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Seeing her, she seemed to be everything he had ever wanted.
Jane Doe, its what the coronel said. But to Ricky she was much more than just a label. To Ricky she was much more, for he knew she was there when he rode that roller coaster. It felt like he had known her all his life – even tho they only could talk properly with eachother in the afterlife.
“Can Savannah have the greenest eyes?” She asked, in a way that made Ricky's heart flutter.
It was strange. He had never felt so nervous, or shocked in someone's presence. But as he sit in front of her, looking into her black void eyes, he felt he could see much further into them than a simple doll.
“Sure” he muttered.
“Savannah, with the greenest eyes” she spoke again, staring at a fixed point in the void.
There was a short silence. It seemed like the others didn't exist for a second, because Ricky could only see her. Curiosity gnawed at him as he wanted to know more. He wanted to know everything about her, he wished he could spend the rest of eternity with her company, for she brought him more warmth than any person ever did.
“Savannah likes you, Ricky.” she said suddenly. Ricky's eyes lit up with surprise as he tried to process what he had just heard. “You're nice.”
Ricky let out a nervous chuckle under his breath.
“I like Savannah, too” he replied. “I also think she's really nice.”
And for the first time, he could see what appeared to be a smile peeking through the girl's lips. Jane Doe was her name there, but now more than ever he was seeing Savannah. That little smile she gave him seemed genuine, as if she had finally found a spark that gave a small part of herself back.
“Thank you, Ricky.” she uttered, with an ethereal calm on her voice.
Ricky didn't know why she was thanking him exactly, but he wouldn't dare to even worry about it. All that mattered was that it came from her.
They both knew what was coming next. Silence fell between the two as they listened to the distant voices of the rest of the choir not caring enough to pay attention to them. They would never be able to say it out loud, but something was clear. They loved eachother, in a way not only friends would do.
Ricky then spoke, once again.
“Maybe in another life”, he muttered.
And although she looked confused at that proposal, she kept quiet.
Penny Lamb, that was her real name.
Hearing Karnak say it was like a cold breeze that brought back his few memories of her; he hadn't had any chance to talk to her much, but he remembered her. Potts remembered her as the prettiest girl he had ever seen.
And now more than ever, he hated those memories. Because it only meant he would miss her even more.
The final vote was made, and it was the girl with whom he had wished to spend eternity that had to go. She had dug into his soul, had filled a void that not even he knew existed. But now that she was chosen to survive the accident, he felt that void grow more than ever. He felt like loosing a part of him.
She stopped for a second and caught Ricky's attention. A gentle but nostalgic smile was drawn on her face, and to everyone's attentive stares, she softly spoke;
“Maybe.”
Then she turned around to lost herself in the distant sunshine light.
A deep sensation of fear came over him as he watched her disappear. He felt his legs tremble. His breath hitched for a few seconds as Penny's face flashed through his mind over and over again; He had remembered her again only to lose her completely.
It felt like a pile of sand slipping through his hands as he tried to hold it back, but the fall was inevitable. It was something obvious, something that was meant to be since the beginning.
But, she would live.
That was all that mattered for him.
And even though it hurt like hell, Ricky could only confine himself to containing his tears and watch the life of his much-loved Savannah flash before his eyes, thinking about what things would have been different if he could have been with her. If he had been alive.
Would she think of him? Would she even remember him? He couldn't know. He could never know.
Seeing her, she seemed to be everything he had ever wanted.
Perhaps, in another life, he could have been everything she wanted.