A Dream

Wednesday morning. Ever so peaceful.

He left us that day, never to come again. Of course, only three of us knew. The rest of the world moved on while the three of us had our minute of silence.

It just happened too quickly for words. Before anyone had the chance to comment on anything the world came rushing at them again. The right words never came out because the right time disappeared so quickly.

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I saw Jack at the rooftop, staring out at the fields, the road coming in and the cars and students all lined up like little ants in their designated paths. Staring.

"Hey Jack," I asked.

"Yeah, Herr?" he replied. I couldn't continue. I didn't know what to ask.

"Let's go," he said, "assembly's staring in a few minutes."

"...yeah."

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"Y'know, Herr, John hasn't been coming to school lately, has he?" Daryl asked me. We were walking down towards the canteen.

"Yeah, guess he hasn't. Wonder what's up with that, huh," I replied. Why did you have to ask me such questions when I couldn't answer them?

Down the staircase, we saw a girl sitting on the benches, all by herself.

"Hey, that's her, isn't it? The girl that John liked. Qing; that's her name, wasn't it?" Daryl headed over. I trailed behind him.

"Hey, Qing." he said.

"Hey there, both of you." she looked at me for a short moment, looking into my eyes, searching for something, something that might have or might not have been there. Then she immediately looked back at Daryl and smiled.

"Hey Qing, where's your Johnny? I thought he's always with you. Did he run off somewhere or something?" he laughed a bit. Qing smiled back at him.

"Perhaps he is. I don't know." she said, smiling. The best disguise anyone could have worn. You never knew what the smile was for - whether it was because she was happy or because she was sad or because she was hiding something. You almost always knew why someone looked sad or angry, but you never knew why someone looked happy.

"Haha, yeah maybe he is," Daryl said, laughing again, the carefree man he was. I nudged him a bit. "Anyway, we're going for recess, so catch you later, yeah?"

As Daryl turned his head around she stopped smiling. It served its purpose.

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I was walking back to class. Each step as loud as the other. Mechanical. Lifeless.

"Hey Herr!" I immediately turned around. Could it be? He said it the exact same way. It was Ginny.

"Oh, hey Ginny. What's up?" Right. He did speak a bit high.

"Could you help me out with my math later? I just can't seem to catch how you do Question 6."

"Sure thing, I've done my portfolio since monday, actually."

"Aaah. I should've asked Jack if I could go over and did my work with you guys too. All you smart people." she said, pouting that slight bit. "Anyway, thanks, gotta go now!" and went off.

Mechanical. Lifeless.

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The guitar at the back was playing. People were singing along.

"Go Johnny go go
Go Johnny go go
Go Johnny go go
Go Johnny go go
Johnny B. Goode"

I just kept silent throughout.

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Mom asked me one day.

"Hey, y'know Herr, there was this guy who kept crashing our house, right? Absolutely loved the cookies I made."

"Yeah. What about Johnny?"

"I kinda wish he'd come more often. There's still quite a bit of cookies around here and you and Gwin don't seem to eat them much."

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Jack was staring out at the world again. He did that more often now.

"Hey, Jack," I said.

"Hey, Herr." he replied, still staring out on the rooftop.

"Have you ever wished that this was all a dream?" I asked. "It all seems too unreal."

"And yet it is."

I went back. I wonder what he was thinking, staring out from the rooftop like that.

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(Not a real story, but kept as realistic as possible. In fact, completely false if anyone asks. So far the count is two.)