Final Story - 003

"Hadn't you worked it out? I'm here to bring you back home, Alex."

So, that's what this was about. It's hard to know what Kayla's up to, but she's always up to something. It was strange to think that she would come down here just to check up on me. Of course, she wanted something more than that.

"Did my relatives ask you to do this?"

"No. I did talk to them, but they don't know where you are. I'm not going to make you go back to them. I get that you hated it there now. It's obvious because you never invited me over."

"Where would I stay then?"

"You could stay at mine. If that wouldn't make you too uncomfortable."

"I could… stay at yours?"

"Sure. Why not?"

If I didn't have to stay with those relatives of my father, could I go back?

No. I would be lying if I said I wasn't tempted, but I can't.

"Sorry, I can't do that, Kayla."

I'm not tempted because of her. Because of Kayla. I'm tempted… because of my father. When I went to see him on the moon, I proclaimed that I would defeat him. That I would end his dream of a world where he rules.

To do that will be difficult no matter what. In fact, it's probably impossible. But I would have a much better chance if I went back to Wellington. Because, at the moment, I don't have an identity. Not one that the world recognises, anyway. As far as any authority is concerned, Alexander Giovanna doesn't exist.

However, Alexander Acland does. Even if I'm not living with my relatives, if I returned to Wellington, it would be possible to reclaim that identity. With that, I can travel, I can go to university. It opens up so many paths for me, all of which could help me achieve that goal. But that won't work. Not for me.

"What do you mean, Alex?"

"I mean. I'm staying right here."

"What?" Kayla looked confused, "no, that can't be. I saw where you've been living. You can't possibly want to stay there. It's little more than a hole in the ground. You don't even have an identity."

"You're right. I live in… well a really crappy rental. I had a crappy job, but I don't even have that anymore. I'm so poor, that I barely save any money after rent and groceries. I'll probably never go to university, and I'll probably never leave the country."

"So why do you want to stay?"

"Because I wouldn't be the person that I want to be if I did. I have friends here too, a girl that I'm in love with. And even if it looks bad, I don't mind that rental, or the job that I had. That house is the first place in seven years that I've been comfortable calling my home; that job was the first job I ever got solely because of my own efforts."

"Is it because of Tayla? No girl is worth that much. I know that I sound like an old lady saying this, but your cutting off too many opportunities for yourself if you stay here. And besides… I don't have a boyfriend anymore."

I smile, "I know you don't mean that. I've never been anything more than a friend to you, and this isn't going to change that. Tayla isn't the reason that I don't want to leave. Well, of course she's part of the reason, but that isn't it."

"What is it, then?"

"I wouldn't be able to become the person I want to be if I came back to Wellington with you."

…

…

Kayla frowns, and huffs in frustration.

"I don't get it. What does that mean?"

"Like I said earlier, I can't really explain it that well."

She starts tapping her foot, "y'know, I really meant it when I said you wouldn't have to go back to your relatives. They don't know where we are right now."

"I know I believe you. It won't change my mind, though."

That's right. This is the place I need to be. This is where my path has taken me, and to go back to Wellington would be to turn around a take a step back. If I stopped being the person that I've been trying so desperately to become, it would all be meaningless. The last six months, but also the future too. What point would there be in beating my father, if I'm not the person who promised to beat him anymore?

It would lose all meaning.

No, I can't go back to Wellington. The only way for me to continue being happy with the person I am, is to continue forward. I can't turn around now.

"Well, that's just fine then. You should go, I need to finish packing."

"Kayla-"

"Go! Go back to your girlfriend."

She's clearly upset. It's obvious why she would be. We were friends for a long time. Close friends too. Even though she never loved me back, losing me was probably harder on her than anyone else back in Wellington. And she was the one person who probably could've convinced me to stay, if I'd told her what I was planning beforehand.

But that was then, and this is now. Things have changed.

"I'm sorry, Kayla."

…

I put my hands on her shoulders.

"This is the only way that I can be proud of who I am. I would hate myself for it if I went back to Wellington now."

"I just… never expected that you'd say no. I didn't even think how things might've changed. How you might've changed."

"I didn't change. I just stopped lying to myself."

"Doesn't that mean that you changed?"

"I'm still me Kayla, just… I can't go back with you."

I pull her into a hug. I half expect her to push me away, and keep arguing but she doesn't. I guess she's accepted that I'm not going to be coming back with her to Wellington. I mean, even if she had never expected me to have created a life for myself here, she couldn't have thought it would be that easy to convince me, right?

Well, no. Maybe it would've been that easy for her last August. When I was still in love with her.