Where our paths cross

Arlo

The days in the hospital seemed to pass more and more slowly, and Arlo counted down the days until he could finally leave. He had to stay in the hospital for another three weeks to make sure his skull was healing correctly, and then he was finally allowed to go home. The only thing he looked forward to these days were the weekly walks in the woods nearby, and the hours he spent every day in the rehabilitation group. Nowadays they often made works of art to decorate the white hospital and the patients' rooms, but today something different was planned.

 "We have already gotten to know each other briefly during this period, but there is still a lot we don't know about each other. That is why we are going to have a chat today as a pair, where we get to know each other better, and we see each other as real people, and not as empty figures with only a name. The groups will be made randomly, so don't come complaining that you don't agree with the setup!" Everyone was given a random number, after which she said two random numbers, and those people would go into a group together.

Arlo was assigned the number twelve. It took a while before it was called, but after a while he heard his number. "Numbers twelve and eighteen are grouped together!" Arlo went looking for number eighteen. When he saw who it was, he tensed up. Number eighteen was none other than Malin... Arlo liked her, but he knew the feeling wasn't mutual. Despite that feeling, he remained hopeful. Maybe today would change that, who knows?

Arlo smiled nervously at Malin. To his great surprise, she did not look disapprovingly, but smiled at him. "Hey!" she said from across the room. Arlo smiled back. "Where are we going to sit?" Malin asked. Arlo looked around for a moment and gestured to some bean bags in the corner of the room. They walked towards it. "Okay, where do we start, because I have no idea how this works" Arlo laughed nervously. Malin looked at him. "No idea, just tell me what comes to mind and I'll add. Okay?" He nodded.

"Okay, to be honest there's not much interesting about me, but I can tell you a few things. I'm an extrovert, and I really enjoy making and listening to music. I play the piano and sometimes I sing, But that doesn't work very well," he laughed. "My biggest ambition is to become a famous artist when I grow up, maybe a musician, maybe a painter, maybe something else, but we'll see. And you?" he asked Malin.

Malin thought for a moment. "I'm just going to continue what you said. I'm an introvert and I also really love music. I used to play guitar, but I haven't done that for a long time, I have no idea if I can still do it. I sincerely I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up, I haven't thought about it much yet, I find it scary to grow up, to be honest."

Arlo nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean." It went on like this for a while: someone took turns telling something about themselves, after which the other added his or her opinion about it. This is how they discovered, among other things, that their favorite flowers were tulips, they were both cat people, and they both preferred to eat pasta. In some ways they were very similar, which surprised them, and in other ways they were polar opposites. For example, Malin was a morning person, while Arlo was a night owl.

Suddenly the bell rang. "That's it for today, see you tomorrow everyone!" said the attendant. "See you tomorrow" Malin said to Arlo. He smiled at her. "See you tomorrow".