16. Last Days Of August (1/2)

chapter xvi

hester didn't sleep well that night. when she woke up she had dark circles underneath her eyes from all the thinking and imagining she went through during the night, the last night before she, her

others and their parents were supposed to go back to toronto and just three days before hester and her

others were meant to go back to school there too.

hester started

ushing her hair in front of the mirror while she was looking outside the window with her melancholy eyes of a hazel colour. the sun shone straight upon her bare feet and was filling her bedroom with its warmth. she was thinking about all the happy moments she spent in that small bedroom of hers, how she composed her first composition there, how she and her friends laughed together there and her eyes filled with a sudden wave of warm tears which she quickly blinked away. she did promise herself that the tears would not be shed just yet.

it was the day of farewells with her family and friends, with the house of dreams and with the ocean as well. hester already went through the farewell with her cello teacher, miss posy, who hugged her tightly and said that she had never seen such a young person with such incredible talent and that she wishes her well and if she would somehow return to the island she would be more than happy to teach her again. miss posy's speech made hester tearful of course but she felt very proud of herself at that moment too.

rilla and ken already prepared the garden of the house of dreams with tables and snacks, pastries, and everything made deliciously by rilla, hester and una who visited the house of dreams a day before that too. gilly and selwyn already talked together on the varandah when hester stepped into the living room and she smiled lightly at the sight of two of them as she knew that she wouldn't be able to go back to toronto at all if it wasn't for her

others.

"sit next to us, sis." gil said cheerfully and put hester in his lap and allowed her to snuggle up in his chest as he put his arms around her protectively "cheer up, hes. it's not like everything will be changed." he smiled at her softly and hester smiled back at him, although with reluctantly.

"i know that not everything, gil, but most things will change." she replied and felt how gilly's arms around her tightened up.

selwyn's hand found its way to squeeze hester's own hand and the two of them shared a knowing understanding glance. gil remained silent but hester could hear how he sighed quietly, the kind of a sigh a person makes when he or she doesn't want to agree with someone outloud.

the silence between the siblings was

oken by the shoutings of lily who was running in front of her parents and her own siblings and in that moment hester's smile widened as she promised herself that this last day would be the happiest after all not only for her but for everyone else too.

their whole family has gathered, the douglas family came too, so did john and rosemary meredith with their daughter una who for the whole evening was talking with rilla who became an even closer friend of hers during the absence of ken. there were many evenings, when the children of rilla were either out "playing" with their friends or asleep upstairs and una was staying over for a night, when rilla's fears and doubts about many things connected with the future were said to una and were kept away for as long as una's kind words and solace were as a reply to them. this is why the two of them became even closer than before rilla came to glen a year earlier, and now their souls were connected forever.

everyone tried to act as if that one evening didn't mean anything and that it wouldn't change anything at all but even though everyone thought and felt that it wasn't true. when the sunset was getting close to an end and hester's little "group" finished their casual conversation which somehow mattered to them the most in that moment even though they were about whatnots really, hester's eyes filled with sudden and quite expected tears as she turned to vance, lily and marion sitting in front of her "you will write to me, girls, won't you?" she asked them pleadingly, her lower lip starting trembling.

surprisingly it was marion who threw her arms around hester's neck and cried into her ear first of all hester's friends "every day, dearest hester!" she gasped between sobs, dear marion who was always very sensitive to any changes. hester hugged her friend tightly and suddenly felt how vance put her arms around the two of them at the same time as lily put her arms too from the other side. they made such a bittersweet, lovely picture that everyone's hearts of those who looked at them in that very moment, melted and started to shake at the same time.

hester knew then, as if she could out run out the future, that she would always remember that small moment and it would always

ing her comfort of realisation that she in fact did have friends, something she didn't know she would ever have when she was in toronto, or at least not as close friends, the bosom kind, which she possessed in that very moment.

tears ran down not only hester's cheeks but all of her girls' cheeks as well, although they smiled

avely at each other as they released hester from their arms. that was when the moment for farewells came and it seemed that especially because of that feeling which could be felt clearly in the air around them, the clouds suddenly covered the sky and blocked out the sunshine entirely.

hester got a cold hand shake from jo, as a form of goodbye of course, and the last pull of her long