“If life after
high school was anything like high school, death might be better than going on.”
She held onto
that thought firmly as she endured her hellish high school years, longing to be
rescued from the valleys of despair. Although she looked decent, and had
average grades, people tend to pick on her. A lot. Bullying and cyber-bullying cases were on the rise, with her being the victim in almost every case. From
the girl who entered high school with her chest held high, she had now become
someone who usually cowered in fear. Dealing with bullies at school and intense
suicidal thoughts at home took its toll on her as she fell sick often, spending
her days at home alone. Life was all black and white for her until she met this
transfer student who lit up her life.
It was spring.
Sitting at the foot of the staircase at school alone, she heard someone call
her and looked up. It was a boy. He had glittering eyes. Not expecting a
conversation to follow, she looked at the sky above her.
“Would you be
friends with me?”
“Papa, why did the boy ask her if she wanted to be friends?
He’s never known her before right?”
Smiling at my sweet daughter, I replied, “Yeah, he’s never
known her until then, but amidst her beauty, he felt something raging out at him.
It’s her loneliness, he learnt.
These words hit her deep as this was the first time in 2 years anyone
had stood so close to her, let alone ask to be friends with her. The boy tried
to cover his awkwardness by putting up a smile, which knocked her from her
thoughts as she softly replied, “Yes.”
“Then, would you mind if I sit here?” Pointing to the spot beside her,
the boy asked. Seeing the shake of her head, the boy sat down, and observed the
sky together with her.
“Why do you look at the sky so often?”
“Nothing much. Just trying to find my past self.”
“Why, does that really matter so much to you?”
“Not that anyone cares anyway.”
She stood up and walked away, leaving the boy behind wondering what he
has done wrong. After a while, she turned back and shouted, “This shall be our
secret spot!” and ran off. Just then, the school bell rang, and the boy was
after her in a second, racing back to their classes for afternoon lessons.
Everyday the boy waited for her at the staircase, where at first she did
not dare go, and ran away whenever she saw the boy. However, seeing how
relentless the boy was, she finally showed up one day, with two boxed lunches
in her hands.
“Papa, why did she bring two boxed lunches? Was one of them
for the boy?”
Blushing, I replied, “Yeah… he was waiting for her everyday
and totally forgot about lunch.”
“Um, you haven’t eaten yet, have you?” She blushed as the boy looked up.
“Is that for me? Thanks!” Without hesitation, the boy grabbed the boxed
lunch and started digging in. After a while, he looked up and asked, “How did
you know I have yet to eat?”
Turning even redder, the girl turned around and said, “I just know.”
Smiling, the boy replied, “If you don’t mind, you could sit beside me
and eat your lunch too,” before continuing on to consume his food.
By then, news of the transfer student and the girl was spread all around
the school, with both of them receiving weird looks by people around them.
Nevertheless, the boy still visited the girl at their usual place just to have
lunch together. He was also the only one who volunteered to deliver the
assignments to her house although they were of different classes.
What he saw at her house shocked him. Sleeping pills on the floor, hate
language on the wall, and a noose connected to a ceiling fan. Seeing the girl
cowering and shaking in the corner, he dropped the worksheets and ran towards
her, hugging her tightly in his arms. Apparently startled, the girl struggled
to get out but he only held her tighter.
“I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I didn't know and was not able to protect you from this. If I had known earlier I would have stayed longer by your side.”
The boy whispered in her ear repeatedly as she calmed down, arms dropping to
the floor.
“You must feel disgusted, to be in such a place like this.” The girl suddenly
spoke, bringing her eyes to meet the boy’s. “After seeing who I really am, you
must be really disgusted. Yes. I am a girl suffering from depression, who has
to handle several suicide thoughts each day. Now all you have to do is to run
out of the door, tell this to the whole school and boom, I'm done.”
“No, I'm not going to do that. The reason being my love for you. You heard it right. I LOVE YOU!” Screaming out the three words, the boy looked at
the girl, who was apparently stunned, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I am not
scared of rejection, I just want to be by your side forever, as a friend, and as
a husband. I’ll protect you, no matter…” His remaining words were cut short as
the girl put a finger to his lip.
“I’ll take your word for it.” She said softly, as they looked at each
other, smiling in a room full of darkness.
“Papa, did the boy and the girl get married in the end?”
“Yes, yes they did.” Clapping my hands, I tucked my
daughter into bed after giving her a kiss on her forehead, left the room.
Leaning against her door, I smiled, “And that girl is now your mother.”
She moved in with the boy after a few weeks, as he didn’t want her to
use her own house, filled with all the hate and everything. They did everything
lovers would, such as going on dates, an occasional kiss and also hand-holding
in public. They also went to the same university and after that, embraced the thought
of a peaceful lifestyle. Things quickly took a turn for the worse, as she got
hospitalised from a traffic incident. The boy also became very dull and
remorseful, as he couldn't let the fact go that she became injured for saving
himself. Thinking back on the promise he made to her, he cried and cried as he
sat day and night by her side, holding onto her hands and wishing for her to
wake up.
A few days later, in the middle of the night, the boy felt someone
squish his hand and jolted up. Looking at her resting peacefully on the hospital
bed, he wondered if that was just a dream.
That morning, the doctor handed him a report on her situation, where he
learnt that she had a damaged kidney and needed a transplant immediately.
Without even putting a second thought into it, he volunteered on the spot,
hoping to redeem himself from the promise. Before undergoing the surgery, he
told the doctors that he did not want her to know about the kidney transplant.
Knowing her, she would probably feel the guilt and make matters difficult.
She woke up to the face of the smiling boy, whose eyes, although
battered by age, still shone like a star. Smiling back, she said “Good morning”
before asking the boy where she was. After explaining everything to her, the
boy promised the girl a surprise on the day she was released by the hospital.
After that, the boy seldom visited the girl, and left her pondering what
the surprise will be. Time passed quickly for the girl as she lay in bed each
day, logically deducing and eliminating the choices for her surprise. Lo and
Behold, the day of her release finally came. Sitting down at the lobby with a
bouquet of flowers in her hands, she waited for the arrival of the boy and her
surprise. It was already late afternoon when the boy rushed in, hand in his
pocket. Wiping his sweat amidst the curious stares from the patients and the staff,
the boy knelt down on one leg and pulled out his hand, with a small box in the
middle. Opening the box, he promptly asked, “Will you marry me?”
Everyone fell silent, as the girl clasped her hands over her open mouth,
shocked from this surprise. She had pondered every single possibility of the
contents of the surprise, but had never seen this coming. Soon after, everyone
around them smiled, clapped their hands and cheered the boy and girl on. The
girl, after regaining her composure, knelt down, and kissed the boy. Apparently
stunned, the boy opened his eyes wide but accepted it soon after, with everyone
clapping and cheering.
They didn't have much of an audience for their wedding, as they only signed the official papers but did not hold an official ceremony. They managed
to get a child, and a stable income, and are now living a happy life.
My daughter seems to love this story a lot as she often
requested that story for her bedtime story. Not that she actually stayed up for
the ending though. However, everytime I tell this story, I feel like I have
just taken a refreshing walk down memory lane. Looking at my wife now, she’s
such an outgoing and cheerful person, that no one could link her with her past
self, the one suffering from depression. I'm really happy for both of us, to be
honest. Happy for her because she had survived this ordeal and changed for the
better, and happy for me because I had fulfilled the promise I made to her two
decades earlier.
