21 Broken past

Zara bid Veronica goodnight, who left shortly after Jake. Zara had a hard time sleeping and decided to text him. She typed several messages and deleted them. She paced the room nervously and bit her nails. She banged her head on the door in frustration. Finally, she typed a text and hit the send button.

Are you okay?

She waited anxiously for his reply, but it never came. She tossed and turned in her bed until it was morning. She hurried herself to get ready and jogged to reach school. She headed straight for the cafeteria, but Jake wasn't there. She enquired with Mr. Turner, who said Jake must be on his way to school.

She texted him, Where are you?

Again there was no reply. She called Veronica to enquire if she had seen Jake. Veronica said that she hadn't left home yet. But that he had texted her last night when she had asked if he had reached home.

So now Jake was avoiding her. She ran to the parking lot, but Jake was absent for the day. Furious, she got his address from Mr. Turner. It was a bit farther from school to walk, but she didn't care. She walked and walked and walked. She put on the GPS and located the building where he resided.

She went up and down the stairs, banging on every door asking for him. Neighbors told her that he must have gone for his customary jogging at the nearby open ground. Her feet were sore, but she thanked them and walked towards the ground. She found a single boy running around in circles.

She screamed at him, "Jake…Jake."

Jake turned around and saw her standing near a bench. As soon as he registered who it was, he ran to her.

"Zara, what are you doing here? How did you come?"

Zara was panting for breath and replied between gasps, "I…I walked"

"You walked? All the way here? Are you mad?"

"Nice meeting you, too," replied Zara bitterly.

"Come sit and have this," said Jake as he thrust his water bottle in her hand. Zara drank thirstily as Jake ran his hand along her back, comforting her.

When she was done, she asked, "Why are you avoiding me?"

"I am not; remember we had dinner yesterday night."

"Why didn't you reply to my texts?"

"Actually, my phone's battery died off, and I forgot to charge it."

"Before or after you replied to V?"

"Listen, Zara, everything is alright. You are making things up. Did you eat something? Come, let's head to school, I'll make you something. I don't have enough supplies at home," and he got up and started walking towards his house to change.

Zara stopped him by holding his hand. Jake's breath hitched, and his voice came out uneven "Let's go, Zara."

"No, look at me." He stood where he was, unable to find the right words to say what her touch did to him. Very slowly, Jake turned himself and faced her. His eyes were clouded, and he had a disheveled look as if he too hadn't slept the whole night. He gulped water from his bottle uncomfortably and looked anywhere but at her.

Zara's fingers twitched nervously in her lap, "I was seven when I had entered a singing competition. I sang like a horse but mom encouraged me anyways. She said that dad would be very proud if he saw me singing."

Jake turned to her, surprised by her abrupt change of tone. She never spoke about her father. He couldn't imagine why she was bringing it up now. Zara continued, "I was terrified of being onstage but with lots of coaxing and a promise of a huge ice-cream treat from my mom, I began practising. Of course, I still sang like a horse." Jake chuckled nervously.

"I would stand up in front of the mirror and practice singing the christmas carol. Dad was never home, he would always be out on some work. I seldom met him, maybe once or twice a month. But, he had promised that he would come, that he wouldn't miss my competition for the world."

Jake had a sad look in his eyes aware of where her story was going. "On the day of the competition, I put on my best dress, mom applied glitter on it to make it look like I was singing in the stars. I waited and waited, but he never attended the competition. Hell, he never came back from whatever thing he was doing."

A tear trickled down her cheek which she wiped away with the back of her hand, "He had promised me that he would come for me but he didn't. I didn't have many friends at school but I had boasted in front of everyone of how my dad would be sitting on the first seat snapping away pictures of me as I gloriously took the first price.

It was a joke, of course, I wouldn't even come last. I ran teary eyed to mom as everyone made fun of me for the next week. I began hiding, and avoiding people. I guess, I am still like that. I have tried trusting someone in the past but they too disappeared."