The Game Where I Lost My Last Finger And Him Chapter 11

The Game Where I Lost My Last Finger And Him Chapter 11

It was not the original one. 

It was new, threaded on a thin cord and placed inside a small cloth pouch. 

Beside it was a note, wrinkled from the rain. I could barely 

make out the words. 

[I looked everywhere for this one. The jeweler said it was the best piece they had. Audrey, I can’t bring back the one that broke, but I can give you a new one. You said it was meant to keep you safe, so let me spend the rest of my life keeping you safe. Is that okay?] 

That night, another message appeared on my phone. 

It was from Ethan. 

[Audrey, I’m leaving.] 

[I’m going south. To the South you love so much.] 

[I don’t have the courage to watch you be with someone else. I 

may never come back.] 

I stared at those words for a long time. 

His final message came after that. 

[I’ll keep waiting for you, Audrey. No matter how long it 

takes.] 

Outside the window, rain began to fall again. 

I stood by the window as the misty rain drifted in and touched 

my face. 

Suddenly, I remembered something from many years ago. 

I had been fifteen, just starting freshman year. 

On the first day of school, Ethan ran into me in the hallway. In front of everyone, he smiled and said, “She’s basically my little sister,” then turned and walked away. 

I stood there, watching him grow farther and farther away, thinking that he would come back. 

He had to come back. 

He had once told me that when he grew up, when he was good 

enough, he would take my hand openly and tell everyone that I 

was not his little sister. 

I was the girl he chose. 

Back then, I spent every day waiting. 

Waiting for him to look back at me. 

Waiting for him to keep those childish promises. 

Waiting for him to leave Chloe’s side and come back to mine. 

I waited for one year, then two, then three. 

I waited until my heart went cold, until my tears ran dry, until I finally understood. 

He was not coming back. 

Later, I went south, met someone new, and built a new life for 

myself. 

I thought I had cut the word waiting out of my life. 

Until today. 

Only then did I realize that Ethan had been waiting too. 

Waiting for me to turn back. 

Waiting for my anger to fade. 

Waiting for me to give him one more chance. 

One year, then two, then three. 

He waited until the bright, arrogant boy he used to be had become a man with shadows under his eyes, until he had 

learned to come to South Coast alone, stand in the rain alone, 

and stare up at my window alone. 

When I was young, I waited for him. 

When he grew up, he waited for me. 

We were both waiting for someone who would never turn 

back. 

Waiting was a private collapse no one else could see. 

No matter how far we ran, neither of us could outrun our own 

obsession. 

I picked up my phone and typed two words. 

[Stop waiting.] 

Then I hit send. 

It was the first reply he had received from me after all those 

years. 

It was also the last. 

The moment I sent it, I suddenly remembered something Grandpa once said. 

Once the rain in your heart has stopped, don’t turn back for the umbrella anymore. 

I closed the window.