While riding on the bus to the university today, I saw her again. She was wearing a blue long cardigan over a white v-neck tee, a style that she was fond of even then, many years ago. She seemed to have aged somewhat, and there was a hint of world-weariness in her eyes.
As she boarded the bus our eyes met and, for the slightest and yet longest of moments, stood locked for the first time in many years. Then she broke off our joined gaze, and tapped the card to pay her fare. For an imperceptible instant she seemed to hesitate, before perking up with a mustered smile and moving to occupy the bus seat beside me.
It was awkward at first, but we soon warmed up; and as we conversed, all those years of separation, of distance, seemed to melt away to nothingness. It wasn’t what we talked about, though reminiscing about our moments together was indeed nostalgic; it was the energy of the conversation, that youthful energy that we once had felt between us but then forgot, that seemed to slice past the fog of time and memory.
We didn’t notice how fast time had passed, not in our conversation, nor in our lives. Suddenly, she straightened her back and shot up her head, glancing outside the bus window.
“I’ll have to drop at the next station, I think,” she said with some tone of regret. I felt it too, for our time together was all too short compared to our time apart, which was all too long. Out of a small, tiny hope, I asked whether she would be taking the same route again tomorrow.
“No. I’m only using this as I’ve an errand to run. I don’t think I’ll be able to see you again like this,” she said before getting off the bus.
As I watched her back fade into the crowd, I thought about how similar this parting was to our last; in the end, after many years, we were once again parted by time and distance.
As she boarded the bus our eyes met and, for the slightest and yet longest of moments, stood locked for the first time in many years. Then she broke off our joined gaze, and tapped the card to pay her fare. For an imperceptible instant she seemed to hesitate, before perking up with a mustered smile and moving to occupy the bus seat beside me.
It was awkward at first, but we soon warmed up; and as we conversed, all those years of separation, of distance, seemed to melt away to nothingness. It wasn’t what we talked about, though reminiscing about our moments together was indeed nostalgic; it was the energy of the conversation, that youthful energy that we once had felt between us but then forgot, that seemed to slice past the fog of time and memory.
We didn’t notice how fast time had passed, not in our conversation, nor in our lives. Suddenly, she straightened her back and shot up her head, glancing outside the bus window.
“I’ll have to drop at the next station, I think,” she said with some tone of regret. I felt it too, for our time together was all too short compared to our time apart, which was all too long. Out of a small, tiny hope, I asked whether she would be taking the same route again tomorrow.
“No. I’m only using this as I’ve an errand to run. I don’t think I’ll be able to see you again like this,” she said before getting off the bus.
As I watched her back fade into the crowd, I thought about how similar this parting was to our last; in the end, after many years, we were once again parted by time and distance.
2 comments:
it's funny that we don't seem to follow intro, rising action, climax/problem, denouement story structure strictly anymore.
but this one works. It's believable. The ending, u might want to tweak it a bit, on two counts -
firstly, the charaters are not stricly seperated by time and distance
secondly, the ending is a tad cliched. It's not a bad ending, but if comments are meant as reviews, these would be my opinion.
It's an abridged version. I took out an entire chunk from the middle, which may have explained and connected things better.
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