Before We Met

            This is a tale of a boy and a girl. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t one of romance. I find those too clichéd anyway. Romance is overrated, and romance is fragile. They say love is created through destiny, but maybe it is the same for friendship as well? Who is to say that we were not destined to meet every single person in our life?

            This story is about me and a girl. Let's call her Fi. She is someone I got to know not too long ago, as we go to college together. The strange thing is, I feel like I have known her for ages. When we talk, there is a certain fluidity to it, unlike when I talk to someone I don’t really know. We bonded abnormally fast and seemed to trust each other really easily. We also had this thing for sensing each other’s feelings and are at each other’s aid just when we both need it the most.

            However, there was one thing that really bothered me. Neither of us remembered where, when, or how we actually met each other. Now, you may think that this is rather minor, but I have a habit of keeping tabs on how I met everyone I’m close to, and it really bothers me. Then one day, I had a dream.

            This dream I had was unlike any other. It was so clear that I actually thought it to be real, and that I was actually there. But it was impossible, because I saw myself from a third-person point of view. Not myself as I am now, but myself as a child. I was playing in a sandbox with a girl of about the same age. Right away, I knew that the girl had to be Fi. But how can that be? Of course, I don’t remember when I met her, but I was positive that I haven’t known her for that long.

            It felt so surreal. My dream continued flicking through scenes of me and Fi as we grew up together. My 9^th birthday where Fi gave me a toy lightsabre as a present, the time when we turned 13 and had to go to separate schools, and another scene at 16 when she was in tears and I was there consoling her. I was dazed and confused. If these were memories, I definitely did not live them. So, what did they mean?

            I woke up with a jolt, covered in sweat. I looked at the clock. It was already 6 in the morning. I wasn’t planning on going back to sleep anyway, so I got out of bed and cleaned myself up for class. All the time, I only had the dream in my mind. I was still clueless as to what I just dreamt of. Were any of those scenes real?

            I was still daydreaming about it as I walked to class, so I wasn’t paying attention as to where I was going. I was walking at a normal pace through the corridors towards my class when BAM!! I crashed into someone and both our books flew in all directions. I hastily looked for the person I walked into so I could apologise, when I saw that it was Fi. She, apparently, wasn’t looking where she was going too. When we made eye contact, however, all in that split second, everything instantly made sense.

            The dream I had were definitely memories, but not mine. I never lived them. But I may just as well have had. I then knew that somewhere out there, in a parallel universe, in an alternate reality, those scenes actually played out. Fi and I were childhood friends. We grew up together. More importantly, we helped each other through life. Fi and me had already known each other before we even met! But as fate had it, we didn't live in that strand of reality, but our lives had always meant to be intertwined. And even though she never told me, I knew she had the exact same dream.


-Izzat R.