Day Five: Haze (29th of July)

She could see him.

And he could see her.

And everything was perfect.

The sky for once was a bright robin egg blue, and the heat was far from unbearable. The grass appeared to be getting greener with every step she took, and by the time she reached his house, the yellowing weeds were a distant memory, another collection put aside in the deepest corners of her mind.

She could hear him bark out orders to his younger brother, Sami (something about not dropping the pile of topper ware) and she saw his mom shove the last of the boxes into the moving van with a satisfied ‘hmph’.

Everything was perfect- except... everything wasn’t. Far from it, in fact.

Because her world was about to collapse right then and there.

This isn’t fair, she thought bitterly, her face not betraying the emotion she felt.

“Mariam!”

Mariam spun around to see that she was face to face with her best friend, Faisal, who was grinning from ear to ear.

She didn’t bother with the fake smile; he needed to see how miserable she was.

His smile faded away and was replaced with an expression that broke her heart.

Mariam crossed her arms and found sudden interest at a scuttling beetle. “I don’t want you to go,” she mumbled, refusing to meet his eyes.

Faisal sighed and enveloped Mariam in his signature bear hug. “I don’t want you to go,” she repeated again, her voice cracking, ignoring the tears racing down her face.

“Don’t say that- I thought we weren’t going to do this,” he said gently, attempting to comfort her.

Mariam shook her head silently and wiped her eyes hastily. “You’re one of the bestest friends I’ve ever had. Ever. You were there when the others were being complete ass holes. You were there when I felt like I didn’t have a friend in the world.”

“Mariam-“

“Shut up. I was there through all that complicated shit. You warned me time and time again not to go ripsticking with heeled shoes but I went anyway and then I had to go down the hill and it was way too fast and I broke every bone on my left arm- you kept saying it was sprained because ‘the boy scouts taught my the difference between a sprained wrist and a broken one’,” she smiled at the memory, rubbing at her left arm.

“It was Yara’s surprise party and we went to the super market to get the candles. You never told your mom how it really happened. And when you were at the emergency room you kept telling us about how- what was it you said? How ‘hot’ the doctor was?” Faisal sniggered and poked her arm repeatedly, ignoring her pathetic attempts at swatting him away.

“You made me watch The Notebook. I made you watch Starship Troopers. We made pasta together and we didn’t burn the house down. Sami learned so much because I made you guys watch 21 Jump Street. He knows things, Faisal, he knows things.”

Faisal gave her a small smile, and Mariam noticed the tear tracks on his face.

“I listened through your ranting phases and I made sure you went through mine. We read The Fault In Our Stars and we cried in the end because we’re both in love with Augustus Waters,” she was gasping now, full on crying. “You went through all that embarrassing shit with your crush and- and I never even saw her. Faisal you can’t just go. We’re supposed to have two years until we go through with this crap,” she tried to swallow the lump in her throat, “Two years.”

“Mariam c’mon-“

She shushed him and dug through her bag, pulling out a tube. She unscrewed the cap.

“Is that a painting?”

Mariam nodded furiously, unfurling the canvas. She jabbed a finger at the painting. “This right there? 

That’s an old oak tree. And those cloud things with the ladders? They’re the ladders of success,” she laughed, but there was no light in her eyes.

“Ahh man- that’s the deepest thing I’ve ever heard you say. Definitely not cheesy,” he said, eyes raking at the painting, drinking in the colors.

“Not cheesy at all,” she echoed, dabbing at her eyes with a crumpled tissue she had in her pocket.

He pointed at the left side of the picture, squinting. “Is that writing?”

Mariam nodded dully before saying, “Yeah... our favorite song...‘Let’s get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France’”

Faisal nodded. “‘Let’s get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance’”

Mariam smiled now. “‘Let’s get rich and build a house on a mountain making everybody look like ants’”

“‘And way up there, you and I, you and I’”

***

Mariam gave Faisal one last hug before he climbed in the Jeep. The window rolled down and he shouted, “WE’RE LEAVING BITCHES!”

Mariam smiled despite the knot twisting in her stomach. She cupped her hands and bought them to her mouth. “KOREA WON’T KNOW WHAT HIT THEM.”

She glanced back the house, an echo of its former self.

The car pulled down the driveway and sped towards the end of the street, turning right.

Right then Mariam was angry. Angry at Faisal. Angry at his parents. Angry at the universe. She never did anything wrong. Why did it have to punish her that way? Faisal was that type of person you’d be lucky to have as a friend. Each friendship consisted of two people: the speaker and the listener.

And for once in Mariam’s life, she was not the only listener in the conversation. He listened to all she had to say, and she did the same for him.

Faisal was part of the few that she felt completely comfortable around, and now he was gone.

Whatever, she thought defiantly.

Whatever.

Because he could see her.

And she could see him.

And everything was perfect.

But everything wasn’t, because he was just a haze in the distance.

- left-foot-fowl 

___________________________________________________________

Right. Well- this is heavily based on me and my best friend (friend heavily implied here, seriously. Don't get any second thoughts because when I was skimming through it seemed kind of like it. That's just nasty). The memories are real though, and so is the Korea part. I stopped writing for a while and teared up (and then cried because this is what happens). 


Before you ask- a ripstick is this skateboard thing.. more of a scooter without a handle. Had to keep the cast for a month and a half- the little shit. 


I can't seem to get the emotion right. How do you do it. This is me- pouring my heart out for once and it looks like a diary entry for shit's sake.