Better Late Than Never

“Well, she sure is punctual.” he said sarcastically, trying to remain patient. Having finished his third cup of coffee, he looked at his watch. 11:30 am, it showed. He thought of giving her a call, but just as he picked up his phone, there she was at the door, entering the cafe with her frizzy hair covering her eyes. Looking at this, he forgot about the one hour she kept him waiting, and went ahead to help her.

“Here, let me help you with the books.” he offered.

“Thank you so much Peter, and I am so sorry for being late. You have no idea what happened…”

“It’s okay Brianna,” Peter interrupted her in the middle. “First settle down, then talk. Here, I’ll order you a cup of coffee, so that you can calm yourself,” Peter said while walking towards the table with the books.

“Yeah sure, I can go for some,” she stopped when she saw three empty cups of coffee on the table and realised that it was very late. “I am so sorry Peter. What can I say? I got out of my house on time, but then my friend needed a quick favour. She asked me if I could deliver these books on her behalf, and as the address was on my route, I agreed. But the person had changed his address, so I asked around for his new address. One person helped me, but upon reaching his house I discovered a huge lock on his door. Apparently, he went on a trip for three days. Then, I came here as quickly as I could,” Brianna said it all in one breath.

Peter looked at her with a stern expression. Brianna too looked at him, but in confusion. Then, suddenly Peter started laughing.

The sound of the alarm scared Peter and he woke up. He looked around him and saw a picture of Brianna and him on the wall. The alarm was still going off. He realised that he was on his bed, and it was not real but a dream. Although, he knew it was a reality two years back. He dreamed of the day when he had his last good laugh, as the very next day brought him all the cries.

The sound of his knocking door startled him. He opened it to see Jordon, all dressed up.

“What’s up, man? Did you just wake up?”, Jordon asked.

“Yeah, man. I don’t know how, but my alarm went off late today,” Peter replied.

“It’s 10:50 am man. Quickly, get ready. We have to go,” Jordon said.

“Relax man. It’s Sunday,” Peter said.

“Dude, you used to be so punctual." Jordon replied.

As soon as Peter got ready, they drove to the same place where they had been going every Sunday, for the past three years.

“Ah, shit man! Look, it’s all sold out," Jordon said, frustrated.

“Well, we will come back again, next Sunday," Peter replied.

“You know man, these lottery tickets are limited. Only one hundred! What if we could have won this time? Half a million dollars dude. This could change our lives. And it’s an exhausting three hours drive,” Jordon said angrily.

“Well, my life has already changed. What else is left?”, Peter replied.

“I am sorry, dude," Jordon apologised.

“It’s okay man, I understand," Peter assured.

“I am saying this as a friend man, get over her. It has been two years now,” Jordon said.

“I didn’t get closure from her. I never even got to see her one last time,” Peter said with tears welling up his eyes. “I just remember, how we laughed about her being late at the cafe, and the very next day, the bus drowned, taking her with it. They never even found her body,” Peter broke down.

“Hey man, come here, come here,” Jordon said, hugging Peter to provide support. “Let’s go.” Jordon said, and both of them drove three hours back home.

Peter took a shower and sat comfortably on his chair. He sat there, listening to the silence and the ticking of the wall clock. A new sound caught his attention. He searched for the source of the sound. It was his phone. A notification popped out about a bomb being disabled by the agents of the Secret Service.

These incidents have been in the news, for quite some time now. Many thought these to be fake, but one such bomb exploded three months back, taking away twenty two lives. Reportedly, four such incidents were successfully prevented by the Secret Service, but they missed one.

He looked through the article and read a terrorist was caught by the authority. The terrorist said that they would not stop and they would plant another bomb next week and they are sure to succeed this time. Out of curiosity, Peter searched for the article which covered the explosion, that had occurred three months ago. Looking through the article, he saw many images as such burnt bodies, crying people, but one image caught his eyes: a woman Secret Service agent, helping a male colleague to get up from the ground. The resemblance of the woman reminded him of Brianna, but he quickly dismissed the thought, as he thought he was being delusional, as it was impossible and he could not be sure, as every Secret Service agents wear masks, with “SS” written on it, to hide their identity.

He slightly laughed at himself, for his previous thought. He also noticed that the mask of the man had fallen off of his face. Looking at his face, Peter realised something. His mind went numb, and he also started panicking. “Could it be him?”, Peter exclaimed. There were two bodies which could not be found that day: Brianna and the bus driver. Peter looked carefully at the image and he was sure that it was the same bus driver. He remembers his face vividly. “But, how can this be possible?”, Peter exclaimed. He tried to calm down himself. Then, he started to search for everything related to the Secret Service, and the bombings. It was very difficult to know anything about the Service, but he found a pattern in the targets of the terrorists. So, he thought of a plan. From the next day, he went to every possible target places and observed the people.

It had been four days, and he was starting to give up, but kept a count of the days. “Just three more days and the week is up.”, he repeatedly reminded himself. Suddenly, he noticed few people stealthily moving towards one direction. He followed them from a distance. They started to put on masks with “SS” written on them, and after sometime they stopped at one place. Three agents were engaged behind a dustbin, and few minutes later one of them nodded and gave a bag to fellow colleague. Peter figured that the bag contained the disabled bomb. He also saw two women agents, and his gaze was stuck on one.

She started going towards a changing room. Peter quietly followed her. He entered the room after her. He was facing her back. She took off the mask and bent to pick up a cloth, and noticed a shadow. She quickly turned around, pointing a gun at him.

Two years, of convincing himself of her death, two years, of dreaming about their last laugh together, and there she was with her frizzy hair covering her eyes. He was filled with many emotions, but could not stay on one. Even Brianna could not hide her emotions. They both stood there, in silence, looking at each other. To break the silence, Brianna said, “Look Peter, I am really sorry. I didn’t have any choi…”

“Oh to hell with your sorry. Shut up and come here,” Peter interrupted her in the middle and advanced towards her. He grabbed the back of her head, and brought her towards him. He kissed her passionately, and she kissed him back, with the same passion. They kissed for a long time and when their lips left each other, they saw tears welling up each others’ eyes. After a few minutes of hugging Brianna asked Peter, “Can you keep a secret?”.