Anna

Her name is Anna. She had a friendly face and an even friendlier heart. Her smile could cheer anyone up and her laugh was sheer poetry. She was wearing her favorite dress, a yellow haltered top dress that always reminded her of ripe mangoes and summer, two more of her favorite things. The dress stopped just a few inches above her knees and she smoothed down the hem before she dried her tears and stood up from the cold concrete bench. And without knowing exactly where to go, she walked the school grounds, reminiscing in the chill of that october night.

She wandered around aimlessly, visiting old haunts and places pregnant with memories both bitter and sweet. She brought her hands up to her eyes and silently scolded herself. "Why can't I stop crying?" 

Half an hour later she found herself back at the familiar concrete bench. This had always been her bench and no other place in this old campus felt more like home. With a sigh of resignation, she sat down once more.  And although she tried to stop them, the tears came once more. She buried her face in her hands and started to sob.

"Someone so beautiful shouldn't be crying so hard, and certainly not for this long." 

Anna looked up to see a young man standing in front of her. He smiled at her and for a moment she felt oddly comforted.  

"I can't stop crying and I do not know why." She told him.

He knelt on one knee and looked into her eyes and he said, "I do. Follow me."

And  she did, with the trust of little girl she followed after the young man as he walked briskly in front of her.He led her past the auditorium and past the library, past the canteen and past the  chapel, and soon they were walking out the gates of the school. They took the footbridge across the main avenue, walked past the line of restaurants and coffee shops, some she found familiar and many others which she seems to have seen for the first time. They turned into a small side street and walked until they reached a small compound of townhouses. The young man led her to the third house from the right.

And it was there, through the window did she see him. He was much older than she remembered but she was certain it was him. He sat there alone, a bottle of beer one hand and a five year old photo in the other. She felt her tears stream down her cheeks once more and realized that the man inside was crying too. And although she could not hear him, she clearly saw his lips call out her name, "Anna…" 

She turned to the young man who led her here, to this place, to where she now knew she needed to be. But he was nowhere to be found, like he was never really there at all.  No matter though. She took a deep breath, dried her tears and smoothed out her dress once more. She knew what she had to do.

Then she walked through the apartment's wall to sit with her beloved.