I walked briskly but steadily up the hill. I was sure I was beginning to see the tip of my boulder, and I felt my blood quicken in excitement. My favourite day had come. Waiting 365 days for one day always felt too long. But when the day usually came with all its sights and all the fun it offered, those excruciatingly long days felt worth it. Like today.
Nothing made me happier than throwing little rocks at those silly lovebirds and laughing at their childish antics. Love was fickle and overrated. And I was here every year to prove that to those pathetic souls stuck in the web of their own self-induced, ignorance-fused cage.
As I approached, I felt my smile wither to a frown. There was a new boulder placed atop the one I usually sat on. And it was a strange because I didn’t think anyone came up here apart from me. But as I reached the boulder, I felt rage stir deepbin me. It wasn’t a long, oddly-shaped boulder as I thought. It was a long, oddly-shaped man sitting on my boulder.
A man! On my boulder.
He must have heard me coming because he turned before I could speak. “Yes?” he asked in a calm, bored expression. I, on the other hand, was anything but calm. His nonchalance caused a white hot stream to simmer in my insides.
“Excuse me, Mister. I believe you’re seated on my property.”
He had the decency of looking confused. “Your property?”
“Yeah, this boulder and entire setting belong to me.”
He began rummaging intensely for something in the grasses. After thirty seconds, my patience dissipated. “What are you searching for?”
He looked up and sat back. “Where your name was written anywhere on this setting.”
“You don’t even know what my name is.” I spoke through gritted teeth.
He shrugged “It doesn’t matter. I know you’re lying.”
“And why would you think that?”
“Because I’ve been coming here every day for the last year, and have never seen you once.”
I temporarily deflated. “Oh. That’s because I only come on a particular day. That’s today.”
He looked interested then. “Why?”
Absently, I pointed beyond him to the ground below us. The muffled voices of couples singing, laughing, and talking, coupled with the warm wash of the sea’s waves, and the full moon overhead, gave a hum to the beach’s love-filled atmosphere. Too beautiful for words. Too painful as well.
“You come here every year to watch people in love be happy?”
“No. To spite people in love for being happy.”
I saw him look at me then. Really look at me. I was about to utter that he’d better not start prying into my life, or worse, begin to pity me. But he merely scooted to the side and looked ahead. It was an invitation to sit, and I was grateful for his restraint to pry.
I weighed my options. I could simply go back home and let this day go. After all, I didn’t know who this guy way, and even though my feminine instincts said otherwise, he could still be a serial killer.
But I found myself sitting with the strange man a second later, staring wordlessly at the beach below. Twenty minutes later, I’d forgotten about the man beside me and began throwing pebbles down as was my custom. The boulder overlooked a cliff and was shielded by bush that ensured I would remain unseen and undetected.
As i picked the next stone, a pebble sped past. I looked at the guy beside me, and he shrugged, barely able to conceal a grin. “What? I just want to see what’s so special.”
I gave him a condescending snort in response and resumed my game. Soon, it became a competition of who could throw more stones on target. I was better, of course, owing to years of practice. But he was a good sport, and soon, we were throwing our heads down in laughter.
The early hours of the morning came. We had since grown tired, settling into an almost comfortable silence as we leaned against each other, basking in the outbursts of the angered beach-dwellers. At least, that’s what I was doing.
“So,” partner-in-crime strange man started. “You mind telling me why you —”
I chuckled and leaned away . “Let’s not do this. Please.”
“But I —”
“Hey, you two!" An angry voice interrupted. "You mind telling us what you’ve spent the last three hours doing?" Oops. Looks like we’d been caught. I looked back to see two men and a woman in uniforms glaring menacingly at us. Strange man and I glanced at each other, and as if on cue, raised our hands in the air.
While we were whisked away to separate vehicles which I presumed would drive us to where we would be arraigned for community service, hopefully, strange man turned to me.
“Would you tell me your name, at least?”
I smiled, noticing for the first time how nicely he looked under the moonlight. “Maybe next year.”
He hesitated a bit, then nodded and smiled as he was whisked into the waiting police car.
Maybe next year, indeed. I smiled and for the first time in years, I let myself hope.
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