My Perfect Stranger

CHAPTER 1

I remember it was Tuesday morning and my dad found me crying on my bed for I was too afraid to face what that day held. My dad sat beside me on the bed and gave me a tight good morning hug.

His hugs have always been so comforting. I was immensely in need of one right now.

He told me that there was nothing to be afraid of and he knew that I'd perform great. I got out of my bed, wore my jersey and set off to the football field.

I saw my parents cheering for me while I was playing like a lunatic on the field. My team was 5 points behind from our rival and I still blame that on myself because I was not able to defend their goals.

While playing I left the goal post to pass the ball to my team player. Which I obviously failed to kick hard enough and in the right direction. A player from the other team swooped the ball right off from wherever I had kicked it and made a goal. My team lost

It was a horrible day. Everybody blamed me for the match we lost and to be honest even I blamed myself. I got into my mother's car and she drove me home. My dad was not there with us in the car and I asked my mother where he went to which my mom replied 'I don't know' and that was the only conversation we had throughout our drive. When I got back home, I saw my father waiting for me at the doorstep with a bouquet of white and pink tulips in one hand and a blueberry cheesecake in the other. I teared up and ran to give my dad a tight hug. He knelt to my face and said, "You are only six years old my dear and I'm proud of you for what you did out there today. I've bought you a cake to celebrate your first failure because remember, failing in life is an important factor to achieve success. Make failure work in your favor and not against you and you'll achieve whatever you desire, my love." He kissed me on my cheek and said "After all Disneyland was not made in a day, right?" to which I chuckled because he knew how much I loved Disneyland.

This was the last happy memory I had with him until.....

"Hello ma'am?" I snapped back into reality when the waitress touched me on my shoulder.

"Yes, sorry. I'd like a blueberry cheesecake pastry please and a cappuccino." She noted down my order and walked back into the kitchen.

I still had no idea of what I was doing in Winchester and what I was going to do next. I was just there in Cliferry Café recalling my actions of running away from home, turning off my cell phone, renting an open roof car and driving all the way from London to Winchester. I felt like my actions would cause a lot of confusion and even fear in the minds of people who care about me. In order to avoid all that, I turned on my cell phone and texted my best friend. "Hello Christine, I'm in Winchester right now but I'll soon be moving to someplace else. I'm thinking of taking a solo trip and will be back in a few days. Please inform everyone that I'm fine and there is no reason to be worried. Goodbye. Love you." As soon as I sent her the message, she started typing and I turned off my phone again to avoid her emotional manipulation into asking me to return.

The waitress bought me my order and I again found myself missing my dad when I saw the blueberry cheesecake. I pulled out a crime novel from my bag and started reading it to avoid feeling sad. After about twenty minutes, I left the café and got into my car. I had no destination in my mind so I kept driving aimlessly. After driving for an hour, I was passing from a road covered with dense trees. The smell of the trees made me feel refreshed and replenished my brain with a feeling of delight. It had started to get dark and I was hoping to get out of there as soon as possible. I turned on the radio and 'Shake it off' by Taylor Swift started playing. I just loved Taylor Swift so I turned up the volume to max. Her music started working like a mental aid and like air to my lungs. The music was too loud to hear my own thoughts. The moment was just perfect. The sun was setting and the sky changed its blue color to different shades of pink and purple. The wind touching my skin felt like a touch from my mother. My hair was dancing with the wind and obviously there was Taylor Swift. The road was empty and I was driving at the speed of 60 km/hour. The wind touching my skin made me feel so alive what for a second, I closed my eyes to take it all in and then BOOMM!!!