She was accustomed to tears. This was hardly the first time
they had caressed her cheeks. But this time there was something different.
Something warm about them. They did not make her insides go icy cold like every
other time. They seemed to warm up her heart and as they dropped down
gracefully from the edge of her cheeks to the parched cement floor on a hot
summer’s day they cooled it down.
“Do….really …you….love…. me?” she choked through the
overflowing tears and more obviously through the overpowering emotions. The
‘really’ was one of hope, not realization of reality.
The words were hardly audible but no one needed to hear
them except the rather handsome lad standing barely two feet from her and
taller though he was, he heard the words as clear as crystal. The question
apparently did not merit an immediate answer for all he did was look over his shoulder.
He stared long and hard at the wall behind which that unknown guy had left him,
had egged him on to go alone from thereon. He hoped in the deep recesses of his
heart that he would appear as suddenly as before and tell him what to do but
there was no sign of him. After what seemed a long time to him – a time long
enough to have made the expected answer redundant perhaps -he looked back.
The time seemed to stretch to infinity to her and yet she
looked on , hope still reflected in her glassy eyes , hope still hanging in the
air as ominously as the last leaf hangs on before giving up in autumn.
The handsome lad sighed and looked at everything but the
eyes. It was nothing new to him. He was the one who had left without a word 5
years ago, without so much as a reason and here he was 5 years later facing a
question that he had answered so many times without really thinking. Something
told him, this time he couldn’t get away with that trick.
She had grown prettier. He decided to take his chances.
“Yeah… that’s why I came back”, he said staring at the top
of her head.
There was not a moment’s delay.
Like a thirsty soul seeing a mirage, like a hungry soul
hearing the melodious sound of raw ingredients being gently dropped into the
boiling oil, like a tired soul seeing a bed of thorns, her soul rushed at him locking
him in an embrace after what seemed like eternity.
He reciprocated by putting his hand on her hip and looking
over his shoulder. This time he couldn’t believe his luck. He wanted that
unknown guy to appear as suddenly as before and witness their joint victory.
That unknown guy however had no intention to come out from
behind the wall. For the tears on that side of the wall burned the insides and
set them on fire – a fire that would never be doused. He was not used to crying.
He was the one who took everything in life with a smile but the law of averages
had finally caught up. He hadn’t realized when he had slid down against the
wall. He got up from the cement floor. It was scalding hot anyway. He wiped his
tears and walked away trying to get the unseen conversation out of his head.
His ears were buzzing with repeats and the inside of his head vibrated
terribly.
His phone vibrated against his leg. He took it out and
punched in the password. He knew who had sent it and what it would say. He read
it anyway.
“He came back!!!! He came back!!! I <3 him soooooo much.
He said yeah too :D :D I wish you were here to see it all BFF !! God knows how
he found me here though :P :P guess its destiny !! ttyl“
He stared at the screen on the palm of his hand. He had a
lot to say. But he had a feeling that it won’t be heard like his “Yes, really”
hadn’t been from the other side of the wall. In her defence, he thought, I had
been crying and could barely be understood. He wanted to tell her everything. He
looked at the screen he was staring at. It had gone black. He saw the
silhouette of his face and swiped the screen. He had a lot to say.
Barely twenty feet away another cellphone vibrated against
another leg but this time a girl punched in her password and clicked on the
icon shaped like a little envelope.
It said “(y).”
He likes it , she thought and put the cellphone back.
Twenty feet away the tears were returning. Good guys are
meant to come last….well someone has to lose …. Especially if the competition
is from handsome guys. With this last thought and a heart seared by tears, the
BFF walked away Becoming Far Forever.
