A Tryst Of Fate

Everything was going great after a very long time. School was good and she scored really well in her tests. She won the swimming competition and everybody around her treated her like a human being. This was all very unusual, mainly because life had never treated her this way. She was finally happy and satisfied. Her lonely and horrifying past was finally starting to fade away. Even though Lily knew that those scars would take a long time to heal, she could still manage to put a smile on her face. She had finally started to open up with people around her. She spent most of her time reading or listening to music and absolutely hated it when people disturbed her during these times. Among her loneliness, she had a friend who she could trust with absolutely anything. His name was Sam and was always there for her no matter what. They would walk to school together and spend maximum time possible with each other. Sam had helped her through her tough time and always had her back. As she woke up on a fine Sunday morning with the sun shining so bright, she felt different. It was a very ordinary day and it was a weird feeling. She thought this was all normal and everything was fine, except the fact that being normal does not include feathers growing from her back. As she walked down the stairs, she found a letter at her door. It was from Sam. She suddenly got nervous because he was not somebody who would send letters to contact someone. There was definitely something up. As she opened the letter, she freaked out. All the words were smudged which definitely meant he had cried his eyes out while writing it. she tried calling him and contacting him in every way possible but she failed miserably. The only support she had was now gone. She felt alone all over again. Now there was no one left to acknowledge and validate her for the person she was. Out of loneliness she started acting In a weird way, she lost her filter and started being rude to everyone , she called it honesty and sticking to her own personality, she refused to change for others as she did not care about how others felt and according to her everyone else is nice to others so they can gain validation for being for a nice person which she was strictly against but what actually was going In her subconscious mind was that she was trying to make her own identity, somewhere deep inside she realized it’s difficult to take part in a race in which already thousands of contestants are running. So by showing others she is different, she tried to start a new race with fewer people so she could win and satisfy her ego. She tried to gain validation by criticizing validation because of this narcissistic behavior everyone around her again started ignoring her. As selfishness is human’s primary nature, anyone who is nice to someone is just doing it so that he/she gets something positive in return because as humans we have this sense of insecurity of being lonely and this what makes us behave in front of others. having a fear of losing friends wasn’t the case with lily as she never had anyone that she could rely on. Now this loneliness was really getting over her which lead to depression. She started going for therapy where the therapist talked about and self-love. Self love was she could not relate to and never thought such thing ever existed. The therapist asked her if there is anything in her past that she wish that would have not happened because if not she loves herself. lily got confused then the therapist told wishing for the past to be different is just another form of self-hate and vice versa is true for self love, it is just the perspective that you have regarding things everything thing that happens in your life is going to leave you with something positive and some negative as well this is how balance is created .

Then time passed, once again as fate would do its wonders, she saw Sam sitting alone on the tint-woody bench the park had to offer. As her eyes glanced at his torso, she couldn’t help it; she broke down reminiscing about the old past she had with her, she went to Sam with her mind in the body and her heart and soul together in her mouth. As soon as she walked up to Sam, she couldn’t speak up a word. It was devastating.

“Sam” she spoke, rather softly

“Lily is that you?!”, Sam spoke with astonishment as he never expected to see Lily at such hours.

“How could you leave me all of a sudden, do you know what had I been through? Is this what you call friendship?” She said as she cried and cried and cried

Sam gasped as he knew what he did was wrong by societal ethics, but as he thought he realized that societal norms and pressures meant nothing for him. Morality for him had become as gateway to defy rationality.

Sam grew up in a broken household, and was raised by his maternal aunt and Uncle. Being the non-blood relation at home, Sam could never feel loved.

“I’ve been kicked right down, I’ve been spat on the face, I just can’t do this anymore Lily” Sam, unable to explain his condition while he sipped on the can of beer, he got off the gas station.

Shivers were sent down to Lily’s spine, as she tried to process whatever was going on around her. Every breath made her weaker, unable to realize that She was in Love with Sam. Lily who become the outspoken brat, couldn’t express what she was feeling. Lily had entrapped herself in a solitary confinement where she had imprisoned her thoughts of general positivity. The brief exit of Sam from her life was rather undeniably Traumatic for her. She had developed a fear of doing what is expedient. Although there is no fear, no courage and nothing wrong in doing what is expedient, it became hard for Lily to adapt to the societal norms of being polite. Uncanny as it seemed, Lily was paying the price to stay stagnant and being much more miserable.

“I’ve been kicked out of the house Lily, it’s a tough life for me too. It literally feels like I’ve been stomped on an empty stomach” spoke Sam as he got teary. Nights had become hard for Sam as the itchy gravel had impacted his spine and neck in an astoundingly negative way. Solitude had become Sam’s new best friend, as he had now grown a habit of staying alone. Bleakness had become a dominating emotion in Sam’s subconsciousness. Dysphoric as it seemed, there lied a ray of hope inside Sam’s heart telling him he could always rely on Lily.

With Sam in this situation of situational chaos and emotional order, he decided to go and Ran as fast as he can.

With Sam gone, Lily found it almost impossible to focus on anything at all. His absence just added on to the loneliness in her life. She began to lose hope and her condition just got worse. Her parents tried to approach her but nothing seemed to work. She began walking to school all alone and did everything in isolation. This became her daily routine and eventually she got used to it. It took a long time but she grew as a person. She was prepared for everything and nothing could harm her that easily anymore.

Years passed and Lily was in the last year of high school. Few months after Sam had left, she lost touch with him. She did not try to approach him as he had left her when she needed him the most. She had progressed a lot from before, in terms of her behavior and social skills. She began to continue participating in events. It was during December, that she had gone for a swimming competition to BSS High School. Swimming was one of her biggest strengths and just the depth of the water made her feel alive. Everybody was assigned partners for the first round. Her partner was a boy named Greg. They swam together and she was really amused by how good he was at it. He was a brilliant swimmer and even won the competition. After the swim was over, she even walked up to him to ask him more about his amazing skills. As they talked and talked, they built a strong connection of friendship. They loved each other’s company. They would swim together daily. She enjoyed herself thoroughly when she was with him and eventually, they became best friends.

One fine evening, they were walking across the shops and were talking about swimming. She asked him how he was so good at it. To her utter surprise, he seemed a bit uncomfortable about that question but he answered anyway. He replied saying that it was his cousin brother who had taught him since childhood.

Even though they shared a strong bond, something felt fishy. Greg would never invite Lily to her house or anywhere near it. He never talked about his family, and even when Lily brought it up, he would abruptly change the topic. She did not ask him much because as long as he was nice and honest with her, she was happy. However, Greg had started to open up a lot with her and shared his deepest secrets with her. As they became closer, Greg started to really like Lily. He even let her into his house on certain occasions.

One day, she was at his place where she saw a family photograph. She was in absolute shock when she saw a fair tall boy standing in the picture with Greg who was surprisingly none other than Sam. it brought back all the memories that she shared with Sam. seeing the person whom she once loved and the person she loves messed up her mind pretty badly. Later she got to know that Sam stays with Greg and has now gone to attend a workshop conducted by his school. She saw this as a perfect opportunity to have a thorough discussion with Greg about Sam and his uncle and how he should return back to his home. Then Greg explained to her that how his uncle who was 20 years older than Sam was, played a major role in his life. Even though his uncle was never nice to him and just stayed with him for a selfish cause , Greg explained how Sam does not regret spending majority of his life with his uncle as he is happy with the person that he is from the inside he gained a sense of maturity and learned at some point of time life is unfair to everyone this is just how balance is created , you just have to be the bigger person and face the situation with all you have got. This immediately took her into flashback where the therapist told her about self-love and perspective towards everything that happens

But all this happened so abruptly, that Lily found herself in utter confusion. Attraction, Fling, Infatuation … She couldn’t figure out what went wrong with her. Behind her agitated, anxious mind lied a sense of confusion and feelings of love which she could never express. She thought about the past, about how it gave her a ground to unfurl, a place to call home, a sense of comfort she felt. Despite this, she felt that her new beginnings were now going to have old endings, seeing the mysterious personality of Greg. And Sadly, like every other year passed this high school year which went commendable for both Lily and Greg. Both of whom had respectably parted ways in the hopes of a shining tomorrow.

“Old endings, new tomorrow’s and a sorrow sunshine

New beginnings, old memories and glasses of wine”

After 20 years

It was a windy day in the dawn of Tuscany, where Lily finds herself as a Swimming coach. After a long day, she decides to have a beer across the brewery across the street from her pool. She packs her bags and sets to roll on the streets. Just about to enter the brewery, she hears a loud “Thud” only to find a dislocated bone, oil but a familiar face – Greg. She panics as she finds herself deluded in the past. It was highly tear jerking for her as she finds herself flowing in a river of memories and to see Greg in a near death situation. She shivers as she goes near the crowd surrounding Greg and a Truck Driver who indomitably slammed in Greg’s car. As she comes near, panic-stricken goes near Greg to observe her pulse only to realize that her once friend doesn’t exist anymore. It was hard to see for Lily but antipodal to her name, Lily had now become a tough woman which was quite ironical since her name referred to a tender flower symbolic to fragile. Although she had accepted this situation of death.

She enters the Ambulance, as she enters her last moments with Greg to bid him a gloomy farewell. During this journey, a wave of nostalgia struck her. All the times she had spent with him, the fun moments they had and the miserable times that they had faced together. She was strong enough to bear the pain but tears rolled down her cheeks anyway. She knew that even though Greg is now gone, the memories they shared would last forever.

Instead of going back home, she decided to go to Greg’s place. As she walks in his room, she looks at each and everything very carefully, trying to absorb every bit of him that she could find in his belongings. She came across the family photograph that she saw the first time she visited his place. She looks at Sam and Greg standing together, arm in arm. Even though they are far away from her, a smile spreads across her face because she knew that these two people not only played an important role in her life, but also taught her the lesson of love and life.