Anna's POV;
Those months were some of the hardest I'd ever faced. It wasn't sadness that consumed me, or at least, not in the way it usually does. I pretended to be okay, to keep moving forward, but underneath, I was heartbroken—devastated by the end of my two-year relationship with Samuel. Anger, helplessness, and a sense of being utterly shattered swirled inside me, but I suppressed it all, locking it away where no one could see.
It wasn't him I missed, not really. What I longed for was the girl I had been when I was in love—the version of me that existed in those fleeting moments of happiness. I clung to the memories of laughter, of love, of being with someone I could barely recognize anymore. But I kept pretending to be fine, convincing everyone, even myself, that I was over with it. I had moved on.
I tried reaching out to Davis many times but he probably changed his digits so I couldn't contact him. Each day I felt tormented, with the past memories and with the guilt and remorse. I blamed myself to ever fall in love with that guy. How stupid I had been?
June rolled in and I hadn't applied for any college, I was in a slump. My results were out and I did not get really good grades. The disappointment in my mother's eyes was unbearable, she turned cold towards me. My dad being a sweetheart, told me it was not the end of the world. "Let's find you a college." He said.
I sank into reckless, almost self-destructive behaviour. I stopped answering calls from my friends at school, distancing myself even from those who tried to reach out. Abby, my friend from my senior year in school invited me to her birthday, a small gesture of kindness, but I couldn't bring myself to go. She was upset, understandably so, she, along with our other friends, came to my birthday last summer when I was alone. But I found myself growing defensive, refusing to acknowledge how far I'd withdrawn.
My dad helped me apply into colleges. With my low grades and late applications, most of them rejected me. Finally I got accepted into Georgia State University in Atlanta which meant I have to move away from my parent's house. My parents were reluctant to let me live alone by myself so they thought of my maternal uncle who lived in Atlanta with his family.
...
As I strolled through the unfamiliar and vast campus, there was a mix of excitement and isolation. It was my very first days in the University, most people had already interacted with others and roamed around with friends, hung out in the cafe, but I sat alone on a bench in the garden, or in the library. In the classes, I sat towards the back in the lecture halls, unnoticed. I scurried out of the class as the lecture got over but a girl came up to me...
"Did you take notes from this class?" she asked, leaning over slightly.
"Yeah, but my handwriting's a mess," I replied, a little embarrassed.
"Ah, no worries! Can I take a picture from your notebook?" she asked with a smile.
"Sure," I said, handing it over.
"If you think your handwriting is bad, you should see mine," she joked, and I couldn't help but chuckle.
"By the way, I'm Addy Mitchell." She extended her hand with a friendly grin. "And you?"
"Anna. Anna Marshall," I replied, shaking her hand.
"Wow, our names are kind of similar," she said, amused.
"Yeah," I smiled.
"I was going to grab something to eat at a nearby restaurant. Wanna join?" she asked casually.
"I actually have a class in ten minutes—English lit," I explained, glancing at my watch.
"Oh, okay. Some other time, maybe?" she said with a small shrug.
"Sure," I nodded, smiling back.
At least I had an interaction with someone from the same class, which was a small victory. But then I headed to another class where I was just another face in the crowd, slipping back into the familiar feeling of being a nobody. I took a seat in the back, half-listening to the lecture while my mind wandered off. Every now and then, I found myself staring out the glass windows, watching the world outside. The July heat shimmered in the air, and the sun blazed relentlessly in the sky, a stark contrast to how disconnected I felt inside.
As the professor left the class, people started chatting, using there phones or taking group pictures in the class or corridor. My classes were over so I took the metro and headed back home.
At my uncle's house, there were now seven people, including me—my uncle, aunt, grandpa (mom's father) and my three cousins: Shelly, the eldest who was twenty five, Alice, who was only ten, and Rowan, the thirteen-year-old. The house felt crowded, buzzing with mess and sometimes energy, and I was still getting used to the chaos that came with living with so many people.
Shelly and I had to share the room. Shelly was training in medical school to be a doctor, our interactions were less but we were friendly enough. When I was a kid I used to come here on holidays and spent a quality fun time, but living together with them was different. Shelly used to have a room of her own before me, I thought it must cause her a little irritation that she had to share it with me now. I came back home from college about the same time as Rowan and Alice came from school. We did lunch together and then watched something on TV. Later I headed back to my room which was mine alone during the day when Shelly was busy in medical practice.
_
The next day at the university, I got out of my literature class earlier than expected. I only had one more class—psychology, the one I shared with Addy. That day, we ended up sitting next to each other, both of us scribbling barely readable notes in our notebooks and exchanging quiet smiles. As soon as the professor left the room, I turned to Addy and said, "We can hang out if you want. I'm done with classes for the day."
"Great!" she exclaimed. We then took off from the class heading downstairs, we exchanged phone numbers and gossiped a little about professors. Soon, we were out of the campus and on road of the city bustling with speedy cars and buildings towering from all around. I recklessly began to walk across the roads towards the restaurant Addy pointed out at but she held my bag and pulled me back to save my life from a Ferrari whizzing past me.
"You wanna die?" she laughed, wide-eyed but amused.
My heart was racing, but I couldn't help but laugh along with her. "Not today, I guess."
When we got into the restaurant, we skimmed through the menu and decided on two cheeseburgers with cokes. While we waited for the food, we chatted a bit, then Addy, in her usual playful way, started taking pictures of me with ridiculous Snapchat filters. I made a face, half-annoyed, half-amused, as she giggled at her phone. Eventually, she got lost in scrolling, and I found myself idly looking around, taking in the restaurant's ambiance and the people scattered across the tables.
My eyes casually drifted over the room until, for a brief moment, they landed on a familiar face. I looked away quickly, my brain processing what I'd just seen, then paused. No way—it couldn't be. Curiosity gnawed at me, and I glanced back to make sure I wasn't imagining things. Turns out, I wasn't.
There he was—Davis. Two tables across, sitting among a group of five friends. But even surrounded by them, he seemed lost, quiet, contributing only a word or two to the conversation while the others chatted animatedly around him. It was unmistakably him. Wow, what a small world!
YOU ARE READING
Invisible String.
Romance"She built a fortress around her shattered heart, each stone laid with ache of love lost. But someone knew her before the walls were raised, he knew her far beyond than anyone else. Even though, she always kept him at arm's length, he danced with h...
