by Aidan Sisk
~~~
The last month that Kira and Jim had together flew by. Before they knew it, four weeks had passed and it was now their last day together.
Not only had the time gone by so fast, but they had been difficult. Things just weren’t the same between Kira and Jim. With the tension of Kira’s decision constantly looming over them, it was difficult to enjoy each other and to act as though things were normal. They were far from normal.
Jim had made small efforts here and there over the weeks in the hopes that he might be able to convince Kira not to press restart, but as he had known since she told him she would be doing so, she was set on her decision of pressing restart. Her parents had agreed to care for her if she did in fact make the decision to press restart, so there was nothing standing in Kira’s way now. It was now just a matter of making it official before her time ran out.
For their last day together, Kira and Jim spent the time alone. Jim tried to savour every second he had with Kira, but time seemed to be going faster than usual that day.
Most of the day, Jim just stared at Kira. He had to remember her face. He wouldn’t see her for… well, he didn’t know how long it would be. Years? Maybe never again. It was a heartbreaking realization. Jim didn’t know how Kira could stand it.
“Do it, too,” she kept on telling him. But as set as she now was on pressing restart, Jim was just as set on not pressing restart when he turned eighteen in a month and a half.
“I want you to know that I love you,” Jim told Kira. They were back on the bench that they had sat on nearly a month earlier when Kira told Jim that she would be pressing restart.
“I love you, too,” Kira replied softly.
“And I’ll always remember you.”
“Will you come find me?”
“I wish I could.”
“Find me.”
“It might not be the same.”
“I want to know you again.”
“Then stay.”
Tears were welling in both Kira and Jim’s eyes. It seemed as though neither wanted what would soon happen to happen, but it would. Kira had only a couple of hours left before she would no longer be able to press restart. She was getting every possible minute with Jim, but she was out of time. She had to get home in order to press restart.
“I have to go,” Kira quietly told Jim, wiping a tear from her cheek.
“Please don’t,” Jim replied, reality striking him at full force, panic surging through his entire body. He was about to lose her. He had to do something. He had to stop her.
“I have to,” Kira said, resting her hand on Jim’s thigh.
“No, you don’t. Don’t leave me,” Jim begged.
“I’m sorry.”
“I can’t live without you.”
“Find me.”
“Don’t leave me,” Jim begged again before he was overcome with emotion. He suddenly broke down, every emotion he had tried to suppress releasing all at once. He began to sob, burying his face in his hands. He felt Kira wrap herself around him. She held him for several moments. His body shook as Kira’s warmth sunk into his body.
“I love you, Jim,” Kira said, her embrace releasing. The warmth quickly disappeared from Jim’s body.
“Please don’t do this,” Jim said through his tears, looking up at Kira. She had risen from the bench as she readied herself to leave.
“Tell me one last time,” Kira told him.
“Don’t.”
“Tell me.”
“I love you, Kira.”
Kira and Jim took a final look at one another before she turned and walked away, leaving Jim, heartbroken, alone on the bench, the orange glow from the sun slowly moving across the ground before him, setting as Jim’s time with Kira ended.
Fear had overtaken Kira, pushing her to make the decision to press restart. Meanwhile, Jim was already longing for the time that he had with Kira over the last two years as he watched her disappear from sight.
