on the next spring | ✓

4

Like Strangers Do - AJ Mitchell

It was spring in 1997

It had been three weeks since I last skipped school. I guessed I started making friends. I started learning to accept and adapt with the school's environment, even though it had been four years since I started high school. It felt weird to be in school for a full seven hours. It was neither particularly comfortable nor nice, but I just got the hang of it. By that I mean I could cope with it, even though I still had the urge to fly away from here.

There was a reason. There was a whole story about why I didn't skip school anymore. And that was just because I didn't have anyone to do that with me. Yes, I didn't keep any contact with her. Since last summer, I didn't talk to or see her. We didn't have each other's contact, so meeting outside school wasn't an option either. 

I tried skipping school on my own, but for a reason, I regretted it. It felt weird, it felt even worse than being in school. I was alone. I was sitting in a convenience store, a place I'd die for, but I was silent all of the time. I zoned out and checked my watch profusely, waiting for the time to go home. It didn't feel the same. 

And so I'd rather stay in school. I'd just sleep when the teacher started teaching, that wasn't a big of a deal. I guessed since I had never stayed alone while skipping class, it felt weird to do so now. I guess I need to -

Find her again.

+++

It was raining. I pulled up my hood, covering my head from the droplets of the cold fluids. For some reason, I love walking in rain. There weren't many people around, as they were scared of these tiny drops staining their skins. I couldn't hear anything, not even my thoughts. For some reason, that was what I love the most about rain. 

I strolled down the street, I didn't know where to go. This was the second time I had ever skipping class alone. And that was just because I was sick of studying history early in the morning for two hours straight. The weather was perfect to carry out my plan. It was easier to get away in the rain. One couldn't recognize me amidst the blurry vision. And the fact that the road was slippery, it wasn't easy to chase after me. 

I walked past a game arcade. I would love to hang out there, never been in one. But I figured that it'll be no fun. Even if I actually won a game, I would just keep it to myself, because who to cheer and brag to? 

I didn't know what I was doing alone when my eyes suddenly caught a figure, without an umbrella, walking on the opposite road as mine. The figure was wrapped in a school uniform and white cardigan. It was small and its' head faced down on the road. I watched as its shoulder flinched several times, and when I got to comprehend what it was doing, it was crying. I supposed it was a 'she'. I didn't know why, but I was too invested in her expression. And so I stopped walking, sticking my hands in my pant's pocket and observed the girl as she walked slowly, weakly and vulnerably facing down. 

That was then when I realized that it was her. The girl I spent four years hanging out with. The girl I hadn't met for like three weeks, and the girl I thought went missing for a while. She was there walking slowly, with tears running down her face, though I wasn't sure was it tears or the rain itself. 

As my feet unconsciously took a step forward, she crouched down on the road. As if a heavy force were dropped on her. She hid her face in her tiny hand. Seconds after, I heard her voice screaming as loud as ever. I heard her sobbing from afar, I heard her crying her heart out, and all I could do was observing her. My mind urged me to go near her, but my leg was stiff, it didn't move an inch.

My chest, somehow, felt like it was gripped away from its actual region. I never saw her crying. I never even saw her getting hurt. But that was the most genuine cry I've ever heard, to the point that I didn't even know what to do. The heartfelt cry made its way towards me, that I started to feel weak and vulnerable. 

And so I just watched her crying, pouring her heart out. I'd listen to it. I had never really listened to her, but now in particular, I would.