THE END / LA FINE - fabrica

In the end the only thing that mattered was the journey.
The destination was as beautiful as expected, however it was
during the journey that secrets were revealed and honesty
made them different. Sometimes, it matters more to
remember what happened on the way to paradise rather
than your actual time in paradise.
“I will never be heartbroken again,” she announced.
It was a truly confessional warning. After all, they had
only been dating for a couple weeks before deciding to
drive cross-country and go to the beach together for the
first time. In the old white Volkswagen they were truly
discovering themselves.
“I cannot believe that, you are only 20 years old. You’ll be
heartbroken again. Probably, I won’t do it, I mean I’ll try not
to do it. But I’m sure it will happen.” He replied as he drove
across a small plateau in the mountain range, a place
where farmers take cows and sheep to be fed. The sound of
the music was muted by the struggling motor of the old car.
They had to be in paradise before 14:00 so that the
reservation would be respected.
“I can’t imagine any situation where I would be as
heartbroken as I was two years ago. You didn’t see me.”
“Yeah, but….”
“Yeah but nothing. I lost 10 kilos in 2 weeks, I was so
depressed. I couldn’t eat anything. I was inside my room all
day. I couldn’t wake up or go out. It was terrible. I promised
myself never to feel like that again.”
“How do you know, once you have felt something so
strong for a guy, you won’t be able to feel that ever again?”
“I never said that.”
“You did.”
The mountain range ended, and they started to go downhill.
The climate was about to change from the cold mountain
breeze to the warm tropical weather signaling the
I wIll
N eveR be
heARtbRokeN
AGAIN.
approaching beach. Paradise was closer. The music could be
heard now that the car was going down hill and the motor
was struggling less.
“Ok, let me explain myself better. I’ll never be heartbroken
like that. I will not let me hurt myself so much. I will not cry
and destroy my life for a guy. I’ll fall in love. Actually I am
falling in love, but it won’t be you nor any one else who’ll
break my heart like that again.”
He smiled at her and replied, “I’m not trying to. What did he
do? Why was it so bad?”
“He just told me that he didn’t love me. I gave him
everything and he just told me that it wasn’t what he wanted.
It was after a year of being together everyday. I was giving
him everything he wanted. The drinking girl, the sexy girl,
I was giving him everything, even doing his freaking
homework. I was weak and I fell in love and he destroyed
a world I had constructed around him. He left and then tried
to come back. I cried him out and I lost him with the 10 kilos.
After that I promised myself no more.”
“I guess it was really bad. I never liked that guy anyway.”
“He never liked you, but I like you and I like you a lot.”
As they drove through a small town, they stopped at
a convenience store. They bought some snacks and took
a couple of pictures. They removed their sweaters .
Coincidentally, they were wearing matching red t-shirts.
They laughed and kissed. They went to paradise and back.
After they broke up, both remembered the conversation in
the old white Volkswagen more than anything.
In fin dei conti il momento più importante era stato il viaggio.
La meta era stata all’altezza delle loro aspettative, ma fu
lungo il percorso che caddero i segreti. Fu la franchezza
con cui si confrontarono, a cambiare qualcosa. A volte quello
che conta è il percorso. Non la meta. Neanche se la meta
è il paradiso.
“Non voglio più soffrire,” aveva premesso lei. Un vero
e proprio avvertimento, in camera caritatis. Dopotutto erano
solo un paio di settimane che uscivano insieme. Avevano
deciso di attraversare il paese e arrivare al mare, per la
prima volta. E in quella vecchia Volkswagen cominciarono
a conoscersi per quelli che erano veramente.
“Non posso crederci, dai. Hai solo venti anni, è ovvio che
prima o poi qualcuno ti farà soffrire di nuovo. Non credo
sarò io, io cercherò di evitarlo in tutti i modi, ma prima o
poi qualcuno…” le disse lui mentre attraversavano un piccolo
altipiano tra i monti, dove i contadini portavano le mucche
e le pecore al pascolo. La macchina era vecchia e in salita,
il motore cantava più forte dell’autoradio. Dovevano essere
in paradiso prima delle due di pomeriggio o avrebbero perso
la prenotazione.
“Non riesco neanche ad immaginarmi di soffrire ancora
come due anni fa. Tu non ne hai idea.”
“Sì, ma…”
“Ma un cavolo. Ho perso dieci chili in due settimane, sono
stata malissimo. Non riuscivo neanche a mangiare. Passavo
le giornate chiusa nella mia stanza. Non riuscivo fisicamente
14/15