EYE SHUTTER

Remember the day we met? I felt it wasn’t a coincidence. I think it might have happened even before all these events had happened.

I was playing in the children’s garden when I saw a little girl standing alone and crying by the road. It felt like she was lost and that her parents left her stranded. Though I was young and not yet knowing what the world was; I decided to react and help her out. Walking closer to her, she started walking away from me.

“How can I tell her that I wasn’t there to hurt her but to help?” thought to myself.

I tried to tell her the same and though introducing my name and the place where I stay; she wasn’t ready to stay. Instead, she kept moving further away from me.

Any girls would imagine the same. It was getting late and my time of playing in the garden was lapsing out too. I had to act but had to something fast before mom realized what I was doing might be dangerous to her eyes. I knelt down and closed my eyes with my palms and told her that I was here to hurt her but just to help her. It took a while, but I uncovered my eyes when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was my mother who understood that the entire matter in a fraction of seconds. She took the girl and comforted her in her bedroom while I was impatient to know what she wanted.

Mom waited for days, months and years and yet nobody came looking for her. Understanding that she was purposely abandoned by her own parents, my lovely mom didn’t think of a second choice but took her as one of our own.

Remember the day we met! It wasn’t yet to say goodbye but had to leave her as she had found her parents while living and working in the next metropolitan city.

Remember the day we met! It wouldn’t be a coincidence. My grandchildren were going to school and what about you? Her facial disparity said it all. It was maybe a few more or fewer months to live until that memory disappears.

Holding our hands in the same garden where we found each other and hoping to smile for the one last time before we depart.