The return of the three boys was particular.
All three passed the exam without problems, but once they got out of there Elia and Lorenzo felt … weird. Different. They looked around like newborn babies, as if everything around them was new; Samuel, on the other hand was gloomy and much quieter than usual.
The return journey was silent for everyone though. Elia stood with his head down, thoughtful; Lorenzo looked constantly at his hands with a slightly confused look; Samuel looked at the window, concentrating on the sky.
Nobody said anything. All of them were lost in their thoughts.
<<By the way … I think I passed. >> Elia announced when the car was parking <<You?>>
<<Me too.>> was the response of both.
Once they returned, the director told them that they would soon be leaving for the DSC, probably within two weeks.
In the orphanage there was a great farewell party for both Lorenzo and Samuel, and although few remembered Elia they decided to salut him too in that festive way, especially after the last month he spent with them.
But everyone noticed that those three had changed after the exam. Lorenzo and Elia were much more attentive to details, much more picky than usual, much tidier than usual, and much more … whiny.
Elia had begun to complain about many things, from the almost imperceptible dirt on the inlet of the doors to the fact that many of the boys walked in a desynchronized way; Lorenzo also seemed bothered by many more things than before, but he kept his considerations to himself.
It wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened anyway. Everyone who passed the DSC’s entrance exam said they felt different after passing it.
When the day of departure arrived, Samuel Elia and Lorenzo had “got used” to their new situation, and were ready to leave for this new and unexpected adventure.
Lorenzo looked at his friends with almost shining eyes, especially those he saw growing or with whom he grew up and miraculously avoided adoption, and he hugged them one by one because he knew that most likely he would never see them again.
Elia also greeted them with bitterness. In that month and a half spent there he made new friends and also reconnected with his old love rival, Giacomo. He told everyone that he would come back to greet them after the five years of DSC study, but deep in his heart he knew he wouldn’t. He knew he wouldn’t coming back.
When the car that would take them to the study center came to pick them up, Elia greeted the others and Simone with an “see you again”.
But we know that fate was very cruel to them.
That was a “goodbye”.