Each of them is given a dark robe to wear. A bulky chrysalis. Or a magician’s cape, behind which they are already changing.
The two sit down together. She remembers sleepovers at his house, and how later she could have talked to him on the phone all night.
Now he shouts too-loud jokes to friends, as if it’s not really the end. She clasps her hands, beginning to look away, to look ahead. Then it’s her turn to rise and walk to the podium. Suddenly light, expectant.
He holds on to her empty chair.
Her robe flutters around her, like wings.
Love it. I began to expect a final apocalypse, but it turned out as a metamorphosis. Nicely engineered in 101 words
Nicely written. You captured the passage perfectly.
Thanks for reading, Tom!
Good for her. Nice twist.
Thanks Susan!
Loved the use of the graduation robe as metaphor for her moving on. Well done!
Fantastic!