Dear Phantom, How Dare You Show Yourself To Me

A few weeks back, I wrote about this classmate of  mine who I have codenamed Phantom because of his annoying habit of randomly getting in and out of my grad school life. I let him occupy  this tiny space in my conscious mind because I thought he was gone. Forever. Today, I feel cheated.

You moron.

After class, I rushed out of the room to make an important call. I was walking towards the canteen area, with my phone pressed on my right ear, pissed that no one was answering. And then there you were. You were clutching a hamburger then you looked up. You know how someone looks at you and his eyes twinkle in recognition? That was it. That was how you looked at me. I didn't stop walking or dropped my phone upon realizing that it was indeed you. That movie-inspired bullshit doesn't really happen for real. I continued walking, but I was wide-eyed. It felt as if something just opened up inside me; just as you open a bottle of Coke and all the bubbles race to the surface and fizz. I suddenly felt so happy. My soul surely liked your presence. It must have recognized you from a previous lifetime.

You can cue the retarded smile at this point. I couldn't help it. I was reprimanding myself for being so junior high.But what the hell. I thought I was never going to see you. I was thinking that  this was enough. But as I was about to leave the campus, I saw you again. No, I sensed you. I was texting then somebody brushed past me. I knew it was you, but I had to look back to be sure. I was right. See? I can sense you now. You have managed to penetrate the walls I have built to ward off people like you. Today, we crossed paths three times. When I met up with a friend, she told me to ask for your name, should there be a fourth time. I said I'd rather not.

It was really good to see you. And to me that was enough. I don't even want to entertain the thought, the possibility. Like I said, enjoy the questions, bask in the uncertainty of it all. Attempting to go beyond this is like trying to capture the sunset in crescendo through your smartphone. You simply cannot. All its glory can't possibly be enclosed within the four corners of a photograph.

Just as you don't need to own everything you love.
 
 Thank you dear Phantom for being the rescue from a day that almost seems like all the other days. Thank you for breaking the humdrum of my otherwise boring life. See you in the next Saturdays.