Opening Chapters

Sometimes a song just takes you back, way back. Especially when the song is from a movie you recently realized was shot in a place you used to visit every summer as a child. The song’s really old, as old as my sister who can finally get a license this year. She’s quite excited, I’m apprehensive. Not because of her. Because of the concept of driving in itself. It terrifies me, having to control the movement of an entity so much bigger and heavier than me. It’s a good thing I didn’t aspire to be a pilot I think sometimes. This time though, the song reminded me of a particular summer, eleven years ago. This place that the movie was shot in, I had a love-hate relationship with it. My mother’s ancestral home was there, so we used to go every year during our summer vacation to see our grandmother and our aunts and uncles and cousins (of which we had many, some being nice while some were unbearable). There were cousins who would relentlessly tease us, they were incredibly mean and...

It was one of those days, where he was waiting for her to show up. Five more minutes she had messaged, the grammar nazi that she was, typing out the number. He wondered if she would be able to find him. The park was huge and he wanted to meet her somewhere the happy kids wouldn't bump into them, somewhere where a stray football wouldn't land into their laps while they talked. He was meeting her after so long. Well, not really that long. But it felt long. So much had happened in the few months they had been apart. So much had changed. They themselves had changed, perhaps without recognition even. He had come to the city a few days ago, but he couldn't bring himself to call her. What if she didn't answer his calls? What if she refused to meet him? When he had finally gotten over his fear and called her, she yelled at him for delaying the call after being in the city. If you knew I'd reached, why didn't you call me? I thought you weren't calling becau...