Our Promise

By De Ming

Like I've mention, there is another story I created called Our Promise, if you are interested please read on even though I do not think it was that good. I still meant every word I wrote though

The sky was covered with thick dark clouds as it announces the coming of the rain. I sighed heavily as a streak of lightning flashed before my eyes. I switched on the radio and a soft sad tune started to play, within the depths of my heart I could feel a dark emptiness. It was as if I lost something or someone precious. What was this feeling? I could find no answer.

At last my car drove into the car porch. I unlocked my door and slid lazily out. I began fumbling for my keys as the car door was slammed shut. When I was inside my house, I chucked my coat aside and slumped down onto my sofa. After minutes of staring at the ceiling and trying to understand the feeling within me, I picked myself up and started to rummage through piles of untidy boxes. It has been weeks since these boxes have been ready to be unpacked into my new home.

With every box, the feeling kept getting stronger. Out of frustration I threw a book up into the air. As it landed beside me, I noticed a photograph flapping down slowly. I picked it up gently as it landed on the floor.

“Daphne?” I whispered. “Will you remember me after ten years?”

I shook that memory out of my mind and began tracing the outline of the two figures in the photograph. I understand now the emptiness in me, ten years has passed. Even though I hoped she would remember me, but I have unfaithful and have forgotten about her and all our times together.

She lay back and laughed, “Of course.”

I stared at the photograph again, a photograph of Daphne and I. I smiled as I noticed that I was trying my best to press her shoulders down so she would look shorter. I remembered the look on her face after that, this was and has always been my favourite picture. Has it really been this long? Ten years seems to have passed me by like a flash. I looked around my house and caught sight of my white coat.

“You’re going to be a doctor,” Daphne said one day.

“I doubt I will, I don’t like earning money through other people’s sickness.” I laughed as the memory of how upset I was at her joke of being a doctor. Not once did I ever consider that she might just be right. Not once did I guess I would find so saving lives my passion. Not once.

Our friendship began humbly, the act of sharing one’s heart with the other. But for one such as me who has never been given this privilege until then, it meant the world to me. It was that very day I made a promise to myself that what ever she would have to go through; she will never go through them alone, because I will be there by her side.

“You are special to me; each and every one of my friends is special to me. None can replace the other.”

She was the only person to ever say that to me. I wish I had told her how special she was to me. I wish she knew that she was the only one who was able to change my mood from utter blackness to joy. I wish she knew she was the only person I cared so unselfishly for. I wish she knew she was the person I felt most at ease with. I wish she knew she was the first girl that had offered me a hug. I wish she knew she was special to me too, really special.

I woke up a little nervous that morning. It was exactly ten years since our promise. It was also her birthday. As I stood by the counter of a gift shop, ready to pay for Daphne’s present, I realize that I have been using this wallet for ten years. It was her who gave this to me.

“I’ve got something to tell you.” There was definitely something wrong with her that day.

“Spill the beans.”

She stared at her feet and said slowly, “I’m moving…” She choked at that moment. Moving? Where to? My brain went dead as I waited for her answer. “Australia.”

For the next ten minute there was complete silence. In the end I plucked up enough courage to speak, “Daphne? Will you remember me in ten years?”

I knew her laughter was forced as she answered me, “Of course.”

Both of us then stared away from each other. But when I to look at her I noticed tears streaming from down her cheeks. She was crying. It was the first time she ever cried in front of me. As much as I would like to cry with her, my heart seemed frozen. Moving? No, it can’t be. She’s lying. Why?

Best friends are titles we carry around, but true friends are some thing in our hearts that words find hard to express, it can never be compared to a best friend. I was going to lose my true friend that day. What about the moments we share? What about the times spent together? Why must this happen Although we could still communicate, it will never be the same.

“Promise me that we will meet up ten years from now?” I whispered.

“Promise.”

Although time may change us, although our path may separate, although life will still have to go on, the promise lasted till this very day. It was our promise

It was already five in the evening and I was in the place we had promise to meet each other, on the bench of a park. It was a simple place, yet when we were lonely or were sad, this is where we would be. I stared at the empty space beside me which she had occupied ten years ago. I knew she was going to come. I believe that we all of heart.

But slowly I watched the sun set before my eyes and the stars and the moon came out in all its beauty. The streetlights began to light up one by one and still the seat beside me was empty. She has forgotten our promise. I guess this was how much I meant to her, I guess this was how much I had impacted her. I laughed at how I thought all this years she would remember a pathetic fool like me, a fool who actually believes that all stories has a happy ending. I could see clearly now. I will not be fooled again. The word friendship was just a word that held no meaning.

I was like a walking corpse as I step into my parent’s house. I did not eat, I did not drink. I sat by the study table and taped nicely on the wall was the class photo, for three years Daphne was in there with me, after that it was only me. My eyes caught sight of the heart shape paper she had given me as a token of appreciation during Valentines Day. After ten years all these are still here. So what? They mean nothing to me anymore. Once again just like I did ten years ago, I was trying my best to forget her. But everything I did just kept reminding me of her, her empty seat, her favourite song, her pictures and even the sound of some one’s laughter reminded me of ours. That was why I studied so hard, to erase her from my mind. That was why I did not answer her e-mails. It just hurts so much.

That night memories of her haunted me even more so, by time I was awake it was already twelve. I ate without tasting, bathe without soap and started the car without it’s keys. By then it was already four-thirty, I searched for my keys in my pocket and the photograph fell out of my pocket. The very same photograph that had reminded me of her. I stared at it and was about to throw it away when I remembered something.

“Pick a date when we will meet.”

“My birthday?”

“No, I don’t want that date. Pick another.”

“The day after my birthday?”

Crap, I got the date wrong, it was not her birthday. It was the day after her birthday, which means our promise was today. I ran into the house and grabbed the keys, as I left to the park I laughed and laughed. I was really a pathetic fool.

Every year of my life, there would always be a time when I will sit down and recount to myself all that has happened. I would ask myself whether this year was better than the last. On most occasions, I would usually find that one precious year has gone by wasted and I would promise the same old New Year resolutions. That is until this year, for this year things are different. There are many reasons why this year was such a blessing to me, but in this story here, I would like to just focus on one of the prominent reason for this feeling of gratitude and contentment.

There was a boy who walked aimlessly along a dark narrow path, this path was overgrown with bushes and occasionally the boy had to suffer scratches just to walk along the path. At times the path split and the boy would anyhow decide the path he was to take. If one was to describe this boy, it would be someone who was lost and did not have a purpose or a reason in life. This boy would meet people along his path, but their road would leave his and soon he was walking alone once more. When he was sad, no one was there to comfort him, when he was happy, no one laughed along with him. But one day as the rain poured down on him and the cold made his bones shivered, a certain Someone walked into his path, unlike many of those people that came along his path, Someone bothered to stay with the boy as it poured down hard. This Someone sat by him and cheered him up till the rain stopped. When the dark clouds started to clear and the sun began to shine, Something happened to the boy, Something wonderful. The boy changed. He changed not from the outside, but from the inside. He walked a different road now, one that theis constantly bright and cheerful, his pace now fills with purpose. When he was sad, his tears were dried by Someone, when he was happy, he would share the joke to Someone. He was never alone, for Someone always stood by him.

The boy was me and Someone was a person named Xia Shuen. To be honest, I tried many ways to write out this essay and after a month I realized that my words were empty. Yet I did not give up, for I wanted to let her know how much she meant to me. At last, I decided to write it as it is. In the beginning, I tried to write how we were separated and we made a promise to meet each other after ten years. It was called "Our Promise". In reality that did not happen, therefore I could not place my feelings into the writing. So I have decided to just write it from my heart. I thought it would be called "By Her Side", but then "My Promise " fitted the topic better.

Life was a like a game of chess, at times we have to make sacrifices, we have to let one of our pieces to be eaten; we have let go of things although it may hurt. That happened to me, I lost something and I fought so hard to get it back. I failed to do so, but just when I lost hope, Xia Shuen sat by me and listened to me and that changed the world to me.

The first day our mouth spoke was a normal day, but the first day our hearts spoke was a special day, to me at least. She was upset about something and she shared with me one day. At that time it has been so long since anyone trusted me with anything important, so long since I was deemed worthy of such privileges, so long since I felt appreciated. It was then that I made a promise to myself that no matter what happened I would be by Xia Shuen’s side all the way, I would be her friend.

If you were to read any other stories about friendship, it would tell you about a few memorable or powerful experiences and memories that the author has spent with his/ her friend. But in reality, it is all those small and little things that just make the bond closer.

Next year, we might or might not be in the same class, but before that happens I want to let her know how much she meant to me. I want to let her know that she was the only one who was able to change my mood from utter blackness to joy, that she was the first person I cared so unselfishly for, that she was the person I felt most at ease with and that she was the first girl that had offered me a hug. She was special to me, really special. I just did not dare tell her, because it might sound stupid.

All in all, I just want to say thank you for picking me up from where I was. Thank you for listening to me all this time. Thank you for showing me that this person here is appreciated and is worth something. Thank you for all your help. Thank you for teaching me the true meaning of friendship. Thank you for making my life a brighter place. Thank you for asking me to be a prefect. Thank you for all those precious memories. Thank you for giving me another shot in life. Most of all thank you for just being there for me.

I make a promise today here as I did a year ago, that I Gan De Ming would be by you no matter what happens. If you were drowning, I would be there to pull you ashore, if you were falling from the sky, I would be your pillow, if your organs have any problems, and I’ll give you mine. I say this because I know you would do the same for me.