I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

Here, there is no overflowing writing or mess of words. There are no
artifacts or lyrics.
There is only a photo of a beautiful girl in a sundress kissing her
ordinary lover on a shore. Tucked beneath is the final picture Hikari
drew of our
friends. And on the other side, just before the notebook shuts, there
is a message.
Sam,
Your garden grew and flourished and it was beautiful for a time.
It fell ill and died and its beauty lasts only in memory.
But without you,
Those flowers might’ve never known light.
So to our narrator and dearest friend, thank you
For the memories.
For the goodbyes.
For the Heaven.
The snow continues to fall with the slow rhythm of a sad song. I
close our lonely notebook and gaze out with blurry vision at the city I
watched grow from the time it was a wilderness.
My tears flow, and yet I smile.
I smile with an open mouth and crush the Hit List to my chest.
I think to myself how lucky I am.