“I promise, I really do,” she said.
“I know, and I won’t put my phone down from the minute I’m released to the minute you can get back on a computer.”
“I’m going to miss you so much,” she said, holding back tears.
“I know, and I’ll never forget you, Ali.” This was the hard part, or so I figured. I guess knowing what would come for both of us was even harder. She would move, and make new friends in her new queer Pennsylvania town. I would stay here, in Kings Park, and wonder about her. In a few years, most of us wouldn’t remember her. But I knew a few lives that would remain under her everlasting effect for the rest of their lives.
She pulled away from the hug and looked at me, her eyes wet. “I'm sorry I have to leave now.” That was it, and we both knew why.
There was a shout from down the hallway then, waiting for her. Will, Anthony and I watched her as she gathered all her things and said the words that we would last remember her by.
“I love you all, all in your own ways. And I solemnly swear never to forget you guys. Never, for as long as I live.” She began to walk down the hall, and then stopped to turn around. “Remember,” she said, her bottom lip spazzing so much I thought it would tear loose. “I love you guys.”
That was the last any of us ever saw of Allison Burkley. And it wasn’t far from the end of what the rest of the world would remember her by, either