To follow

 

I followed her today.

 

Like I follow people, walking toe to toe with their passion, disgust, angst, fury, desire, guilt, sadness, or whatever hell of the bolus they carry in their guts.

 

After school, this is my routine of following for 1 hour, and thereafter I return back home to my den.

 

Don't confuse following with 'stalking'. I know it sounds similar but still. I'm not stalking people, never, that's a bad thing and I don't do bad things. I follow people for what they want.

Sitting in my lonely den, I sometimes only think about what I should follow in life, what is the best for me? I concluded I didn't have enough examples to follow, so I started following people to know their examples.

 

I've been doing this for a long time now since summer of this year. I discovered I wasn't found the first time lest I camouflaged perfectly into the distance, among the trees, between the crowd, behind the sirens of the traffic, or the screeching wheels of a building with ominous souls floating mid-air. So i did what my heart and mind wanted. What I wanted, won't be a good thing to say, as people's desires are never good. They lead to pitfalls and I’m far away from the darkness.

 

Following them, sometimes, I never reflected upon what i was doing, whether it was right or wrong, whether its ethical or illegal, i only knew that i had a way. A way to many doors which I didnt know where they opened. But I still followed.

 

I didn't know her name. Vague like the sunset hues in the sky, she was to me. I hurriedly packed my bag that day and out of the geography class onto the empty assembly stage from where I used to pick my lead each day. Scurrying through the crowds, darting my eyes on each key, if my will said this was right, I followed. But when I saw her, my stomach lurched. My body felt silent when her eyes met mine and i didn't know i was watching her until she cut out and turned to walk her way. I wondered if I should follow or not for the first time.

 

Setting her firm legs on the paddle, she swiftly pulled out of the stand and turned right from the main gate. I followed, my eyes still on the back of her Minions sweatshirt.

 

We cycled through the rest of the pathway till the main road from where she entered a forested alley. The gravel path paved the way for us. Shadows of the sunny trees making patterns on her, while the soft wind danced the way with her long blonde hairs, making a cute repetition with her end curls. My muffled paddles with her made a perfect symphony to be heard in silence.

 

Suddenly after a while she stopped abruptly. I wondered if she'd look back, i would never do this again.

With the little screech of her cycle stand pulling out, she halted, her position diagonal to the original, and pulled out a piece of perfectly squared magenta coloured paper from her backpack. She quietly unfolded the sheet and i think she was reading something given by someone.

 

I was the type of person who wrote letters. I loved writing letters, reading letters, giving it, plus sneakily watching the reader going through my letter. But I didn't give one to her. She was unknown to me. But I also liked people who read letters because no one does. For the many countless times I have given a letter to someone, they either read it quickly to show that they didn't read it at all, or throw them in the bin before even opening the seal. I stopped giving letters for this very reason. I don't like my work going waste, its better to keep it to me rather than giving it in fragile or destructive hands.

 

But she kind of looked intrigued to the leaf. After finishing, she looked up, and i guess she breathed a sigh from the movement of her shoulders going down after a high. Then she crumpled the paper in a tight stone after falling on its one last glance, and threw it with all her might into the depth of the forest. I have found an action of anger I guess.

 

Then she started cycling once more forward, but this time, with gaining speed. I had to paddle thrice than before to keep up the speed. I was growing worried if she'd fall off since there were some big side stones already scrambled here and there. She took some, around five turns and we entered a colony completely new to me.

 

I was to check my watch now, i wasn't supposed to be following this far, but I didn't get the chance. She was thrifting like a squirrel running for its nuts. I dont know what was in the letter, but I bet it made her more furious. Or rather say, angsty.