My very first attempt at creative writing!
I went through some of my college stuff a few weeks ago and found this short story that I wrote for my Introduction to Literature class in the University of Macau donkey years ago. I had fun reading it and revising it to its present form and plot.
For me, this piece gave me a peek of what I used to think of relationships back then. It seems so shallow now. But anyhow, I'm sharing it here for anyone interested.
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THE BRIDGE
It is past midnight and Miriam is still wide-awake. Sleep is eluding her. It must be the feeling of excitement that kept her from dozing off. Turning and tossing in her bed, she thought, “Gosh! I’ll finally hear what I’ve been longing for him to say.”
College Freshmen Orientation Day. Yes, that was the day when she first met him. John is a tall, lanky but good-looking boy who graduated from an upscale exclusive school for boys. He had a charming aura about him. Miriam noticed him but all she could do was look at him from afar. After all, Miriam thinks she’s a plain Jane whom he would never even give a second look.
“He is just going to be another heart breaker,” she thought.
But all negative impressions vanished when he approached her. She vividly remembers how he said ‘hi’ when he came up to her on that day and how his full lips curved into a smile after uttering that greeting. Never before had she seen a picture-perfect smile. She shyly responded to his greeting.
“I noticed a certain look in his eyes that seemed to say he was greatly pleased to meet me,” Miriam said to herself.
As the school year progressed, John and Miriam became friends though they never became close. But there was always a chance to exchange hello’s everyday. For Miriam, John’s million-dollar smile was his way of saying, “Let’s stop and talk a while.”
He made her feel special. He always asked how she and her best friend, Lorelei, are doing. Those short encounters set her heart pounding loud and fast. And a strange warm and nice feeling usually envelops her. Obviously, her heart beats for him.
Tomorrow, at last, there would be an explanation to why she always catches him looking her way, why he always makes it a point to walk with her and Lorelei after class, and why he always wanted to sit beside Miriam during lectures.
Today, as Miriam and Lorelei were walking down the hall with him, he whispered to Miriam if it would be possible to see her privately.
“So what was that supposed to mean?” Miriam asked herself. She could already guess what would happen next.
“I might have my first boyfriend tomorrow.” She turned sideways, closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep.
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I don’t exactly know what time I dozed off last night. I arrived at our meeting place 10 minutes early and I really made sure I looked and smelled best as I could.
I wondered why it took him 3 months, 21 days and 15 hours before he tells me what he feels. My thoughts were interrupted upon seeing him enter the cafeteria entrance.
“You came early,” he told me as he sat on the bench opposite me. I gave him my best smile but I could sense he was uneasy.
“So, John, what can I do for you?” I said, trying hard to conceal my excitement.
He was fidgeting with his fingers and his eyes were darting everywhere except on my face. “Falling in love is part of growing up, right?”
Suddenly I felt a lump on my throat. I think I am going to explode. My goodness, he’s really going to say it!
“Oh yeah,” was my feeble reply. We sat there speechless for a few seconds. I am floating on air.
I struggled to say something to pull myself back to reality. “You mean you’re in love?” I asked.
He nodded with a shy smile.
I did not know what to say anymore. It was too much to contain. So, this must be it!
“May I know who has your affections?” I asked with a hint of nervousness. I had an instant answer in my head: “You.”
“I think you might know why I did not want Lorelei to be around,” he replied.
“Huh?” Suddenly it seemed like someone stood behind me and poured hot water over my head. What did he mean?
“I thought you might be the right person to help me. I feel so shy around her and I couldn’t gather up my nerves to tell her about my feelings for her. I earnestly hope you can be a bridge between me and her,” he said and took a deep breath.
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A bridge! She heard an inner voice shouting. She was out of her mind. This is totally unexpected!
Hot tears started to fill her eyes. She cannot contain this sudden burst of emotion but was too embarrassed to let him know what’s going on inside her. She felt betrayed and ashamed of what she had been thinking all this time.
Without a word, she stood up and dashed towards the nearest ladies’ room. She did not see what had become of him.
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That was the longest day of my freshman year. My most awaited moment had become my worst moment. Then, I realized that Lorelei, my best friend, was the main reason why he always wanted to be around me. He never failed to ask about her. I never suspected anything about John’s unusually gentle manner towards my friend because I was completely convinced he was interested in me. Now I understand why he would be so self-conscious when Lorelei was around.
That incident caused me a lot of tears and weeks of sleepless nights. I could not blame him nor Lorelei or anyone for that matter. I had been a victim of my own imagination. I was living under an illusion. Being too self-absorbed, I attached a meaning to everything he did when in fact all he did were merely expressions of a platonic friendship, which unfortunately, had an ulterior motive. He wanted to win me over to help him get his message across to the real object of his affections.
My imagination brought me too far for comfort.
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I scanned the room and found her at a table for four in one corner.
“Hey Miriam, what are you day-dreaming about again?” That question jolted her from her thoughts back to the library’s quiet ambiance.
I asked her to come and see me here today to discuss our project. I wonder if she has the slightest idea of our meeting’s real agenda.
I am getting edgy but I must not let my nerves get me. I sat opposite her as she pulls herself back to reality.
“John, do you remember that day when you told me about your feelings for Lorelie?”
Should I say it? Now that she talks about Lorelei again, I don’t think that what I am going to tell her today will sink in. I fell head over heels in love with her friend and Miriam knows I am still nursing a heart that was wounded by an unrequited affection. Miriam did what she can to help me but Lorelei was and is never meant for me.
I nodded, “Yeah, that was two years ago. Why?”
She smiled and said, “You never asked me why I suddenly left without saying anything.”
I stretched my arms across the table, reached out for her hands and squeezed them gently. I looked at her straight in the eye.
“Your eyes glitters just the way it did when I first met you,” Miriam told me. She has a very endearing way of complimenting people that does not mortify.
I could not tear my eyes off her sweet little face. She then pouted which makes her look so girlish.
“Miriam, only a cadaver would not understand what happened then,” I mockingly said.
“So, you knew…”
“But not at that moment. Honestly, I was startled by your departure. I wondered whether I said something that really offended you. But later on, I somehow figured it out,” I said to tease her.
This is the moment. It’s now or never. “And you know what?” I asked her.
“What?” she replied, looking at me expectantly.
“The real owner of my heart is the ‘bridge’.”
