Echoes of the Past

Chapter 3: Cristina

"Echoes of the Past"

Chapter 3: "Cristina"

He turned around at the painfully familiar words spoken by a voice so familiar to him. Was it really her..?

— Ronnie-Anne? — he asked, not quite realizing what had happened.

— How are you doing? — Ronnie-Anne answered in the same cocky voice she'd had since they first met. But when he came closer, and then, recognizing his childhood friend, ran straight to her, she, like him, was moved to tears.

— Ronnie-Anne! Come here! — he said and hugged her tightly, still not believing his ears, his eyes, and even his consciousness, — But how did you find me here..?

— Lori, — she answered him, slightly calmed down, — She told me once where you people had moved to, and I decided to surprise you like this, without seeing how far away this place might be. So, how's it going?

— It's good. Let's drop at my place so we don't have to stand in the cold!

— Let's go. Why, did you get away from your folks already?

— Yes. To be more precise, it was them leaving me, — Lincoln answered, smiling, — they went to Toronto, because they couldn't stand the local harsh climate. Lucy is the oldest now, and the other sisters are not so young anymore. I remember well when...

— Well, we'll talk about nostalgia later. Let's go now, or else I'll catch the cold! — She interrupted him and took him under her arm and quickly walked in some unknown direction.

Yeah, there she is, good old Ronnie, Lincoln thought. There was still that brutal bully part of her that had terrorized him more than once and more than twice at school in elementary school. Then it turned out that she was just showing her feelings for him in a non-trivial way, with all her pranks and jokes. Her feelings never went away, by the way.

— Where are we going? — Lincoln asked, when they had walked a few meters.

— Really, where are we going! — Ronnie-Anne said mockingly and stopped, — You live here, so show us where we're going!

Soon they reached a residential neighborhood and then the apartment building where Lincoln was living for the second year of his three years of schooling. Why three and not four, and how that happened will be told later, in another story.

Once inside the building, they met Lincoln's building-neighbor who was studying in the same university with him. After saying hello to him and introducing his childhood friend, they then walked up the stairs to the fourth floor.

— Come on in and make yourself at home, — Lincoln said as he let Ronnie come in.

— Come on, I'm only here for a couple days. I have nothing to do in such a cold! — she joked as she went inside.

He turned on the light and helped her take off her jacket. She walked down a small corridor to Lincoln's room and looked around. The room was a spacious living room. Next to the wall on the left side was the couch he slept on, and above the couch hung a large family painting he had brought with him from Royal Woods. In the corner was a huge closet with his belongings, clothes and bedding inside.

On the right side, however, was an empty desk. In the evening, after studying, it was where Lincoln had his laptop, where he worked on his projects, as well as his term papers. The big window's curtains had been open since morning, and Lincoln had to curtain the window back so that people on streets wouldn't see what was happening inside.

With a whistle of surprise, Ronnie-Anne said:

— You've got yourself a nice place! I'm jealous, — her stomach suddenly rumbled, — Listen, do you have anything to eat?