Time Waits For No One

TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE

I can hear the water gushing… so gently. The lush grass tickling my neck while the cold wind swooshes again and again. The stars are brighter and more beautiful than usual, and crickets almost sound like they’re singing. I could just lay like this forever, well that’s just because I don’t have the strength to stand for some reason. This is surely odd, but why do I feel… so peaceful?

Okay, enough of that drama. I couldn’t feel my legs, but I was grateful that my arms still worked. I dragged myself to a tree near the river and sat upright, leaning my back on its trunk. That took a lot of effort, I was gasping like crazy. I finally caught my breath… then I sighed from the top of my lungs. I guess I won’t be seeing her here tonight, either.

Yeah, just another ordinary love story. Well, I think it counts as a “Love Story”… but I wasn’t sure about “ordinary”. Anyway, I promised to meet this girl in this very place and time, but there was no sign of her again. I don’t even remember how many times I came back here and waited for nothing, but I’ll keep waiting… no matter what. But damn, my eyes felt so heavy and I couldn’t keep them open… then I just fell asleep.

A few minutes later, I pleasantly woke up after hearing faint humming from a distant… that song was awfully familiar. Could it be her? I didn’t know. I thought of looking for her, but I couldn’t hear the humming anymore. Frustrated, I banged the back of my head on the tree. It felt like hell, I shouldn’t have done that. I was holding my head in agony until I noticed that the tree had no leaves like before. It withered, it was all white and dry. Then I was just confused, but I haven’t given it that much thought since I was half asleep. I thought of washing my face would clear my head a bit, so I walked to the river… yeah… I could stand and walk again. Probably I was just tired before… that’s what I kept telling myself until I saw that there was no river, just a dry rocky riverbed. The place wasn’t even grassy anymore, sharp rocks covered what I stood on. I fell on my knees, my hands were trembling… the mood was eerie. More so when the thick fog gradually settled in. I could hardly see. I’ve never been so afraid before in my life, but not because it was freaky and scary… but because I somewhat felt… alone.

“Alone”? Now that’s a word. The only reason I’m here waiting for her is to be… well… not alone. I figured moping around won’t solve anything so I decided to look for her. Where should I start?

• Climb up on the tree (Choice 1)

Realizing that walking aimlessly through the thick fog won’t do any good, I decided to climb the withered tree to have a greater range of sight. It wasn’t that big, the trunk didn’t support me much. I felt the dry branches cracking… I could lose my footing anytime, but I kept on climbing.

• I had a bad feeling; it felt like I was climbing endlessly. I still can’t see the crown of the tree yet. I had the thought of climbing back down.

1. Climb back down

Fearing the fact that I could fall any minute, I decided to go back down. Blindly looking for a branch to step on, I lost my footing. I fell flat on my back, and fainted. I could just… lay like this forever. (GO TO RESUME – page 2)

2. Just keep climbing

Going back down would be harder than going up. It took a toll on me. I finally reached the top, but only to see that the fog was covering everything down there. I was gravely disappointed, but still found the heart to keep looking for even just the slightest reference of her. Then I saw a faint sparkle up north… that was it, that could be a signal from her. In haste, I tried to climb back down. Too bad the branch I stepped on broke, and I fell flat on my back. I could just… lay like this forever. (GO TO RESUME)

• Walk through the fog (Choice 2)

Climbing a withered tree in the middle of the night with thick fog embracing you didn’t sound so smart. So I walked aimlessly through the fog. I didn’t even know which direction I was going, but I just kept on walking. No matter how far the distance I thought I covered, I always end up back to the withered tree. I strangely kept walking in circles, I even marked it up with a pointed rock to make sure. My feet, even with my shoes on, might have swollen for walking on these damn rocks for so long. I was losing hope, the silence was overwhelming. I couldn’t see or hear anything; it felt like I was in a vast void. I just laid flat on because of exhaustion. It felt peaceful laying down here before… now I just feel empty. I put myself to sleep. I could just… lay like this forever. (GO TO RESUME)

RESUME:

‘We don’t want that, do we?’

That came from an old woman staring down on me. Her face was all wrinkled and had her gray hair tied back. With her bright hazel eyes, she gestured me to stand… I didn’t feel like it, so just sat upright. She wasn’t the one I was looking for. Ellie’s a young woman who hates to tie her waste length hair and has really dark brown eyes. She roused me when she asked what was I doing, I answered that I was looking for someone.

‘Her name’s Ellie ’, I added.

She smiled as bright as she could, it almost looked awkward. Then she goes humming a familiar song out of nowhere, I guess she was the one I heard before. But that song, I was pretty sure Ellie used to hum it as well.

“You look troubled, care to take an old lady for a walk?” she asked.

Like I could say ‘no’. I stood up and walked with her, I was just a single step behind. I had so many questions in mind, but I just kept them to myself… at least until I find the right time to throw them at her. I mean, I didn’t want her to think that I was crazy or anything. A tree dying, a river disappearing… like she would believe me.

I had no idea where we were supposed to go, but as we were walking I noticed that the fog disappeared. She kept humming that song along the way, the soil was lush green again. The cold gentle breeze soothed me… it felt nice. The stars were also back, although I didn’t notice they were gone before. We ended up near the flowing river, right next to a gigantic tree.

Somehow this old lady humming in front of me, brought everything back to life.

‘We’re here’, she said.

I didn’t know what to say, that was something else. I felt relieved that the place didn’t look like a graveyard anymore, but the way she said those words bothered me. You don’t normally just sprout dead things back to life, but if you can… you should be somewhat happy or something, right? She clearly wasn’t; but it didn’t looked like she was upset, either.

I tried to break the silence. ‘How did you do that?’ I asked.

‘Time waits for no one’, she replied.

I didn’t really get that one. What I did get was that she avoided my question. She suddenly asked for my name next, but she sounded like she was holding back.

Now that she mentioned it… who am I? I tried so hard to remember anything, but the only thing that rang was that I was waiting on this spot for Ellie. But who am I? What do I do? Where do I live? Just blank.

‘I can’t remember’, I replied while holding my trembling left hand. It was very discomforting.

She started humming again. That’s strange, I can’t seem to remember anything from way before… but I have that faint memory of Ellie humming that song as well.

‘I think I know that song, Ellie used to sing that’, I whispered.

She heard that one. The old lady stopped and said while looking straight into my eyes, ‘Glad you remember that, at least’

That look on my face, I saw it reflected in her eyes. Memories flooded. Time Waits For No One – a piece that is sung by both lovers moments before… the other one departs. It’s a song for the dead, so they could leave at peace. So that I… I could rest in peace.

I used to always wait for her out here in the woods. Then lay down after dancing on this big old shady tree until night falls. Then just imagine the stars somehow form anything we could recognize. It felt like that could go on forever… but I before I knew it, I couldn’t find her anymore.

‘It was supposed to be a duet’, she said. ‘You were already sleeping before I got here’.

She may be old, weak, and kind of smells like cinnamon… but she was still Ellie. I stood up, asked her for a dance… so we did. And there we were… dancing as the fireflies glow like sky lanterns beside us. The water gushing so gently, the cold soothing breeze, our reflections in each other’s eyes. We were young again, she was as beautiful as the day I met her. For a while, I was alive. Afterwards, we just laid flat on our backs and laughed for no reason. We could just lay like this forever… but she already kissed me goodbye.

• Time Waits For No One

Time waits for no one,

But I will wait for you,

Fallen leaves will wither

The rivers will run dry

Time will change everyone,

But I won’t change for you

Soon we will deliver

Our bitter-sweet goodbyes

Time can steal anyone

But I will look for you

And we’ll walk side by side again

With just a single step away

Time waits for no one

But time stops when I’m with you

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