I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

Hikari wakes in the early hours of the morning. It’s still dark out, our
escape not due for a few hours. She and I walk back inside and find
a stretcher in an unoccupied hall, above it, solemn windows, black
and reflective.
I tell her that sometimes stretchers are left scattered about and
reorganized come morning. She caresses the straps and cushioned
edges like she feels sorry for all lonesome carriers of grim cargo.
Then, she tells me to sit and wait for her.
I do.
She returns, running with our copy of Hamlet.
“Let’s finish it,” she says.
“Now?” I ask.
“Now.”
___
“What happened? I don’t–” Confusion plagues me. I hold in my
hands what people call a masterpiece, absolutely dumbfounded.
“What is it even supposed to mean?”
I hold up the last few pages for Hikari to see. She sits cross-legged,
fidgeting with the stretcher’s straps, amused by my reactions.
“It means a lot of things,” she says. “Mostly, I think it’s about an
annoying narcissist who’s obsessed with death till it actually knocks
on his door, but–”
“He- he lost everything in the end, and–and he did die.”
“That’s why it’s a tragedy.” No. I refuse. That is a horrid ending.
“Sam, are you pouting?”