Turn the Page

“Turn the page,” Stephanie said, stirring me from my daydream stupor. Ironic. Like the pages of a book. I wished it was that easy to turn the page. To close a chapter. To move on. But life isn’t that simple. “Easy for you to say,” I replied, looking off into Aokigahara, or as the locals call it, Death Woods. I flew all the way to Japan so I could try to decide my fate in the woods that were infamous for death and suicide. I had a shitty life. Most of my family had died in a car accident a year ago, and the friends I did have, left. The last one that I had stood beside me. Stephanie had been my best friend for many years and walked with me through many difficult times. She joined me on the trip because of the pact. She disagreed with my decision to kill myself, then again, she wasn’t willing to live without me. She said she wouldn’t stop me, but if I was going, she was going too. “Till death do we part,” she said with a giggle sliding off the hood of the car where we were sitting. “This isn’t funny. You don’t have to do this. You shouldn’t do this. I would rather you live your life. Our pact was so long ago, and we were kids,” I said, looking back at her. She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “If you’re all-in, so am I. I’m not staying