An Investigation of Life

He hadn’t seen her since the day they left High School. In all honesty it would have been strange if he did. Afterall, she was determined and crazy girl, so if she decided something, she would go through with it. Even if that ‘something’ was faking her own death and dropping off the face of the earth with apparently no provocation. He remembered that day quite well, they were both dead drunk, terrified of the adults they knew and trying to escape their seemingly miserable life. She was born under silver chandeliers, while he had almost been eaten by the rats, that lived in the trashcan he was abandoned in, after he was born. They had nothing in common except a keen desire to have fun with their intellect and a gloomy all-consuming loneliness.

While that day was particularly bad for them, the day itself was rather beautiful. The sky had been a clear blue-and-white that had faded to give way to an even more richly coloured night. Not that either of them could acknowledge it at the time, they were both too obsessed with the people around them. They were obsessed with their lies, happiness, betrayal and loyalty; and they were obsessed with each other. He couldn’t tell you why this was the case back then, perhaps it was because they were too young to know what to do with their life so they tried to be a part of everyone else’s. He knew a lot of things had happened that day, terrible things, but after so many years he could no longer recall what they were. All he remembered from that day was the conversation they had at sunset, outside on her mansion’s yard with party music blaring in the background. They were both dead drunk, or at least, he had been.

“I am breaking up with you” she had said with all the emotion of a robot. “Why?” he had questioned desperately “Please, don’t leave me, I love you, I will die!”. “No, you won’t” she replied “and as for love, you need to fall in love with your poetry, the sky, flowers and life itself first. We both do.” There was a clear finality in her eyes, a light comparable to that of an unsheathed sword, and he had known her for a long time. So he also knew that when she looked like that there was no reasoning with her. Despair began clogging his throat as he realized there was no way to change what was happening right then. “What” he managed to force out, “What will you do now?”. She took a swing from the beer bottle next to her as he hungrily drank in the way she looked, afraid he may never get a chance to see her so close and unguarded again. “I am going find out the meaning of life” she said confidently. “Yeah?” he remembered replying bitterly “Well, best of luck then.” “Thanks” was her only response, “I am actually quite excited about it.”

The news of her ‘death’ came soon afterwards, apparently, she had taken the family boat out on rough waters and crashed it against the rocky land-forms a little- ways past the coast. They had found the wreckage of the boat but no body. That had not mattered much, the coast guard had asserted that it must have been washed away in the tide and her parents didn’t care enough to search. There were several news reports about the incident, none which mentioned, even ironically, that she had been a star sailor with a medal for manoeuvring rough waters. The funeral proceedings turned out to be an even drearier affair where a few came to shed phony tears but left early due the lack of an audience and the somewhat intimidating aura of indifference that cloaked the chapel. However, he found he couldn’t shed a tear himself, and watched numbly as they buried an empty casket and erected a cenotaph bearing her name in the graveyard.

Just then, his phone lit up and his eyes widened in shock as he received a message from a sim card that should have been smithereens on the ocean floor. The text was simple, it read; Sorry not sorry, I needed to investigate the meaning of life and this was the only way. Stop frowning, I’m fine. He didn’t doubt who it was from, he could feel it in his bones. Laughter bubbled up his throat until he was roaring outside the funeral hall. ‘Well, best of luck then.’ he replied and excitedly watched as the circle at the corner of the text went round and round before finally forming two tick marks. The message was sent, even if he would never know whether or not she received it.

He hadn’t seen her since the day they left High School. That was why he so surprised when he received a text message from a number that had been dead for over a decade while walking back to his hotel in Greece. Look up, it said and when he did, he saw her waving from a nearby restaurant window. She looked as beautiful as she did that day. He walked through the restaurant doors and joined her at her table as the waiter arranged a second a second set of silverware in front of him. “I saw you passing by” she said mysteriously. “So how have you been?”. He thought about that question for a while, before finally replying “I am in love with my poetry, the sky, flowers and life itself now. It took a while though.” “Was it worth it?” she asked and he looked out of the window before smiling as he noticed a clump of dandelions growing next to a trashcan. “Yes” he decided. “It was worth it”.

“I am glad” she replied. He observed his old friend closely, she was still as beautiful as the day they first met and he still felt a bone deep sense of comfort and familiarity as he sat opposite to her. It truly felt like nothing had changed between them and soon they would be talking about everything under the sun, but he was surprised to find that his obsessive romantic interest towards her had disappeared entirely. In its place all he found was a burning curiosity. “Tell me”, he asked tentatively “Did you find out? The meaning of life?”

She smiled.

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Author’s note - Sorry for the long delay. No excuses. That's my new story...