petrichor

12 Years Later

She had a lot of her own book launchings before, but this time, it felt strangely different. When she breathed in, the air seemed to crackle with electricity as she scanned the crowd in all directions. Where are they?
After so long, finally the WILDCATS group found each other online and had the chance to see each other again. Ever since all of them graduated high school and Riley had got her bachelor’s degree, they parted ways to discover their own paths, but now fate had brought them back together again.
It all began when Natasha was surfing on social media one day when she came across Talia's page. She contacted her asking how she was doing and surprisingly, she had Riley’s contact. It only took a little more searching before Natasha found Lena and Pandora's account. She then messaged all of them and asked if they could have a reunion, after some planning, they agreed to meet at her latest book launching event in New York.
When Natasha woke up from her coma, she was hit with the surprising news that her mom had filed a divorce with Darren and that they wouldn’t be living under the same roof anymore. Finally, at long last. she thought, and other stories from her friends that made her glad she was still alive. She was discharged from the hospital not long after, but then her mom made her see a psychiatrist every week, but it was fine for her.
Natasha wrote stories in her college years, and one day, for fun, she decided to email them to a newspaper. Well, her story didn’t get published and got sent back, but that didn’t stop her from trying again. After a few more tries, finally she found one that gave her positive feedback and published it, that was when she knew her life was turning around.
She wrote some more short stories, emailed them, and did it repeatedly, that was where she got extra money too. Now her dream of becoming a bestselling writer came true. Natasha wrote tons of short stories about various topics for newspapers and magazines, and her books have been published by numerous publishers.
When Natasha had her first book launched, she couldn’t help bit smile. Dreams do come true.
“Nat!” someone called her, she turned around, at first, she didn’t recognize the person, but then she finally realized. “Talia!” she exclaimed; her friend was here. Talia had colored her trademark black hair blue and she was no longer wearing black so much like she used to, but there was still that aura of rebellion in her.
“Where are the others?” Natasha asked, she couldn’t believe her friend had changed so much after the past years. Days before, she tried looking her friend up on the internet and found out that she was still pursuing her career as a singer and has played in a movie once. “IDK.” Talia shrugged, but I think I found Riley back there, or am I hallucinating?”
They both didn’t manage to say anything before someone tapped Natasha’s shoulder. “Hey, miss me?” Natasha almost had a cardiac arrest until she saw who it was. “Riley?” she asked, she didn’t change so much as Talia, but after years of not seeing her of course she forgot what she looked like a little bit. “Yeah,” Riley said coolly, “so now you’re little miss writer, huh? Nice.” Natasha beamed, “Yep.” she answered proudly.
“I got Pandora’s new number who has Lena’s and they said they’ll be meeting us in a little bit.” Said Riley, and so they waited. Not long after, two people came for them. “Oh, my god, you guys!” the first person exclaimed, it was Pandora, she didn’t change much at all. The person behind her wearing a graphic t-shirt was Lena. “I know.” she replied.
Soon they looked for a place to sit and found themselves seated at a corner of a coffee shop. “So, what have you guys been doing?” Natasha asked when they were all seated, she didn’t have a clue except about Talia because she had lost contact with all of them ever since she broke her phone one time and lost all her contacts in the process.
“Well,” Talia started, “look me up on google then.” she answered jokingly, but then in the end she told them that she was still pursuing her career and that she started a foundation for drug addicts and alcoholics so they can break free from it.
“What about you, Riley?” Talia asked, Riley smiled. “I uh, well I got my degree in law and human rights, so I guess that’s a start.” she replied, “joined some marches and protests sometimes with my girlfriend that’s gonna be my wife soon.” before anyone could react, Riley continued, “Oh yeah, I’m a lawyer now.”
“No, shit, you have a girlfriend?” Lena asked surprised, “Aww, lucky you.” everyone congratulated Riley for her upcoming marriage and they asked about what her parents thought, “Well I mean, they were like, wow, but then they were cool with it I guess.” Riley shrugged.
Lena told them that she was now a cartoonist that designs clothing in her spare time. “This shirt,” she pointed at what she was wearing, “I made it myself.” they asked her how her job was. ‘Well, sometimes clients pay late, and my sleep schedule is messed up, but I like it though.”
Pandora told them she was a psychiatrist and that she opened her own workplace. “That’s cool.” they all replied. “Yeah, I realize that ever since I started the support group, I was like, this is what I’m gonna do when I grow up and I did.” she continued. “Wow,” Lena said, “good for you, really.”
“Guys, do you still remember that time when we were still in Petrichor?” Talia asked after a while. They all quieted down for a moment, after Pandora and the others had graduated and said that she earned a scholarship abroad, she passed down the support group leadership to Leslie, one of their members who inherited it gladly.
They looked back on those years, when they still didn’t know what they wanted to do with their lives, and when they were still searching for their true selves. Now, they all found their paths, each one different from the others, when they first met that time, they didn’t know where fate was going to take them, but now they were in control of their destinies. They know that their lives would never be free from problems, but for once, finally, everything was fine.