Every Rainbow Has an End

Derek was sipping his iced lemon tea while waiting for Claire. Claire was his best friend and if he did not meet her at the end of the day in the café for tea the day seemed incomplete. He could see Claire was walking towards him. Messy hair and tired face but cute as usual.

“Such a tiring day! I want to go back home and sleep Derek”.

“I can see that. Maybe you should finish your assignment before dozing off”.

A handsome guy walked pass their table and Claire just continued looking at her coffee. Derek teased her “Don’t tell me you did not see him. Give it a shot maybe?”

“I don’t think so Derek. Look at him. So perfect and here I am like a potato”.

“HA HA! I think your eyes are pretty. Like really beautiful”.

Claire smirked at him and the giggled and enjoyed the evening.

The semester went on and nothing changed between them. Going for classes regularly. No matter how busy they were, they would definitely meet each other for lunch and tea time.

One day, Derek waited for 2 hours for Claire to show up for tea time. But she did not come. He was exhausted trying for her number.

The next day, she appeared during lunch. Looking slightly prettier than normal. She appeared so maybe because she missed him.

“I am so sorry Derek. I could not meet you yesterday for tea and my phone was dead”.

“Where were you?”

“Derek, I really wanted to tell you but I was too shy. But I can’t keep it for long. I found someone. I am dating him now for two weeks. I can’t miss evening dates with him. So, I will have to sometimes skip our usual meetings to be with him”.

Derek nodded. His best friend has stepped into another phase of life. He was genuinely happy for her. Their meeting became lesser as the day passed by. She started skipping classes and some days she would not come to college at all. Then Derek realized that he missed her so much.

Suddenly, Claire joined him for tea. She wasn’t the Claire that he used to know. She was pale and haggard. So much thinner than he used to know. She sat beside him and held his hand.

“Derek, I have a confession to make”.

“Go ahead Claire”.

“I won’t be coming to college anymore.”

“Why Claire?”

“All this while I told you I was out with my boyfriend. Everything is a lie. I was diagnosed with blood cancer few months ago. I did not want you to know.”

“How could you hide this from me???”

“I did not want anyone looking at me in a pitiful way and treat me specially. I wanted to be normal”.

“What is wrong if I treat you special?”

“I don’t want anyone to do that to me! Especially you Derek!”

She left the café. Derek was left with emptiness in himself. He didn’t expect that to happen. First, she stopped college. After that she had to remain bed rested in the hospital. She was sleeping a lot. Whenever she was awake she would write letter to Derek and keep it on the shelf. He would visit her daily and reply her letters.

As days passed on, chemotherapy was of no help for her. She was dying. He could say that by looking at her. One evening, she took out the hospital tag that she was wearing around her wrist and gave it to him. She told him to keep it in their Pandora box.

Derek got up that morning and dressed himself in a black tuxedo and grey tie. He parked his car and walked down the street carrying the box. As he entered Claire’s house, he saw her parents were sobbing silently.

He looked into the coffin. There she was. Lying peacefully. Eyes tight closed, pale make up and a calm face. He was very frustrated because he could not see her pretty eyes anymore. He placed a daisy in her hands and bent down to kiss her forehead, there and then he realized how much he was in love with her and it was all too late to let her know that.