the fact Elliot had entrusted me with his most treasured possession. Looking at the well, I know that it’s served its purpose. It allowed me to say goodbye.

            Clutching onto the ring, I realize it’s Elliot’s way of reminding me he’s still with me. I stand up from the spot where I’d slumped down against the well and slowly walk away.

            Departing the clearing, in the distance, I can hear Elliot’s voice say, “I love you, too,” as if on a whisper in the wind. Somewhere, at this very moment, I know he’s with his mom, smiling. For a moment, at least, things seem better.

            The sunlight creeps out from behind the clouds. An air of hope seems to spring forth.

            I’m alive—I’m going to be okay.

            Elliot made sure of that.