Emily was in her mid-twenties, a graduate of San Francisco
Academy of Performing Arts. Her family lived in California but she moved to San
Francisco for university. She was the only child of her parents. Her parents
had been separated since her sophomore year and her custody went to her father.
But she still got to meet her mom. She was a professional singer now, signed
with a major record label. And her fifth album was about to be released. She
had got so much appreciation, love and courage from her admirers, friends and
fans but still that feeling of emptiness remained there. Ghosts of past that
haunted her and made her restless. She still missed Max and felt hurt whenever
she remembered him. Most of the nights, she woke up, screaming, drenched in
sweat from horrible nightmares. She tried to conceal her feelings but it was
getting too hard. She wanted to be left alone. But that could not happen. Not
with her in the music career.
Tears streamed down Emily’s face and her body was throbbed
with pain as she recalled what had happened last year. The only person she had
trusted the most in her life had hurt her and left her, and now she was being
torn apart by the pain. It was unbearable, the feeling of being betrayed by the
only person who meant so much to you. Her relationship with Max was over and
there was nothing that could be done to fix it, ever. She and Max were friends
since high-school. He was also her room-mate during university. They shared almost all the same interests. Max
moved to San Francisco just because of her. But now she wanted to end her life.
Everything seemed so out of this world. All those vows of an eternal
friendship, the bonds of trust that were formed with time, they all seemed so
fake and hollow now. And now they were all but a memory. She couldn’t figure
out anything. Everything seemed so meaningless and bleak. Life was getting
worse day by day. She had lost all the pleasure in everything she did. She felt
like dead meat treading through the Earth who had no importance, no one with
whom she could share her feelings with, nobody who could make her feel she was
worth something. Her thoughts drifted to that very day they first met and
became friends, it was mid-December. They had become friends after a basketball
match. Max was the star player of the North California High schools basketball
team. Every student knew him, including Emily but they had never spoken to each
other until that night. He was eighteen, black eyes, brown hair, charming aura
around him and a strongly built body. She was crying on the staircase adjacent
to the basketball courts entrance. Everyone had left by now and it was just her
there alone. The hall was dimly lit and the court was in a dishevelled
appearance. She heard footsteps behind her and suddenly wiped her tears away
but one could clearly tell that she had been crying a lot lately. Max was
standing beside her; he was wearing his basketball jersey and blue jeans. ‘Hey
you, everything alright?’ he asked her with curiousness. ‘I uh yeah, I was just
going to leave’ Emily said stammering. She got up grabbed her coat and left in
a hurry. Max was totally unaware of the tragedy she had just gone through.
While walking past the driveway of the school, a car stopped beside her. The
glass lowered down, it was him, Max. ‘Hey, come on in, I’ll drop you off home
if you’re okay with it’ he said. She got into the car and they drove off. She
was fighting back tears. ‘Hey what’s it? You can tell me’ he said as he stopped
the car patted her on the back. She told him about her parents’ divorce. ‘Oh I’m
really sorry to hear that. Uh sorry I didn’t ask your name first. You’re…?’ he
asked. ‘It’s Emily’ she said wiping away tears. ‘Look, Emily I know how hard it
must be my mom is also a single parent so I can understand totally. Don’t
worry, it’ll be alright. We can be friends from now onwards, I’ll see you after
school tomorrow. Take care of yourself and be strong’. The next day they met
for coffee after school and had a really good time. After that they started
going out and hanging out together. They became best friends and everyone
envied Emily for being Max’s friend because he was the game everyone wanted to play
but Max was so lured by Emily’s charm which even she was unaware of herself. Max
saw something in her nobody else did. Their feelings for each were something
more than friendship. But they were too afraid to accept it. After graduating
from high school they moved in to California together. Max lived in another
city but they would spend the weekends together. They spent endless nights
talking, watching movies, and cooking together, going on long drives and wandering
out on the roads. Everything was going on smoothly until the day when Emily had
a terrible accident and was diagnosed with Amnesia. She had forgotten
everything. Max decided to take care of her, but he kept losing interest in her
day by day. He decided to leave her to herself and go back to California.
Without telling her he disappeared and never came back, contacted her or met
her. After some months when she regained her memory she realized that Max was
gone. All there was left were memories. Questions that hung there above her
head, disturbing her, unanswered.
The stopping of the
bus made her come back to the present. She was on a professional musical tour
of California. The first of her career. She had chosen California because she
thought Max would come to her concert. The concert happened. The audience was
huge. She wore a black chiffon shirt laced with silver sparkling stones along
with black jeans, boots, and a diamond and earrings necklace that her mom had
given her on her eighteenth birthday. At the end roses were thrown on her and
the crowd cheered for her loudly which made her smile and thousands of her fans
were mesmerized by her beauty. Her eyes searched the crowd for him but he never
surfaced. After the concert, she was in her room sitting in front of the
mirror. Endless thoughts kept pouring into her mind. She was feeling really low
despite of the successful endeavors of her career. She was on the brink of
breaking up into bursts of cries when she suddenly looked up in the mirror and
saw Max behind her holding red roses. At first she thought it was just an
illusion, it was her mind playing tricks on her but when he came closer she
realized it was really him. ‘Hey gorgeous, remember me?’ he exclaimed. ‘M-Max?’
she said stuttering. ‘Yeah th-that’s me’ he said. He was lost for words. The
only woman he had ever fell in love with was standing in front of her, he
thought she’d never regain her memory back but she’d. He was feeling so guilty
of leaving her when she needed him the most. ‘Of course I do Max, I-I do
remember you. How can I forget you? I knew you’d show up someday but not like
this’ she said surprised. She could not believe it. He’d made it. She knew he
would come and he did. Before she realized what was happening Max was already
sitting on one knee. He held up the roses and pulled out his hand forward and
said, ‘Emily Wilkinson, will you marry me?’ Confused and awestruck she
whispered ‘I-I-I don’t know what to say Max it’s so hard, out of the blue and I
just don’t know what to say. You deserted me when I…’ she broke into slow sobs.
He went near her and held her in his arms and said, ‘I’m sorry I left you Emily
I never wanted to I just don’t know what happened. I went nuts. It was really
unbearable the thought of you having next to me but seeing you act like a total
stranger. It made me go crazy Ems, I’m really sorry dear. I should have never
left you. I got away from you because I thought it was better for both of us. I
started practise there. I got everything what I wanted but still I felt there
was something missing in my life, something I’d left behind. I need you Emily.
I should have been there for you when you needed me the most but I wasn’t. But
please just say yes. You know you can trust me. I’ll never leave you. I’ll
always be there from now on. Forever and always and I mean it with every
slightest strength of my soul.’ Her sobs were fading away into a slight grin;
she looked into his eyes and said ‘I don’t know Max. I don’t know what to do’ she
was badly hurt and now out of nowhere he showed up and was saying these things
but at the same moment she too wanted him badly.
‘Fine’ she said ‘look me in
the eyes like you did the first time you told me you loved me and tell you me
you still love me like that’. He took her hands into his, looked into her eyes
and said ‘I love you Emily, would you like to be my wife?’ With tears in her
eyes and nodding in approval she whispered ‘Yes I’d love to’. And with
saying that they went into a timeless embrace.
