The Farewell

The last slice of cake leans and eventually falls to the plate beneath it. Small mounds of icing outline the rectangular sweetness that once was. Well at least the streamer above the kitchen entrance is still there. “Wishing you all the best” it reads. Yet I wonder if it’s really true. I think it’s a funny thing to say to someone being evicted. I look around at the small four rooms of the complex and wonder how many people actually wish me well. I’m leaving, leaving them empty, and absent a tenant. How many people would actually appreciate that and “wish me well?”

The cliche “being fired” white box lay on the sofa of the communal area awaiting my personal effects. Each item holds a memory of my time here. Each item is one item I’d rather not like to have as a reminder. Call me sentimental or what have you, but it’s just painful reminders of what’s being lost. So as you can imagine the box is slow to fill as the years spent here fill my mind. Seven years I've called this place home and the movers have the truck all packed. I couldn’t bring myself to box this stuff just yet, but now there’s no time left.

“Knock! Knock!” Gerald says, as he always does without actually knocking on a door. He’s wearing the biggest smile and still has crumbs of cake on the corners of his lips. “Well you know I hate to see you go big guy. I just wanted to give you a little something.” He pulls a small blue gift bag from behind his back and places it on the coffee table. “Oh, uh thank you Gerald, you really didn’t have to get me anything.” I say with a half hearted smile. He was always more of an annoyance than an roommate, but tolerable nonetheless. Gerald stares eagerly awaiting me to open his gift that I had no intention of doing. But I humor him all the same and pull the small gift from the bag. It's a small white mug that reads “This place won’t be the same witho_t” It carries his general lame sense of humor and I’m not terribly surprised. He chuckles loudly and I indulge him one last time with a few fake laughs. “Did you see that the U is missing?” He asks. “Yes I saw it, and boy let me tell ya I’m really gonna miss your sense of humor.” A lie I think he will accept in good faith. Now there’s an awkward silence between us where I’m waiting on him to leave and he’s waiting on me to say more. “Thank you again for the mug.” I say as I add it to the box with my other belongings. “Oh, yea, of course.” He says taking the hint and excusing himself from the common area. The silence is short lived however as Jackson is next in line to say his goodbyes.

“So you’re finally leaving us.” He says. “I have to admit I never really liked you when you first got here and I still kinda don’t now that you’re leaving… Moving on up to the top floor huh?” He says with a smirk standing in the doorway. “Hello Jackson” I say condescendingly “But yes I’m going up there.”

“Well it’s about time…” He replies peeking into the box on the sofa. He picks up a small picture frame inside it and tosses it aside. He has taken the liberty of removing my name from the chore wall and removed my name tags from the fridge without any subtlety. He’s gone so far as to add my eviction notice to the side of the box. I largely ignore him, he was never a friendly face around here. His voice was always thick with a deep resentment for me in particular, but he was the first one here so respect was due. Makes me wonder how much cake he had at the party to commemorate my exit. With him it would definitely be easy to tell if the party was a celebration or sorrowful acknowledgement. It doesn’t really matter, some small part of me will be happy to be away from him, the rest of me will miss him. “Oh yea before I forget I’m gonna need your access key card.” His hand is stretched out and looks like his fingers are just itching to snatch it from my pocket. I spare him the pleasure and quickly toss it over to him. He snatches the thing from the sky like an outfielder catching what should have been a homerun ball. “Well take care of yourself I guess…” He says walking away while casually waving his hand goodbye. “Fucking cunt.” I utter to myself as soon as he’s out of earshot.

The box receives its last item. A small scrapbook of my years around the office. I thumb through the book that was once lost upon the bookshelf and get sentimental at some of the memories that lay within its pages. Inside there is a copy of my contract and move-in date. There’s also an original picture of all of us. We looked so happy then, so young, so innocent. It’s hard to believe that all that is over now, and now I’m jealous of my future replacement. How long will it be before they’re all smiling like this again? How long will it take til there’s another photo in my place? I guess it can’t be helped, somebody has to fill the vacancy.

Gathering the box into my arms, it’s amazing how light 7 years of my life can feel. I take one last look around the home and say my final farewells to the place I once knew and turn off the lights. “Ya got all your things?” a familiar voice asks. It’s Roberto, the sweetest guy I’ve ever met. He walks over and engulfs me in his big muscular arms. His hug is intense and I melt into his flesh. “I really wish things were different Malcolm, but ya know-”

“Yes Roberto I know… do you think I can ever come back?”

“Oh I would doubt it my friend.” he says softly. The thought of losing it all finally hits homes. The tears come without warning. I choke on my tears as I struggle to breathe between sobs. “What have I done?” I yelp. My body shudders at the thought of never being able to return. Roberto is quick with a back rub and kind words. “I mean let’s not say never but being evicted from a woman’s heart is tough. I mean Gerald is still here because he’s an old teacher, she had a crush on. Well you know Jackson is her first love. I’m just the crush she’s too afraid to talk to you but you. You were her boyfriend, and you really fucked this up.” His words are hard to accept but they are true. The space between us is now filled with a sadness thick enough to spread on toast. The tears resume and a deep pain erupts from my chest. As expected, typical Roberto tries his best to change the mood. “But I mean just because you’re being removed from the heart, going up to the brain isn’t so bad. At least you’ll still be remembered, you won’t be like uhh what’s his name?” He says with a touching smile. His words are warm and heartfelt and I can feel the affection in his tone. I know he means well, but we both know the truth. When a person is evicted from the heart, they exist only in their mind’s memories and then soon not at all. I take my box under my arm and make my way to the door. “Malcolm” I say just to remind this four bedroom house that I was here, before I’m turned into “What’s his name?”

-End