Emily finally found a way to the spacious hall where the
Educational Seminar was to be conducted. There was hustle and bustle all around
and she found herself lost in the crowd. To her luck, her parents bought her a
token and now she was left alone to find a seat to settle in a place occupied
by strangers and people she had never seen.
Making friends had never been hard for her or so she said.
She was good-looking and charming – smart and funny. She trolled around
casually to find a suitable seat. After swiftly walking through, she finally
found one. Since, it was the only non-reserved seat, she politely asked the
20-Year-old guy to let her sit next to him. ‘You are sick, your Mother says
that’ he muttered with a pure-Canadian accent. ‘Excuse me! I am sorry, but how
am I sick?’ she replied in a stern-tone of hers. ‘Your mother says that, she is
sitting next to you’ he mumbled again. ‘She is a freaking 21-year-old ACCA
graduate, and she’s not my mother!’ she replied trying to be as polite as possible.
‘My mother isn’t here, and biologically a girl as young as hers can’t be my
mother.’ He smiled and started drawing random things on a paper. He was drawing
lines mindlessly, just like a 4-year-old who’s learning to write. Emily thought
her bad-day had started and she had to spend the next eight-hours sitting next
to Eric.
‘Do you have any regrets?’ asked Eric. ‘No, I don’t think
so’ she replied. ‘Then why are you here?’ he asked staring her right-in-the-eye
that she was unable to look up. ‘I don’t know, maybe, to understand myself’
Emily replied. He didn’t respond and looked really unnatural.
They didn’t talk for a while. Emily noticed that he was
different; he kept playing with his hairs like a toddler. The seminar started
and the entire attention was diverted towards the speaker. Hours passed by and
Eric looked really tensed. TUCK! CRACK! And the pencil broke. Eric broke his
pencil unaware of what others might think of him or rather he didn’t care.
People around him rolled their eyes and Emily stared at the pencil, baffled. It
was getting harder and harder for Emily concentrate on the lecture for she was
getting more interested in the weird things Eric did. He was absolutely not –
paying attention.
He was lost – in a different world. He was just not there.
In a short-time, Emily was quite frank with him, she felt really comfortable in
Eric’s company. Unlike normal, this 16-Year-Old was the one who dreaded talking
to guys. Emily was never popular among
boys, or so she said. She had always been reserved, more into books, academics
and philosophy. ‘I think if I ever start a relationship, I would lose my aim
and behave immature’ - this was her reply to every guy who ever proposed to
her. She always wanted to be independent and out-of-ordinary. Eric’s case was
different. There was a peculiar Aura around Eric that made Emily feel good when
he was near. He wasn’t one of the cutest faces she had met, nor was he a
motivational speaker. There was nothing extra-ordinary about Eric, except that
he had all of Emily’s attention. Strange, Emily felt.
It was a lunch break, everyone dispersed and it was just
Emily and Eric left on the long-rectangular-table. Emily went and helped
herself with some food. Coming back, she seated herself a little away from
Eric, on the seats that weren’t occupied ‘Why are you like this?’ asked Emily
‘so lost and playing with your curly-black hairs?’ .Chewing the kebab, Eric
said, ‘I don’t know, I want to die’ his forehead wrinkled. ‘My parents want to
get rid of me. I want to beat people’ Emily pressed herself a little farther
away from him ‘Whoa, I hope you don’t beat me!’ she giggled. ‘No, I won’t’, he
said. After this, they talked unstoppably. Eric, who looked so dull before, was
all cheered up and happy. They talked about life and countless other things.
They both enjoyed the conversation. ‘You know, Eric, I see people die in my
dreams, and they actually do’ said Emily licking her spoon. Eric leaned forward
and whispered in her ears ‘Text me when you see me die’ and giggled. Emily was
surprised to find him so close, but she didn’t stop him. She couldn’t, she felt
helpless and frozen.
In a conservative environment, Emily was dealing with a
person who had no idea of the societal and cultural norms. Eric was unaware
that it was considered immoral to just talk to girls back in the traditional
society of sub-continent. Emily had this unusual skill, she could imitate any
accent. She imitated the famous Harry-Potter dialogue addressing Hermione and
Eric felt pleased. He went to clean up his hands and coming back he sat closer
to Emily, without a seat in between, with 7-inches of a distance. Eric smirked
and said ‘Hermione, would you like tea?’ imitating British Accent. Emily burst
into laughter that she had to get up and stop.
They talked crazy and laughed and smiled. Eric advised Emily
to join a film-school and Emily said there is no Film-school here and it’s
considered immoral. Eric thought for good-two-minutes, coming out of his
sub-conscious he said. ‘Listen, let’s go for a walk’ Emily smiled and said ‘No,
the session’s starting soon, we’d miss it’ ‘I don’t care, common, let’s go, we
got twenty-five minutes or more.’ forced Eric desperately. ‘Okay, where are we
going?’ Interrogated Emily. ‘Just
Hanging-out’ Eric smirked again.
Emily took her bag and there they went! Eric, the lost-soul
forgot to wear his shoes and ran bare-feat. Emily shouted, ‘Wear your shoes,
for heaven’s sake!’ ‘Okay okay, I’ll do that’ replied Eric.
They wandered around the unforgettably-remarkable building
doing the stupidest things Emily could’ve never imagined. They talked to a
parrot, ran with sandals and tried to spoil expensive paintings without
thinking they could go to jail for it. ‘Let’s go to other floors’ suggested
Eric ‘We will take stairs, good for health’ said Emily. There were no stairs
for visitors; they had to take the elevator. Emily hesitated on going with Eric
alone in an elevator. Eric’s charming Aura persuaded her, she couldn’t believe;
it was her who always believed in staying as far as possible from boys.
Stepping in the elevator Emily’s heart-beat raced incredibly fast. She imagined
the worst possible scenario that could happen to her. Seeing the cameras she
felt relieved. She wasn’t sure, Eric was so unusual. For a
fraction-of-a-second, she even thought that Eric could be a psychopath with a
cute-smile who could devastate her life in seconds. She pledged she won’t take
such risks again. But Eric wasn’t anything as such; He was just having the time
of his life.
They visited two to three floors till the scariest of all
floors came. It was dark. There was no one on the entire floor except two
sweepers. Emily was scared to death. ‘Let’s go down, there is nothing here.’
said her. Eric laughed, ‘Whoa whoa….Why you freaking out’ ‘I don’t know, Eric,
this is not Canada, you are in Pakistan’ said Emily as loud as possible. There
was subtle light in the hall. As they moved forward they probably witnessed
nature’s most beautiful and jaw-dropping landscape. Emily was startled and she
ran towards it like an idiot. A huge wall of glass covered the Hall which
over-looked the scenery. Eric found himself moving closer to Emily whose face
looked like silhouette in the bright-light. Emily was lost, so was Eric. And
anyone else who ever saw it.
Naturally, Eric took out his iphone4s and raised it to take
her photo. Emily tried to stop him without taking her gaze from the landscape,
he captured her anyway. Unlucky for Eric, Emily didn’t let him capture her face.
It was her back and the hair in his phone. Soon, Emily was back to the
real-world. ‘Hurry, we are getting late for the session’ she shrieked. Waiting
for the elevator, in the dark, Eric whispered; ‘Don’t do this, I am just trying
to live in the moment, we are not meeting again’
Emily couldn’t look up to his face, the elevator came and
they went back. Emily befriended Eric’s girl-cousin who lived in Pakistan.
‘Eric was a good friend, nothing more, I’ll miss him’ said
Emily trying to hide the pain she felt while saying Good-bye to Eric.
Today, Emily doesn’t regret a moment spent with Eric. She’ll
never see him again, but that freak will always be in her mind. :)
