Chasing Waves

Chapter 1

[The Sea]

I liked the sea.

No, I liked the sand more.

It’s warm, soft, always there…

Just like friends,

True friends.

True friends would be there just like sand would be there for the sea.

True friends would provide warmth when you are cold,

Provide love and advice when you need them.

But the thing is,

Where

Are my true friends when I needed them now?

[The Wait]

It was just another school day.

I was walking into the school yard.

The birds were singing beautiful songs,

The leaves in the trees rustled,

Whoosh, whoosh

I went to wait by the weeping willow,

The place where Syria and I would meet before school

She wasn’t there

So I waited

And waited

And waited

But she never came.

I waited

Even after the first bell rang,

But she.

Never.

Came.

[The Thoughts]

Where was she?

She was always here

Rain or shine

She would always be waiting here

For me.

But she wasn’t here today

My heart started to beat real fast

Did something happen to her?

Was she involved in an accident?

Was she hurt?

Sweat dripped down my face with every thought

I would not be going to school today

I was going to find Syria.

[The Search]

I searched town

I search the bakery we frequented

I searched the shopping malls

I looked in all the Starbucks in town [We loved Starbucks]

I searched all her favourite clothing stores

I searched the park

The river we had picnics by

The area around her house

But she just could not be found…

[The Next Day]

I went back to school the next day

Feeling

Down

In

The

Dumps

I’ve never spent a day without seeing Syria

I felt lost

My best friend,

Missing In Action?

[Class]

She was there

Syria was in class all along

Laughing,

Her blonde hair tied in a ponytail today.

She laughed

And laughed

And laughed

But she never noticed me

Not anymore anyway

What happened?

Why was she not worried that I did not appear in school yesterday?

I dared not approach her

Syria always said,

‘When I pretend someone does not exist, it’s either that I hate that person or I’m plain mad at him or her.’

So I just went to my seat

Across the room

So far away…

From my best friend

[Results]

‘Class, here are your examination results for the term.’

My Chemistry teacher’s voice boomed loudly through the classroom.

We had two A-pluses,

5 A-minuses among all 25 of us.  

I looked at my A- and smiled

I did pretty well I guess…

But that wasn’t important.

I could feel Syria staring

Cold daggers…

At me.

[Lunch]

I was curious

And hurt

And confused.

What did I do?

I never did nothing that would anger Syria.

I wanted to find out what happened.

So I thought

Who was close to Syria?

And my heart whispered,

‘me.

Me and no one else.’

But my brain said,

‘It’s not you anymore silly,

It’s got to be Joanna or something.’

I wanted to cry

I could feel it,

The pain in my heart.

But I would look for Joanna.

Because I wanted the truth.

No matter how painful it would be.