A Sad, Distant Farewell

I feel like telling a story.


There was this girl who one day met a boy. He was really cute and kinda funny. As luck would have it, they ended up exchanging numbers that night before they went their separate ways. She thought that would be the end of it but she was pleasantly surprised to find out that she was wrong.


This boy didn't wait the customary 3 days before contacting her. The very next day she received a text, which led to a many-hour long text-versation. Before she knew it, an unusual but not altogether unexpected acquaintance was formed.


It lasted a few months. They talked long and laughed hard for 2 people who had only seen each other twice and had close to nothing in common. Then one day he asked her out. She, thinking that this acquaintance could lead to nothing long-term or serious, turned him down as she would any guy and stopped replying his texts. Eventually their communication died down and she thought that would be that. She was wrong yet again.


A few weeks later he had a heart attack.


The girl was shocked-he was only 19! But she was confident that he would recover, and when she found out that he had woken up in the hospital, felt a profound relief. She never heard of him again.


One day many, many months later she found herself suddenly thinking about him again. She felt strange as the thought had come strong and hard and she felt an inescapable urge to text him again and ask how he had been. As the thought of him grew stronger as the day went on, she resolved to text him sometime.


She was in college that day. She fell asleep in the loud, noisy cafeteria while waiting for her friends' classes to be over but something kept bugging her. She kept waking up in a sweat, feeling uncomfortably aware that something was not right. Just before her friends got out of class, she checked her phone and laughed in disbelief at the coincidence as a familiar name flashed across her screen, saying she had a text from HIM. As she read the text, the smile on her face froze and then faded away to a wide-eyed stare of horror. It was his father, saying that the boy had passed and that the funeral would be held the next day.


I guess it's time to spill now...because that day was today. And that girl was me.


His name is....was Aggelan. I remember laughing when he told me his name, thinking that he looked way to cool to be an Aggelan. I remember how hot he looked as he stood with his friends, his eyes canvassing the room. I even remember the black t shirt he wore the first time we met.


Now that I think about it, I feel like there were so many so-called 'signs' that something weird was about to happen. Just last week I remember telling Shu and Jordi about him as we sat in the cafeteria between classes. It had been the first time I had talked about him in ages. And over lunch on Sunday I remember hearing from Chris something about how even the fittest people get heart attacks, and immediately thinking about how Jasmine had told me that his heart attack had happened right after he had been to the gym and then to play futsal. And this morning, that sudden overpowering urge to text him....


I know that I didn't know him too well and I know we were never bosom buddies. But he was nicer than most guys, funnier than some and cuter than a whole lot. And he was young and healthy. Way too young to go. So since the funeral is in Ipoh I guess I'll be saying my goodbyes from a distance. So why not here?


I'm sorry dude, that I forgot your name the day after we met. I'm sorry I complained to my friends how much pain you caused me. I'm sorry I couldn't man up and say that I wanted to stop texting you, and instead cowered behind technology and left you to figure it out for yourself.


And thank you. Thank you for keeping me company all those countless days and nights. Thank you for being part of one of my favourite stories to tell my friends. Thank you for being a normal, decent person to me. Thank you for not waiting 3 days after we met before you texted me. Thank you for being a part of my life for those short months and impacting it enough to make me sad that you're gone and that I won't be hearing from you anymore...ever.


But most of all Aggy, thank you for catching my eye that night across that crowded room and making me light up like a Christmas tree at the thought that the hottest guy in the room was smiling at me. I'll remember you.