Quirky Tales on Love

Strangers

Outside of school he never spoke to her, nor she to him. They were by no means lovers or friends or even acquaintances. They didn't know each other. They walked past each other in the hallways and neither would glance at the other.

But she felt his presence just as keenly as she felt his. They were simply alike, that was all.

They sat on opposite sides of the class and when his laugh was too sudden, too loud, too fake, she'd look at him. He always felt her stare and his mouth would shut, humour fading as abruptly as it had come.

She was quiet, reserved, but when she spoke all that came out was spite. When her words held too much poison, he'd say her name, quietly, but she'd always hear. "I'm sorry," she'd mutter to whoever she'd stung, and people would blink and stare and turn away, shrugging.

They understood each other, more than anyone else. A glance, a word - that was all it took for them to know what the other thought.

But outside of school he never spoke to her, nor she to him.

When they graduated they went their separate ways and he never heard from or of her till the third class reunion. Suicide, they said. It was a pity - the young and successful businesswoman that dominated the industry suddenly found dead in her penthouse suite, a noose around her neck.

He didn't comment.

Decades later he was old, jaded, alcoholic and in his fourth marriage. One night in bed a sharp pain hit his chest and he blacked out. When he woke he sat in his old dingy classroom and the girl was staring at him again.

When their gazes met there was a flash of that old understanding - something he'd forgotten ever existed. They met in the middle of the room and everything disappeared but them.

He felt her presence just as keenly as she felt his. They were alike, in little ways. Little fractured bits and shattered pieces that formed a screwed up jigsaw that was them and only them.

They were by no means lovers or friends or even acquaintances. But when she held out her hand he took it, whispered her name like it was everything that they never had, never understood, never caught and held on before they flew away.

They didn't know each other. But somehow they found themselves sitting at the edge of time, holding hands till they disappeared with everything else.