Towards Life!

She had flowing hair, sometimes plaited tightly into a pony. She wasn’t particularly athletic, just graceful and elegant. She was your sell-your-first-born combined with your drop-dead kind of gorgeous; the kind that is illegal in most parts of the world.

She was the kind of girl everybody would love, if they could spend like five seconds with her. Unfortunately, no one ever did.

We were friends.

True... our public appearances were filled with fake laughs and I-don't-understand-what-you-are-saying-but-I-will-just-nod-my-head kind of gestures. But what we shared in private was much more meaningful than that.

We exchanged insightful little notes.

‘I can’t play outside because I get all sweaty and red in the heat.’

‘I ran the distance from your gate to ours in ten seconds.’

You get the picture.

And yeah, I was ten.

*

I was in mid-air; hands outstretched, eyes focused, and lips curled. I latched on to the ball with all my might and hit the ground with a loud thud. I lifted my hand, my fingers closed tight on the ball, and waved to the small crowd that had gathered to watch the event. I was elated.

“Wow! That was charming!” she said.

The world came to a stand still.

She was standing two centimeters away from me, firing successive rounds of her charming smiles, without mercy.

“Oh!!!!” I said.

“So how have you been?” she said, slanting her head to one side.

“Well... I have been good... and I must say you did a great job growing up!”

“Yeah... I tried my best,” she said, “But I have always missed you. You know, I still have the note you gave me when we vacated our old house. Those were good times... really!”

“You still have that note?” I said, in disbelief. “I thought I was just a forgotten memory”

“Oh, you are more than just a memory!”

And then she smiled, again.

God.

Help.

Me.

*

And so, certain things don’t end with a note and a void.

That’s kind of neat.

*