Still thinking of a title

* and # are names... or at least where the names are supposed to go

            Sighing, I open my eyes and look around... nope, nothing has changed. I am still stuck in a store room with two other people. They look familiar and yet I couldn’t place them in my mind. The sense that I know them, seen them from else where and not just from the workplace is becoming overwhelming. Talking about that, I am still rather in denial that the restaurant I work in could lack the required maintenance so much that it allowed the store room door to break and lock us all in like this, that is why I was wasting my time trying to figure out where I know those two from rather then figuring a way to get us out of here. It is no fun being stuck in this small room with two guys, not to mention the face that I am a female and I can only shudder to think of that could happen to me. Yes, I do have a wild imagination. I am definitely asking for more off days after this, say something about being traumatise even though I know that the boss won’t buy it. It certainly is a nice distraction thinking about what to do if I had all that extra time to myself… after all, it is not like I had anything else to do at the moment. I am out of speculations about my two co-workers.

 

            Too bad my thoughts were interrupted by someone who came to our rescue after the boss finally realise that three of his workers are missing in action and slacking, as if it was by choice that we got stuck in there… but that not a bad idea, slacking off by pretending to get stuck at a random location. Just kidding, no way I am going back in that room and risk being stuck there for an even longer period of time. On a side note, I finally realise that one of them was a fellow student and the other was a teacher from our school. Thank goodness he not my teacher, I don’t want to see my teachers everywhere I go. I guess this release from the store room a signal back to work. You know, that guy is really cute looking and he was really good in an all-rounder kind of way but later on, he was still an all-rounder but in a bad way. Let me explain, I transferred in about a month later, was and still is, in the same class with him. I saw how he was the model student of the school and how he suddenly turned into a model student of how not to be.

 

            The school that we are all in is the toughest school there is in the country, even working after school is part of the timetable of that school. Working, even part time while in school is normally a forbidden thing in this area (area here means a country, this is the future where all the countries became one and therefore we have different areas in place of countries) but in the school that we are in, this is just another part of training us for after graduation and the real working world, whatever that is suppose to mean (the school has retained some of the old lingo that is not currently being used in then). That is how competitive this school is. We are allowed to choose any of the locations the school has on a list and we must work there for a certain number of hours while maintaining at least a certain grade on all our school related activities and studies or else we would be dropped from that school. Being dropped from the school is considered worst then never entering the school at all. This brings us back to the question of how such an elite student can drop all the way till even he would find it tough to enter the worst school in our area. No one can answer that question but luck have it that the said teacher passed me his book to pass it back to him, told me that his appeal session would be held the next day and to tell him that any materials he wish to use in the session needs to be handed in by 3 to 4 A.M.

 

            “You know *, the edu…” indicating with my head the direction of the stairs I just came down from meeting the educator (in other words teacher) “asked me to pass you this and I heard about tomorrow’s appeal. You going to turn up?” almost jogging along to keep up with him as I continued on to deliver the teacher’s message. After the delivery of the message, going back into the restaurant to change back into my usual clothes and restraining myself from poking deeper into the matter was no easy task for me. I could only say that I was normally a curious person and I was really curious about this guy. That is why it was a pleasant surprise to come out and find him waiting for me, not to mention have him invite me to come along with him to wherever he was going plus an offer to send me home as well. That could be called the beginning of our curious relationship.

 

            With eyes wide in surprise I had time only to choke out “You…have a… a vehicle!? Wow!” before he turned and started walking in a speed of what I would call running. I was curious enough and grateful enough to have someone from school talk to me that I would follow without question. It felt like I was gliding on air when I half skipped, half ran to keep up. It was surreal, to feel the ground under my feet so soft and bouncy. How else could I explain the feeling of floating in the air? I normally felt chained down to earth, like no amount of strength I possess can get me free. We entered a shop some distance away and he when to a table with six other people in it. His friends… apparently he normally comes out and spend time with his friends after work. “This would explain why he is always leaving early and leaving all the cleaning up to the rest of us” I couldn’t help but think to myself a little bitterly.

 

            On the other hand, I can’t help but to notice the two couples at the table and thinking to myself “Great… welcome to couple land” in a rather sarcastic tone. The table was at a corner so two sides had the build in couch-like thing and the other two sides had normal chairs. He took a sit on the couch near the corner while I took the least awkward position, the chair which put me between two females and almost opposite him. Two opposite corners of the table, like how we are two opposite people. He is popular and I am just wallpaper, he is the best at what he does (that includes being the worst of the worst) and I am just an average girl. At least that is how I feel, seating there and that was even before I got displaced by the latecomer, a female by the way… that was just another blow to my confidence.

 

            All I could think to do that moment was to excuse myself since I was not really wanted in that group anyway. The only reason they stand me was because * brought me along. I know that and was reflecting on that in the only place I could think to hide myself, the toilet. It was quite a nice one… it was done up like a home toilet and the mirror was one of those with a coloured mirror mosaic at the sides. I was in there for less then 2 minutes when I received a SMS. This was what the SMS said:

 

“Dear #. The past couple of months were the best time in my life. I don’t think I have told you that I had my eyes on you since forever. Can we have many more such moments? Please be my girlfriend? If you say yes I would propose to you face-to-face tonight ;p I love you and PS: please say yes”

 

That really gave me pause. I had no one who I know… definitely no male who would say anything like this to me. So I took a look at the details and what I saw made me do a double take. The details said that the SMS was sent by * and the date shown was the month of May, this month was March. I don’t even have *’s number… so how can it be that his name was stated there and not just a number as usual? I blinked and resigned myself to the fact that it has happened again. Why did my ability have to pop up at such an awkward time? Can’t it just continue to lay dormant? I hate knowing the future, no one believes me when I tell them anyway. Even when I show them proof like the books where the content changes to tell me the future or the SMSes… they just say I am playing a trick on them. Even after the things happen, they still say it was just coincidence. As if I am so free to pull pranks on them.

 

I needed to get out of there; I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic… it always have this effect on me, receiving what I called as news from the future. Walking out of the toilet where I was hiding I made some excuse to avoid joining them for the rest of the meal and at some urging I made a pretence of walking about the buffet. After a round or so around the buffet I when back to tell them that I was tired, I wanted to get home and that it was nice meeting them. I was working on instinct here. My mind was too pre-occupied with the SMS I just gotten. I left intending to walk home as it was close to my housing area. Not too close but it was enough for me to clear my mind. I normally walked home after work anyway, home being where my boarding was located. The elite school that I was in required us to stay there as well; this was so that they could keep an eye on our growth. Growth in every sense, from physical to mental to even how we interact.

 

The sounds of footsteps running after me only penetrated to my senses a long moment later. I didn’t really care as I knew that no harm will befall me, or else how would I still be alive two months from now to receive an SMS. As it turned out, I was right… it was * coming to apologise for his rude behaviour and to find out what was bothering me. Since this was a complicated issue and we didn’t want to be monitored by school officials we slipped into a dark back alley. I show him the SMS and he just looked at me solemnly after reading it. After a long, tense moment I suddenly realise that he mistaken my intentions as I could see him holding himself emotionally and that just confirmed that the SMS was real. Where I previously thought that he was distant and close, I could see that he was interested in me but was not sure where I stood and didn’t want to frighten me away.

 

With that, I made up my mind and pointed out the details to him. The little details such as the date and the sender of the SMS. He just looked at me and nod, he didn’t say or act as if I was crazy and out of my mind. He believed me and that was all I needed to regain my mental as well as my emotional balance. I apologise and attempted to brush the incident away as just a malfunction of the phone while trying to back away. He grip my wrist tightly and explained in a low tone that he believe me, believe in me too… and that he would continue to do so regardless of rather it was logical or not. “Even though I may not have a reason, I probably will still go on believing in you”. That was the sweetest thing that anyone have ever said to me and it was at that moment that I decided to take this gift that my ability have given to me… even though I know the price of it, of what is to come.

 

On that night, both of us took the chance to trust each other and it became one of the sweetest moment of my life. Everyday I decided to live life to its fullest, that is not to say that academically or in anyway improved my standing in school but rather, each and every moment was savoured. Be the moment plain, ordinary and drab or bright, new and exciting. It was really a different way to live and I could finally understand, why it didn’t matter to * what his grades and standing was. What mattered was that each moment was savoured, remembered and lived. The date stated in the SMS drew close; I was both nervous and excited at the same time.

 

Finally, the day came and the SMS came… it was exactly the same, word for word. Even the delivery time was the same, 10 A.M. It was truly a unique moment, to see and feel the future come together with the present and to see it pass before your eyes into the past. I decided that I had to tell him that night… the other side of my ability, the one he called a gift. Every time the future is revealed to me, I would… when the future has become the past, forget the bulk of what brought me to that “future”. The past would cease to exist, the memories a blur… erased at worst, edited at best.

 

As for the SMS, of course I answered yes. What else could I answer to the one I love? That night, he proposed… not to be his girlfriend but to be his wife. I was speechless, even after two whole months of reading and re-reading the SMS, I never guessed that proposing marriage was what he had in mind. Before I accepted his proposal, I came clean and ended with the words below… thankfully he agreed with me.

 

“Its ok isn’t it, if I forgot? If the ones I hold dear would remember. Remember that we were, we are… dear to each other. It should be ok right? As long as one of us remembers…”

Author's Note

The * and # are names... I need a female and a male name... not to mention a title. This is going to a competition in my home country, any review is appreciated. Thank you (I still need to add a few hundred to a few thousand words more but this is the main bulk of it)

Reviews

[MarieCo214]

That was hard to read. I honestly thought it was so scattered and confusing. There needs to be better transitions and introductions towards elements, such as this main character, Gen, and this night that we're seeing them go through. I realize that there was this wonderful theme about past, present, and future implications. However, the them was not cohesive in the story. Yes, dialogue would have improved the story, but also manipulation of the environment, mood, and characterizations. Readers need to feel, see, and understand. The narration, despite being first person was imposing on the story's wonderful progression and theme.
I loved the idea without a doubt. Only the representation was lacking to me. I hope you got around to improving this work.

[Gregory Hill]

Great story, It would be nice to have some coversation, maybe when the boss walks in etc. Good job though Keep writing. :p

[AJChallenger]

"Show, don't tell." More action and dialogue. Less description. Show us what you want us to know through the dialogue, through the characters interaction. Do that and this will be a great work.