She took out her iPod and settled down in her seat, looking out of the window as the bus started to move. It had been a long day in school. Long, but extremely unproductive. Productive studying days were long gone. The paper was tomorrow, but some part of her hardly cared anymore. She was drained from almost everything else. What she really needed, was a getaway.
Where to? New Zealand sounded like a really good place. The last time she went there, it was a sanctuary. Blissful, with the cows and sheep, the tranquility was enough to calm anyone down. She could imagine herself sitting by the window of an old farmhouse, fire crackling in the fireplace next to her while she sipped on her favorite English Breakfast tea and reading her favorite books. So much better than the hectic life around here; various vehicles zoomed past her in the other lane as that very thought crept into her mind. Her lane was slow, like a snail, and she wanted to go home as fast as possible. Looking at the slow traffic, it was impossible unless the driver cut outside of the lane, which meant that he would miss the stops along the stretch of road. She sighed as the bus slowed to a stop again outside Sheng Shiong supermarket. She turned and stared out of the window again, absent-mindedly, ready to slip into her pseudo-paradise once more.
Opposite, directly in the trajectory of her vision, the bus moved away from the bus stop. Her stomach dropped as a familiar figure with a light, muddy green canvas bag and grey shirt strolled down the pavement, both hands tucked in his pants pockets. She tried to pry her eyes from the figure walking further and further away from her, but to no avail. It was not until another bus stopped right next to hers, blocking her vision, did she manage to look away, her heart thumping harder and harder with each second. Half of her wanted to crane her neck to look, the other half of her wanted to fly home and take a shower and convince herself that she had seen the wrong person.
But the latter will never work. What could be such coincidence? Who else would be wearing the shirt that she had picked out of G2000 which he liked as well and bought it without much hesitation? Who else would be carrying a bag which she had picked out together with him months ago because both of them fell in love with it and thought he looked good carrying it? If there were such coincidences, who else walked the way he did, whose back looked just like his?
The last time she saw him was slightly more than two weeks ago and it ended with a teary departure which she did not agree to. But there seemed no other choices back then, and she had been a wreck since then. She knew his life hadn’t been good and smooth-sailing either and she had been trying to tell herself that he had a valid reason to ditch the relationship at such tough times; but that did not work. What was a relationship if it became a burden instead of support in times of need? That only made her feel worse. She had failed as a girlfriend terribly and a break up was exactly what she deserved. But wouldn’t everything be left as that? Why must something as unpleasant as this be sprung onto her like this? She had never been ready to meet him again, not so soon anyway, much as she missed him. Part of her yearned for him to turn so she could see him properly once more, part of her wished he would board her bus so she could talk to him like before.
The bus next to her jerked and moved off, and she could not help it. She turned and looked out of the window again, in time to see him step onto the curb of the road opposite leading to his place. Her bus moved and the millisecond of seeing his retreating back was enough to send tears rolling down her cheeks.
The Final Goodbye © 2011 by Aubystories. All rights reserved.
Stories by Ms. Auby Sparksfield 