Rosey was an Irish girl with an accent that could battle the gods; her curly and wavy deep brown hair was gotten from her mom; and her eyes were light blue, so rare that if you look at them from afar, you'd think they were gray. Carefree and high-spirited, she never cared about the obstacles of life—no, never because she had too much; in fact, she came from a poor traditional home, but they were always content and happy with the little they had.
On her 18th birthday, Rosey was given a bicycle as a gift, which ended her life in an accident. If she had known she wouldn't have gone out to try the bicycle, maybe she could have listened to her mom and waited till the next day.
Reborn into another body, she woke up with all her memories from her previous life. She was called Naomi in this life, and Naomi hated bicycles. Just the mere sight of it gave her nightmares and horrible flashbacks of her previous life. It turns out she had developed something called cyclophobia—a fear of bicycles—and to make matters worse, she lived in a place where people used bicycles like air itself. Netherlands «The land and realm of bicycles»
But things didn't stop there; it turns out that she could see into the future of anyone who rides a bicycle; she could see how they get into accidents and, in the worst cases, how they never make it out alive. And for that reason, Naomi was never a happy girl; she was always traumatized by her gift to see into the future, depressed, and never left the house unless it was important to go out, and school was pretty important.
“Hey, can I sit with you?.” A strange blondy asked, looking at Naomi with a small smile. You could just tell she wanted to be friends with Naomi.
Naomi, who just wanted her space, looked at her strangely, then looked back at her tray. Currently, she was at school and it was lunch time. Naomi never socialized; she distanced herself because all it took for her to see her vision was make body contact with anyone, and boom, she's traveling into your future like it's hers.
"Oh, okay, I will take that as a yes.” The blonde-haired girl made herself comfortable on the opposite side of the seat, dropping her tray of macaroni, salad, an apple, and a juice box. Naomi looked at the tray of this strange girl, then looked away, minding her business. As long as she doesn't answer the blonde-haired girl and they don't make body contact, then it's fine with her; after all, they all leave after they find out that she's not ready to talk to or with them.
“Do you want some of my salad or macaroni? I don't mind sharing; my mom always said sharing is the beginning of a good relationship.” The girl talked like she was asked to speak.
Naomi rolled her eyes, pulling up her hoodie to cover her face, while taking a bite from her sandwich. After all, she only had a sandwich and a juice box on her tray.
“You know I've always wanted to be your friend. My name is Candy. Do you remember back in fourth grade, you helped me when I was being bullied? So I kind of looked forward to being your friend, best friend even.” Candy's face flushed after revealing her intention. But Naomi wasn't moved by anything; she just said she'd remember saving Candy, but that was a long time ago.
Still no response. Candy stared at Naomi with a pout. You could just see that Candy had innocent intentions, but Naomi wasn't buying it as she got up to go submit her empty tray and go to class.
“Can I come with you?.” She heard but didn't respond to Candy. Candy was a clear definition of a playful, cheerful, and free-spirited person; she didn't care about a lot of things people cared about; she was just too bubbly and always in her own world, and that annoyed Naomi to a great extent because she was exactly like Candy in her previous life, and that brought about her death.
“Woah, we share the same classes; do you know that?. We are destined to be best friends forever.” Weird. Naomi thought. "Hey, I'm talking to you; you didn't even tell me your name?.” And Candy makes the greatest mistake by grabbing hold of Naomi's bare hand, and Naomi looked into the future how she neglected Candy, how she didn't answer the poor girl who was following her like a puppy all through their class, and then she saw herself yelling at Candy to leave her alone only to get the blondy upset. She stood and watched how Candy cried trying to ride her bicycle into the road, and lack of concentration got her hit by a truck. Candy died, and she felt it was her fault, if only she had been a little bit nice.
Her breath hitched from panting and panicking. She turned around just to find out she was still in class. She looked around just to make sure before trying to control her breathing, inhaling from her nose to calm her heart down.
“Are you alright? "It seems like you kind of blacked out just a while ago.” Candy inquired with a concerned lash in her voice and pretty blue eyes.
"Yes, I'm fine.” Naomi responded before realizing she was answering Candy for the first time since they met. “I'm glad you're. You wanna come over to my house?."
“No, don't push it."
"But_"
“No.”
“Okay. I won't push my luck, but do you ride a bicycle?.” Candy pressed on.
“No, and stop talking; we're in class.” Naomi's attention was on the professor, even if she was answering Candy's nonstop questions.
“I know we're in class; it's going to be over in the next five minutes anyway. Do you want me to teach you how to ride a bicycle? I'm an expert; even my grandma says so too.” Candy said with a proud smile across her face.
“No, and keep quiet before I get mad." Candy pouts like a one-year-old bringing her hand to place them on Naomi's. Naomi noticed and quickly pulled off her hands. “And don't touch me; I didn't give you permission to do that."
The bell rang, and all the students were rushing out of class since it was their last class for the day and it was a Friday. Naomi started to pick up her things, putting them in her school bag.
“Ah, do you want a ride home? I have a bicycle; I could drop you off.” Candy offered.
“No. I don't like bicycles, and I walk alone.” Naomi walked out of the class, and Candy was behind her like a puppy wagging her tail.
"Oh, there's my bicycle over there,” Candy pointed at a certain bicycle parked with other bicycles. “But let's walk home together.” Candy gave her the biggest smile ever.
“Okay.” Naomi cracked a small smile too.
“I used to have cyclophobia too; I was scared of bicycle because I lost my mom to it; she fell off some cliff because the breaks of the bicycle got damaged and we couldn't save her." Naomi could relate to the story because that was her story too, only that she was given another chance to live again. “I always miss her,” Candy sniffed while wiping the tears running down her face. “But I'm okay now; that doesn't mean I would let my fear destroy me, so I will help you overcome your fear too.” Candy still had that genuine smile on her face.
And that got Naomi thinking for the first time: this might just be the light at the end of the tunnel she had been waiting for. Being a loner with anxiety, nightmares, trauma, and depression was killing her soul; she might never tell anyone about her gift. But thanks to it, she was able to stop fate from reoccurring in Candy's case. But she wanted to live again, and looking at Candy made her want to live, she used to be like this annoying loud girl too.
“After all, we are best friends.” Candy ended her statement.
“Yeah, best friends.” Naomi tasted the word friend on her lips. For the first time after a long time, she had a friend who brought back memories, but good memories this time.
