Why People Change

The setting sun cast long shadows over the trees. The dead branches were adorned with life, flowers blossoming to contrast the foreboding cold. I was taking one last stroll in the empty park, worried as I was at the threshold of my highschool years, a whole new world. I readjusted my red scarf, as something about it was bothering me again and again. I didn't feel comfortable in the fabric that gave me warmth. It always bothered me.

As my mind kept spiralling, cacophony of thoughts playing again and again like a broken record- before it could reach its crescendo, I saw her. A familiar figure.

"Teiko?" I blurted instinctively, years of repressed emotions coming out. "Kazuro?" She replied.

It was her.

In the flesh.

Alive.

After years of not hearing from her ever since she moved out seven years ago- I see her again. She was taller, wearing glasses, her hair was longer. Her face was the same- but something about it had definitely changed. She seemed more... elegant. More poised. Like she was more mature than she seemed.

I eventually realised how I was staring at her, as a blush crept up her cheeks. Her eyes darted to the ground, clearly uncomfortable by the eye contact. "S-SORRY!" I shouted, trying to easen her. "I'm just surprised. You've changed so much."

"I-I know, Kaz." She replied, using that nickname as though there were no seven years that tore us apart from each other. "You've changed too. In a good way." she assured, thinking that telling someone they've changed is way too ambiguous, and can be taken in many ways.

Silence.

Awkwardness filled the air, and as the two of us closed the distance between us, standing side by side to one another, she still felt afar. Nothing in the world could possibly bring back the connection we had back then. But I still had to try. It was the only good thing I had going.

"So, uh, how's life?" I asked. "It's going okay, I guess. I'm getting by." she replied, her tone sweeter than honey, yet still dripping with some unseen sadness. "We've reached high school, huh?" I spoke, trying desperately to continue the doomed conversation. "Yeah... I'm going to Toku High tomorrow." "Really? I'm a student there too." I replied. "Then I guess we have a year ahead of us together, huh?" she spoke.

Silence again.

But this time, the air was filled with a strange sense of anticipation. Both of us definitely wanted to reconnect, as we were once strongly bonded, because in this same park, we had so many memories filled with joy and play. Ones where we terrorised the other kids with bugs. Ones where we bought ice cream together, and fought for eating the last piece of cone. Ones where we held hands and walked the path, carefree and unaware of the romantic implications of a girl and a boy holding hands. Those were good days.

"I, uh, have to go now." Teiko blurted, cutting through the silence. "It's getting late, my dad will kill me." "I understand," I replied. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Definitely!" She said, slowly walking away from me, disappearing into the horizon as she waved her hand. I waved back, as I too headed home.

Tomorrow will be a big day.