The Girl and Her

'Many people walk in and out of our lives; some left footsteps, some are merely passers-by;and we are never, ever the same'.

She seemed oblivious to the chatters around her, to the lectures around her. The sun that shone brightly didn't have any impact on her. To her, she has been in an abyss of darkness for months. She didn't want to be there, she felt a pit of loneliness..For she is isolating herself from the rest of the new-comers who were happily befriending each other.


Her mind couldn't focus on anything at all; and the piles of work that kept coming were suffocating her amidst her struggle with her low self-esteem. She decided that she was the slowest person in class who couldn't get anything into her mind; and her godmother told her, she could do things at her own pace. So she asked Qs when the lecturer asked if anyone needed clarification. To the rest, she was someone who asked too many questions in class, someone who delayed everyone for lunch. Above all, she didn't seem to be part of the class.


Never in her wildest dream that some people out there didn't give up on her though she was giving up on herself. She was building a wall around her; yet there were people who penetrated the barrier to befriend her, to tell her she was not alone in the stress that everyone was facing. They didn't realise her condition then. Yet, their words, their gestures, day by day, contributed to making her see sunshine days once again.


She could still recall vividly how this girl has talked to her in library, inquiring why she was still there at that late hour. How the girl had selflessly opened the critical appraisal file for her reference. How the girl told her that 'it is ok not to understand everything, and it is ok to forget'. She had thought that this loud, blunt girl would hate her most for all the things she had done in her state of mind.


That fateful day in the library, seeds of friendship were sown. For many coming days, she teased and got teased by the girl. She talked to the girl about her bitter experience with a bugger. Gossip sessions. 'Leeching' sessions. Outings. The girl has never failed to cheer her up in her own way of 'screaming reality' at her.


She didn't know what to say to the girl on a Thursday. Viewed as someone with a gift of a gab, she was at loss for words. All she could do was to sit next to her, for she felt that the girl needed moment of solitude. To her, you could still show your support despite not saying a word. After all, 'you say it best, when you say nothing at all'.


She knew that the girl would be over it soon. Time is a great healer. The girl is one strong, power girl. She would get hit and bounce back. Before long, the girl would be screaming at her for wearing 'ugly shoes' to uni.


"You've got troubles, I've got 'em too. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you. We'll stick together to see it through cause you've got a friend in me."- Randy Newman


"At the shrine of friendship Never say die, Let the wine of friendship never run dry." - Les Miserables (Jean-Marc Natel & Alain Boublil