Something He Said

A university student reminiscing on the past.

Ked promised he wouldn’t leave her side. He promised he’d take care of her and stick with her through life’s rough pastures. He made a commitment that he would always be there for her even if time stole their youth away. It seemed so ironic, because Ked wasn’t here anymore.

  That was seven months ago. Now, Lisa sat on the bus by herself, earphones plugged into her ears and absently nodding away to the beat of Mariah Carey’s Bye Bye. The song brought tears to her eyes as memories of the past came rushing back into her head. She’d tried to repress those memories but repression never seemed to work for her. Visions of Ked flooded her thoughts and blocked out her surroundings – she couldn’t think of anything else but the moments they’d spent together.

  She recalled the romantic evening they spent on the beach, watching the sunset and feeling the gentle summer breeze as it blew in their faces. That was the best evening of her life. Ked was sitting beside her with one arm draped around her shoulder, and she was snuggled up against his muscular chest, listening to his heartbeat. Their toes dug deep into the soft grainy sand. He was telling her of all the crazy things he planned to do before he graduated from university.

  “I want to bungee jump.” He had said. There was a wild look in his eyes and she could tell that he was meant it.

  “You’re really crazy. That’s dangerous!” She blurted out before she could stop herself. “Think about protection! You could die if something happened while you jumped. It’s not safe.”

  Ked smiled easily and lifted her chin with a gentle flick of his thumb. “You’re missing out on the gist of life. Life’s too short to be lived. You gotta make use of your youth to do the things you want to do, no matter how retarded or fanatical they may seem. That’s what life is about – it’s about taking risks and enjoying the thrill of it.”

  As she opened her mouth to protest, he continued, “You should take that big break you’ve always wanted to take. Go do something crazy to relieve yourself once in a while. Go travel the globe.”

  She laughed it off. “No way. That’ll take me months. I need to think about my future, Ked. I need to get a job right after I graduate. Maybe I’ll go travelling after I’ve found myself a job.”

  “You won’t. You’d be too busy working. I know you, Lisa.” Ked looked at her seriously this time. “Trust me, you don’t want to commit yourself to working right away. It’s a tedious process. It’s pure torture. You’re only nineteen. You can afford to make mistakes and get away with it. Tell you what – let’s go to Hollywood next week. I know you want to.”

  Her jaw dropped open. “Next week? What, are you serious? We’ve got our midterms in two weeks!”

  “So?” he shrugged nonchalantly. “We’ll just go for a couple of days. We’ll be back in time for our exams. Hey, don’t face the books all day. You really need to get out there and enjoy life, you know?”

  Once again, she just laughed it off and thrust him a playful punch in the arm. A few days later, while Ked was windsurfing on the waves, he drowned and never got to leave the water alive. Lisa shut her eyes as she remembered his rigid, lifeless body sprawled on the sand. She promised herself she’d stop thinking about it. But she couldn’t. She missed him so much.

  The bus jerked to a stop. The doors opened – people were coming up the bus. She peered out the window and saw that they had reached her stop. She was supposed to get out here. Slowly, she rose to her feet and began to gather all her textbooks and clumsily tried to balance them on her arm as she squeezed through the new throng of passengers that had just climbed onto the bus. One of them was wearing a bright orange tee-shirt that read “HOLLYWOOD”. All of a sudden, she froze in her tracks.  Ked had died without being able to fulfil his dream to bungee jump. His life had been stolen in a sudden accident and Lisa cringed when she thought of her future. Would she actually live to see tomorrow?

She thought of Ked saying "Life’s too short to be lived. You gotta make use of your youth to do the things you want to do, no matter how retarded or fanatical they may seem. That’s what life is about – it’s about taking risks and enjoying the thrill of it.”

  An unusual wave of zeal rushed through her. Before she knew it, she had unplugged her earphones and was turning on her heel, pushing her way through the crowd to get back to her seat. The irritated bus conductor glared at her and snapped, “Weren’t you about to get off here, miss?”

  She turned to him and smiled. “No, I’ve changed my mind. I want to go to the airport.”

  “That’s another mile away,” the man looked perplexed. “Why, are you flying off somewhere?”

   “Yes. Hollywood.”

Author's Note

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Reviews

[TLK]

I'm not sure if "life’s rough pastures" works...