The Gazebo in the Backyard

At first there was darkness – then a flash of silver, followed by a flash of red. The screaming stopped. Everything went calm. And there was complete darkness again.

I sat up on my bed, panting. Cold sweat drained from every pore of my skin. My head was throbbing, my heart racing. I breathed gruffly, holding my chest.

There was darkness – then a twinkling flash of silver, and a gory river of red.

I slapped my face and tried to erase the nightmare. But the colors went back again – black, silver, red. I let out a short gasp then ran for the bathroom. I opened the shower, hoping the cold water would wash out the dream in my head.

“Get out! Leave me alone!” I said to no one in particular.

I slowly kneeled down to the floor, sobbing, while the water continued streaming down my clothes.

“Please leave me alone...” I whispered hopelessly in the bathroom, “It’s been 5 years!” I screamed, and a dead echo replied.

I stayed in a position like that for about a minute before I decided to close the shower and walk towards the mirror.

I glanced at my reflection. I haven’t shaved for a week now, and my beard was sprouting again. I looked like a drug addict with my red eyes. Why do I let the past hold me back from my present life? What’s happening to me?

I looked up, closed my eyes, and then bowed. I looked at myself in the mirror again. This time I saw a different me, the innocent me, five years ago. I looked away, and my eyes led me to the window, straight to where the gazebo in my backyard stood. And just like that, the memories I’ve been pushing behind my mind came rushing back to me in a mad race.

Fourth year high school, I was seventeen then. And like any other boy-next-door, girls went to me from all directions. But among all those hundreds, I only picked one – Adelaide. She wasn’t the flirty type. In fact, she rarely showed that she liked me. She showed me the exact opposite – she despised me to the very core of my bones.

One day I was walking with my bestfriend Lex in a quiet alley. He was talking about his girls, how they’re mad for him, how he plays along with them, how he makes them cry. He was an ultimate heartbreaker, and an incorrigible one at that. We were exact opposites. I don’t even know how I got along with him.

But while walking, I saw a dirty beggar on the other side of the road. But he wasn’t really the one who caught my attention, but the girl sitting next to him. There was a teenage girl with long brown curly locks and blue smiling eyes sitting on the road beside him. Adelaide. She was offering him food.

“Hey dude, what’s up?” I suddenly snapped back when Lex tapped my shoulder.

“Huh? Oh, well, nothing.” I said, and we continued walking.

Nothing? Funny, what I saw was just everything.

That was the first time I saw her. From then on, I watched her from a distance. Until one day, I got to talk to her, just the simple introductions. Her voice never left my mind. After that first move, I tried to go closer to her. That’s when she showed how much she despised me. She didn’t verbally tell me, but her words and actions implied every supposition.

“Hey, where’re you going?” I asked her one time when I met her in our school’s pathway.

“To the library.” She replied.

“Oh, can I come?”

Her eyes widened. “Are you honestly asking me if you can come with me?”