An Endless Date

Epilogue

*10 Years Later*

Crowd applauded. I am in the studio of the news channel called 'Daily Prime.' They invited me to be the guest for one episode of their show to interview me on behalf of the success of my recent hit anthology.

"Well said, William. Being a young poet, what you have achieved is incredible. As we head to end our interview. Here's some news." Said the interviewer and paused

The crowd fell silent. I looked at the audience where my mom, and dad sitting in the front row, and my brother Max and Sophie with my nephew sitting in the next row. They invited them as well cause as they going to announce something but I have no idea what it is.

The interviewer showed me and said "Ladies and gentlemen. I am happy to announce the winner of the Bollingen Prize for Poetry for the year, Mr. William Rivers."

Everyone in the studio stood up from their seat and cheered. My mom started crying. I knelt my head down for a second and felt 'I did it' and stood up to thank everyone. As everyone settled down, the interviewer stood beside me and asked;

"Congratulations Mr. Rivers. You are going to be one of the youngest to receive this award next month in the New York city center. As the last question for the day, what do you think of poetry we would like to know the backstory of your famous poem till day -Never Will I Be Her's-"

I moved a little toward the center of the stage. I know how they end their show. I used to watch these interviews at home on Sundays and they told me before the show starts to answer the last question by being at the center of the stage. The other lights in the room got dim, a spotlight is on me. The strong lights hurt my eyes for a moment. My eyes fluttered. I gathered my words as I spoke;

"Poetry. It evokes a specific emotional response towards the words that are strung with meaning and rhyming. I still remember reading the poems that are in my father's diary. Like me, he also has poetry. Maybe like him, I am. As I said, I started writing poems vaguely when I was 13 but it only became serious when an important incident happened in my life. The back story of that poem is it. It's her. Annabelle."

I closed my eyes, the memories flooded, and my legs trembled. I took a breath and continued;

"After getting apart from her by destiny, words became my only way to give out that pain. The pain, utter happiness, depression, and anxiety. All these are the sources of art and the art they do, painting, music, and writing is the medium they talk with. Poetry and novels became my language. I named it one of my poems, AN ENDLESS DATE. Yeah, it may seem lame, but I never got to finish that date I asked her on. I never got a no; I never got a yes. I've been on that endless date with her since then. Some stories are never meant to have a happy ending and some stories are never destined to end. That's my story, it will never end and it will never move. It is endless. Like a little infinity. Like poetry. As poetry is prisoned by the poets, poets are prisoners of poetry at the same time. As I am of hers. Here are a few lines from my poem as I finish;

Is it too late to apologize,
for all the things I've done,
Out of my sorrow ness.

Is this the intertwined fate,
showing me the love's unpleasantness.

Here I am, at two AM,
writing the words that will never reach her,
to the girl I loved,
to her, whom I lost,
Her, Never Will I Be Her's.

Thank you, everyone."

As I finished my speech. Everyone applauded. To my surprise, Max is crying.

***

I came backstage. My family has already reached home. I am asked to stay back as they are some people who want to meet me. I signed some books and met some big people as they congratulate me on my prize. I sat in the makeup room, drinking a glass of wine. I took the phone out. Text from Lucas said; 'WAY TO GO MF. WINKIE.' I laughed at it and scrolled through my next meeting's schedule. Somebody knocked at my door.

A girl of my age is standing at the door as I opened it. She asked if she can talk with me for some time. I let her in. As we spoke, I realized it was Meghan from school. Of course, Anna's friend and Ben's crush. I hoped she have any details about Anna, but she didn't hear from her since then too.

"Well, the thing is I want a little favor from you. I joined this magazine a few months ago, I need to know your story, so we can feature you next week. Do you have some time?" asked Meghan

"Of course. Shall we?" I said and put aside my wine glass

She took out a tape recorder and said "Don't be surprised, it's old fashioned but I have good luck with this" and added "yeah, one more thing when you quote a sentence, let it be in first person and like a story. It helps in making more attractive phrases. Like directly from the person you know..."

I said interrupting her "Yeah, got it. I am a writer remember, totally can do that."

"Perfect," she said and started the tape recorder

Here I go again. Narrating my story one more time. Narrating how I reached here, and how my date never ended;

"My name is William Rivers. This is my story..."

*The End.*