Love That Was Never Meant to Be

Stranger

"Alright everyone! Get with your roommate and come see me to get your keys!" Madam Cosette yelled from the hotel's fancy lobby.

I skimmed the crowded area until I finally saw my best friend, Mona. I waved my arm in the air and yelled her name until I finally got her attention. Once Mona made eye contact with me, she came over.

"There you are, Victoria!" Mona said as her arms flew half way up, pointing towards me.

"I completely lost you when we got off the bus."

My name is Victoria Ash and I'm a 17 year old, Muslim girl. I'm a French student in High School, and I'm on a class trip in Quebec. I'm slightly surprised that my father gave me permission to come here since he almost never lets me go anywhere without his, or someone he trusts', supervision.

The plane ride was seven hours long and finally, I was in Quebec. It was roughly around 10 pm and I was exhausted when I got off the bus. While getting off the crowded bus, Mona and I got separated.

We made our way to Madam Cosette.
"Aaahhh Mona and Victoria. Why am I not surprised to see my two most talkative girls together. Haha, here are your keys." Madam handed a pair of cards to both of us.

"You'll be in room 296, on the third floor. Make sure you two don't stay up too late because we have a long day ahead of us."

"Yes Madam."

With that, Mona and I grab our things and head to the elevator. We both leaned against the cold elevator walls as more and more people walked in. When the ding for the third floor rang, Mona and I stepped into an elaborate hallway. As we looked around, we finally found our room.

Right as we opened the door to our temporary bedroom, our jaws dropped. The room was unbelievably fancy. The walls were a tint of warm tan with two, dark wood, twin beds. There were two extravagant chairs and a light tan window seat.

Immediately, Mona ran and yelled,
"Dibs on this one!" She swung her bags on the bed closest to the window.
"Oh come ON! That's SO not fair!" I said in shock.

Mona stuck her tongue out at me and giggle.

"Unbelievable," I muttered as I set my things on my bed.

Suddenly, we heard a knock on the door.

"If you two aren't going to sleep, at least keep it down in there," Madam Cosette yelled from the other side of the door.

"Sorry!"

We exchanged a look and we sighed as we heard Madam's footsteps get farther away.

"I guess we should get some sleep," Mona said while rummaging through her bag.

"I'll go wash up first."

"Okay," I say while letting out a large yawn.

Soon, we were both in bed. Mona was fast asleep while I lied awake, staring at the plain ceiling. In the silence of the dark night, even crickets weren't arguing.

I soundlessly got up and made my way over to the window seat. As I looked out to the beautiful view ahead, I noticed the full moon and stars in the night sky. I realized, I haven't seen a full sky since I was a little girl in Pakistan. I rested my chin on my forearms while the sad memories rushed back to my mind.

As my eyes sarted to get blurry with tears, from the corner of my eye, I saw something move in the empty street in front of the building. It looked as if there was a tall figure, in a hat and trench coat, was getting up from the bench near the street light. As I wipe my tears away and set my eyes back on the bench, there was no one there. Had I imagined the figure? As I looked more out the window, I saw that there was not even the slightest movement from anywhere. I slightly shake my head and head back to my bed.