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Monday. 11/07/05. 10:11:05 PM
Waking up from some dream, Ryo sat up straight in a quick jerk,
his muscles contracting fast and becoming stiff in a matter of
seconds.
His neck hurt, he's been on the bus for almost twenty-some
hours, and even with the scheduled breaks and meals in greasy
diners, the stress of sitting in a bus for hours and hours was
toiling on his body.
Looking out the window, the darkness of the night covering the
silhouettes of the moon, he couldn't wait till he reached his
destination, till he got out of this stingy bus.
Eiji had said that he couldn't go back anymore, that it was
impossible for life to go back to the way it was anymore,
because the choices you make every second is permanent, and no
matter how much you tried to change your choices, even if it was
something as miraculous as returning to life after death, the
path that was chosen is already set, forever and ever, no matter
what.
"People couldn't treat me the same anymore," Eiji said. "Because
it's hard to take you back once they've lost you, it's hard for
everything to be normal again once they've already experienced
such grief." He smiled, a sad one, the tea's steam mixing with
the curves his face makes. "Once something changes, it can never
continue the same ever again, even if you forcefully change it
back."
"So what are you plans for now?" Ryo asked.
"I don't know," Eiji replied. "Like I said, I'm done with all my
good-byes, so I just needed to tie a loose end before I left for
my trip."
"Where are you going?"
"Who knows," He chuckled at this. "The world is wide and
infinite." A pause, staring out the windows, staring out at the
people and cars passing by. "I'm sure I'll find a place I can
call home again." Another pause, another break.
They didn't say anything for a while, each sipping their own
tea, until Ryo remembered something, and asked in a timid voice,
"You said you needed to tie a loose end before you left?"
"Yes, I did." Eiji answered simply.
"And?"
Eiji lifted a hand and reached into his left pocket in his
jeans, and struggled a little as he tried to pull something out.
Ryo tried to be patient, but he couldn't help but peek curiously
at what Eiji was pulling out.
It was a piece of paper, folded and crumbled, worn out on the
edges and surface.
Handing it over, Eiji said. "Just follow the address, it'll get
everything that you were wanting to know."
Opening it up, Ryo read the tiny inscription written on the
piece of paper in blue ink pen, the handwriting horrible, yet
readable enough. "Sorry I got bad handwriting," Eiji chuckled as
he sipped more tea. "If you want, I can rewrite that for you in
a better hand."
"No, that's alright." Ryo smiled back. "It says '3101 Collins
Avenue, Florida 33140', right?"
"You got it." Eiji responded.
"And what's there?"
"You'll know once you get there," Eiji replied. "Because I don't
know, since it has no significant meaning to me at all."
"Have you been there before?"
"Nope."
"Then how did you get this?"
"Don't really know." Eiji shrugged. "It was stuck in my mind for
a second, right after I got home and showered," he pointed at
the writing on the paper. "That's why it was so badly written,
since I had to write it down before it went away, before I
forgot about it."
Reading the written words and looking up at Eiji again, Ryo
asked "So why me?"
"Why not?" Was Eiji's simple response. |
