Strangers

It's lucky how everyone has something to look forward to.

The sun was setting and its rays dyed the streets red. The rush hour traffic moved slowly towards home, whever it was. She  jogged towards the new building around the university's corner, her bookbag swinging by her side as she ran. A smile that almost broke was still hidden on her face. She ran, and braked suddenly at the sight of him. He was standing there, looking in the other direction. She called out his name. His head turned, but expressions hardened. He seemed as if he wanted to walk away but couldn't. He was waiting for someone for sure. As she called his name and approached him, he became more and more uneasy. His sharp stare did not seem to affect the girl's mood at all.

"Look! Full marks...." she showed the half crumbled paper in her hand to the boy. He glanced at the paper then at her. "It's none of my business." The smile on her face did not disappear. "Brother! Look.... im so happy.." She panted as she talked to him, as he remained emotionless and his head has already turned the other way. "You can go now." he announced. "Brother...." she tried to catch her breath as she calmed down. Her eyes never left the sight of his face, even though he never directly looked at her since a month ago. She still smiled, "I'm so happy.. I feel happy...."

"Leave me alone."

"Ni san...."

The traffic light in the distance turned red as the cars on the horizontal street charged forward. "Ni-san...." her voice has not faded, but was beginning to lower. Her joy was half gone, but still reminisent. He has stopped responding at all. She stood closer to him and whispered his name. In a rage, he turned and whipped his hand across her face. She lost balance and fell backwards a little, but approached carefully again, the smile still visible. "Ni-san...." The words only brought his second slap, threatening as he backed from her. His eyes were full of fury and danger. She was like a child, smiling as if nothing has happened. But tears of pain were starting to gather around her eyes.

"Ni-san!" "I'm not your brother anymore!" he yelled, and gave a full blow across her cheek. She dropped the paper and placed her hands on her cheek at instinct. Passerbys slowed down to look, but quickly hurried away at the sight of the boy's madness. The girl picked herself up, slowly and unnaturally, but when she saw his face and eyes again, her smile resumed. "It's ok...." she said as she smiled tearfully. "I just.... I just wanted to share with.. with you.... the joy i feel.. that i feel.... I.... sorry.." she gave a small polite nod to him. The boy was breathing fast and heavily, as he felt the blood rushing to his head. The very person he would last want to see on earth appeared in front of him again like a shadow that will never go away. He searched for the peripheral of her face; he could not bear to look her in the eye.

She picked up the paper and smiled at him, wiping the tears away with one hand. "Just wanted to see you...."

"Well i don't."

She smiled and, without a word, she walked towards the empty street where the traffic was gone, greenlight meant nothing, and she reached the middle, a silver sportscar raced from the right hand side and smashed her into pieces. The car's brake screamed across the street and pieces of paper fell onto the ground from the air.

The boy looked from across the road. His face remained unchanged.

A small flame inside his heart finally diminished, now and forever.