Homecoming

He got down from the bus, taking in the surroundings ever so slowly. The places where he'd so often forgot that time moved; the places where he'd come running to, when he felt low; the places which had seen his extreme emotions. He felt complete, after such a long time. It was as if he had left a part of him behind there, just so that he wouldn't forget the boy he was. It had been a long time since he last kept his foot on this land. It was so serene and peaceful, as if nothing had happened; nothing had changed. Yet, there he was, a completely different person coming back for something he had left behind. He was walking at a steady pace now, reminiscing about the day he had decided it was time. .

His life had been a mess. He was regularly having bouts of depression. He had started to question his place, in the life of others surrounding him. He started to feel like an alien among the closest of his friends. He was wondering whether he was doing what he loved. It was she, who'd told him to 'walk a different road'. When others started to hate his presence, she had felt obliged to comfort him. He still couldn't forget how beautiful she was. Those brown/black eyes; her petite nose, which made a mockery out of the sharpest of lines, when looked at from the sides; her lips, which could slither into a smile with such ease ; her ears, which had all those different angles and curves which no geometry could get close to defining; the curly lots of her hair that he loved twirling onto his fingers. He had missed her the most, of all the things when he had tried to start a new life at a new place. She hated to see him become silent and moody. All he had to do was, to talk to her and everything went back to normal. It was like, she had this power to adsorb all the resentment out of him. He had never known a woman could be so comforting because he had lost his mother at a very early stage in his life. And all of a sudden, it had occurred to him that he was starting to smother her, although she had laughed at him when he told her that. He had told her what he wanted to do and he had been their to see the pain in her eyes, when he told her he had to move away for some time. He told her that he would come back and she told him that she would wait for him forever. They had decided they wouldn't communicate with each other, other than in their presence. .

And now, after nearly 9 years he was going back for her. He could still hear her words that were spoken that day; her awkward attempt at being cheerful even though she felt more sad than she could've ever imagined. He was almost there now. A mere five yards separated him from the door he'd so often dreamt of knocking, in his dreams. He felt a hand on his shoulder. A whisper in his ear : 'Forever, is not as long as it sounds' . .