Promise

“She started to move her mouth. She was saying something, but I couldn’t quite make it out at first. “Found you” was the only part I could decipher.”

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“So… tomorrow’s the big day, huh? Have you finished packing?”

“Yeah. I finished packing since yesterday.”

“Good boy. Tee-hee!”

“…. I don’t wanna move. I wanna stay here in this town with you. You know that.”

“I know… I don’t want you to go as well but…”

Silence begins to fill the air.

“Here!”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a little something to remember me by…”

“Oh! It’s pretty!

“You like it?

“I do. Thanks. I’ll put it on. So how do I look?”

“You look…”

Before the boy could finish what he was about to say a loud voice began to speak. “Now that we have the value of x, who can solve for the travel rate of truck A? Mister Davis? Mister Davis. Rue Davis! Stop looking outside and pay attention! Are you even listening?! Answer the problem!”

I suddenly got out from my trance and came back to reality. Amidst my confusion, I gave the initial response of “Sorry sir, I don’t know the answer…” The irritated physics professor scolded me and said that he wanted a word with my parents. I told him that my parents were dead and that I’m living with my aunt. I think he kind of felt sorry for me being an orphan and began to explain the lesson all over again. At the back of my ear, I could hear the squabbling and giggles of my classmates as they ridiculed my misfortune. I looked at the problem at the blackboard and gave a sigh. In truth I did know the solution to that problem. I have always been good with science and math. This lesson on speed, time and distance is so simple that it’s such a bore to me. I find looking outside the window a more interesting thing to do during my physics class.

“It’s that dream again” I said to myself. I’ve been having this strange dream lately. It’s always that same dream about a boy and a girl, around the age of 10 and 8. The boy was about to move to a different city, leaving his hometown and his childhood friend behind. The scene always starts with the boy sitting in a wooden bench in an old train station waiting for the girl to arrive, and as the girl enters the scene they began to talk. In every dream I had, the conversation always varied, but they all had one thing in common – In the end the boy would always give the girl a green headband.

As the professor began to solve another problem, I placed my head on my arms and slowly turned to my left where the window was. I stared outside and began to ponder. “Could this be a part of my childhood?” I began ask myself. I could still remember the worn down bench in the old train station where I used to sit and read my advanced math and science books. I didn’t even like math back then, but for some reason I still read those books. I can still vividly imagine where the train station was located in my old hometown named Blue Feather Valley, but why can’t I recall giving a green headband to a girl. I pondered on the importance of the headband. What can this all mean?

It was raining outside. “I hate the rain” I said to myself. “I guess I’ll be going home wet today.” Suddenly I felt something hitting the back of my head. “Stop talking to yourself weirdo!” said my classmate sitting behind me after giving me a good chop with his backhand. I look at him and said “Go screw yourself Mickey.”