NINETY-NINE ENCOUNTERS
By Chesz Dylan
“Coming through! Excuse me!”
I heard a voice of a guy from behind me. He seems in a rush and looks like almost catching his breath, so I moved an inch at the corner and let him passed by me.
“Thanks Eresh! See you later after school.” I heard him saying. I furrowed my brows, trying to remember if I knew him. Somehow, this situation and this feeling seems familiar.
See also: FLASHFICTION: The Accident
“What am I thinking? He seems familiar, but where could I possibly met him?” My mind wanders thinking about that guy for the entire day. I looked at the wall clock. It was past 3 pm, and our class will be over in a minute. I asked my friend Jessica about the encounter, but even her couldn’t grasp what is in my mind.
“Seriously Eresh, you might be imagining things. Are you sure you know David?” Jessica is acting paranoid than me. “That guy just transferred in our school last semester. How could you feel so intimate towards him in just a short period?”
“I know, right? That’s why I’m telling you this because I’m seriously dead thinking about it the entire day,” tapping my forehead in confusion. “And you’re not helping me either, okey? I think I need to meet him to stop my delusions. God, I hate this!”
After our class, I waited for him at the alley beside the school. I saw him unbuttoned his white polo shirt, and rubbed it on his temples. David smiled, noticing me from a distance.
“Sorry honey, did I make you wait?” he held my right hand, and locked it with his.
I cringed, and immediately distanced myself.
“Honestly, I don’t remember that you and I are in a relationship?” pointing my index finger at him. “How? Since when?”
What he did next was unexpected. He grabbed my hand, pulled me next to him and kissed me. At first it was gentle, and it became intimate. My mind was triggered. Fragments of my memory remembers him, dated from unknown.
“A-ahh!” I shouted in pain. I feel like my head is tearing apart. I found myself crying on my knees. A nostalgic torture.
See also: The Admiration
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” David hugged me tight, crying with me. “I don’t know what else to do.”
As soon I was relieved, he assisted me to stand. I saw a number zero deeply engraved on his wrist.
“That mark!”
He tried to explain. I couldn’t grasped everything. It was shocking that tears keep on falling from my eyes. Too impossible for me to believe him.
“I died 99 times, and rewrote 99 attempts. It became possible because of this mark you gave. Maybe you had forgotten it, I’m sorry!” he apologized. “Believe me, I tried everything to be with you. Now that it has gone to zero, this is the most painful goodbye for us. But, I want you to remember that I loved you so much, my angel of death, Ereshkigal.”
END
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