Graduation Day

This day had been coming for thirteen years for the seventy-five people sitting on the stage before their friends and family. They looked around at one another, each lost in memories of the good and bad things that had happened during their years together. Some didn't know each other very well, some only knew each other from the years of picking on others or even being picked on. Finally, however, it was over. Once and for all, it would be over.

Some would go on to college, more schooling, but it wouldn't be anything like the last thirteen years of close friendships. Everyone would promise to keep in touch, but they knew in the backs of their minds that they wouldn't. They knew that they didn't really care to, really. The couples knew that they wouldn't stay together, they knew that they would split up soon after the ceremony was over. Some would last the summer, some may even last into college, if they were in the same school, but for the most part, they knew that they would split.

At once, everyone came out of their revelry to listen to the speeches of their teachers and fellow classmates, now that the welcome and the blessing was done. They listened to the words of encouragement, of praise and even some comments on how they should not behave as they did in school when they find themselves in the real world. Once they had heard the last of the speeches, the were brought across the stage.

One by one, each name was read, each hand was shook, each diploma was given out until they were done. But were they ever really done? Did the lessons ever really end? Life is one big lesson, it all depends on whether we choose to learn them easily or not. Finally, seventy-four people across the stage, one left to go. One last name to read, one last hand to shake, one last diploma left to give and it was done. In the blink of an eye, their thirteen years of school was complete.

The last diploma had finally been handed out, the last speech given and they all stood around crying, knowing this was the last time they would stand together as classmates. They would all move on to the colleges of their choice, or the jobs they've been chosen for. Friends hugged, enemies got in one last parting barb, and finally everyone had headed off to their family parties, leaving nothing but a mess for the staff to clean up in their wake.

After thirteen years within the stark, sterile walls, they each said one final goodbye to the school they either loved or hated before moving on to their new lives. The parking lot empty of all the cars that had been there mere moments ago as one lone man stood on the sidewalk, a tear sliding down his cheek as he realized that the students he had seen from their first day of school thirteen years earlier were gone.

He turned and headed back into the building, picking up his broom to sweep up the mess of what had become his kids one more time. He looked at the now empty stage, saddened at the feeling of emptiness he felt, but he knew that it wouldn't last long. Each year brought a new class of students into kindergarten and a new class into high school and he would come to know them all, just like he had for the last thirty years that he was employed by the district.

He sat there in the chair, watching the stage, remembering all of the faces that had crossed it, both today and in years gone by, he couldn't help but smile when he realized that even if they would forget each other, they would always remember him. He made sure of that. He knew them, their names, their birthdays, their boyfriends, girlfriends, partners, interests, things that you wouldn't expect a simple janitor to know, or care about really, but he did. He always cared about his kids and nothing could ever change that.

He cleaned up the rest of the auditorium in silence, proud of his kids, proud that they had managed to survive their classes, to survive their tests and to make it into the real word. He was also incredibly proud of them for the scene he saw after the ceremony, the group that lingered and stood around just crying because they knew that this was the last time...