The Nerve Wreckers

part 15: one last chance

Marcus’s

                  I parked my bike at the back gate of Sandler Recreational Club and grabbed my backpack. Just before I stepped in, I took a deep breath.

                  You already gave up, so act like you mean it.

                 

                  But a calling for my name echoes through the wind, and it jolts me when I realized whom the voice belonged to.

Carrie’s

                  Taking longer strides, I quickened my pace. I couldn’t miss him. If I got there ten minutes before class I would definitely catch him at the back entrance, to settle this fix once and for all. Blame ‘Carrie and her goldfish memory’ for forgetting the swimsuit, so I had to run back to the apartment, and detours take up a lot of time. I looked at my white Casio, it was three minutes till the clock strikes twelve. Damn it.

                  Gasping and wheezing, I finally reached the club. I scurried for the back entrance praying to god that Marcus hasn’t already reached.

                  I spot a familiar back silhouette of a tall, well-built man, clad in a loose white tank top and surfer’s board shorts, with a Crumpler slung over his back. He stood before the entrance, as if staring into space.

Well, God does exist.

“Marcus!”

Marcus’s

My heart stopped all pulsating as the blood in my veins froze. Our eyes shared a common focal point. She scrambled for balance, ponytail lose as she panted heavily after chasing after me. She stood less than three feet away from me, and the vibes that she radiated today, was strangely different.

Awkwardness filled the air as we silently stood face to face. She was waiting for me to initiate a conversation, gazing at me intently as I attempted to avoid all eye contact with her. Why is she here? What do I say? What do I do? Her sudden appearance baffled me. This is was first time ever she- voluntarily- came up to me.

I felt… scared. I had finally dug myself out of this tragedy, destroying all those painful memories- nothing ever happened between us- the last thing I needed, was to fall back in and get my heart broken all over again. Once bitten, twice shy. Guys have feelings too. I’m tired. Really tired of chasing. I gave it my all, but I guess some plants just don’t reap whatever you sow. I should have been smart enough to expect an ending like this; she already issued me an exit pass before I entered. Right from the start, it wasn’t meant to be. Its time I gave up.

But every time I see her, my heartbeat unknowingly quickens, as if a deadly warning that I’m slowly falling back into the same trench.

The trench of Misery.

Falling into the paradise of love? Into the land of ‘happily-ever-after’s? There is a reason why they are named fairy tales; because fairies do not exist.