The drifting breeze brought me to a kindred spirit.

Joane closed her eyes as the cool breeze swept past her at the beach that night, giving her chills but in a good way. This is the first time she felt glad of the fact that she said yes to the college trip.

The trip itself was nowhere as fun as she imagined, but to her nothing was that much fun anyway, not without the people she loved, which was just a handful at the time.

Moments like these, when she could be away from the crowd and mind her own business were the best. Then she wouldn't have to pretend to be someone else and try to blend with the crowd, and play along with them.

There was a time when she hated the way she was feeling about this. Why would she want to be intentionally left out of a gang? Why was she acting as if she was not like other people? Was she not a human too?

But later, she realized, she was indeed quite different. She tried to get together with others, she tried her best to have their type of fun, but all of them felt draining and torturous to her. So, she stopped it, she stopped trying and started to be accept who she was; boring and uninteresting.

Joane looked over her shoulder at the bonfire her colleague have made, where they were all seated around, drunk and playing games. None of them, looked twice at her, they were all enjoying the time of their life with themselves. Looking at the sight of her colleagues, she smiled to herself.

It’s a pity, she didn’t enjoy that kind of lifestyle.

“Why aren’t you with everyone else?” a female voice came from behind.

Joane snapped out of her ridiculous train of thoughts, and gathered herself before turning to greet her.

“Oh hey, I was just…just feeling the wind.”

What a stupid answer.

The girl had short golden brown hair barely touching her shoulders, and a pair of emerald eyes that slightly gleamed in the dark. She was just about same height as Joane, and was pretty to the core.

The girl laughed, “No kidding! I’ve been watching you for some time, and you are really enjoying the wind huh?”

Joane didn’t know what to say except laugh awkwardly. But then, she quickly grasped onto a string to start a conversation, “How about you? Why aren’t you with them?”

The other took some time to respond, and eventually gave an answer with the same level of stupidity, “Why? Are you the only one allowed to enjoy the wind here?”

Joane laughed and waved her hands, denying, “No not at all! You can enjoy all you want as well.”

After a moment of silence, the girl tossed another question, “So, you are a first year I assume?”

Joane, “Yeah, you?”

“I am a senior, just one year older.”

Joane, “Oh wow, that’s great.”

These small remarks Joane says just to make sure that she conveys other people that she meant well somehow made this girl break into a fit of laughter.

Joane said, “Oh come on, I mean it!”

She really did mean it.

“Alright, alright, that's enough with pleasantries, come with me, I will show you something incredible.” Once the girl was done with laughing, she said to Joane.

At this point, Joane hesitated. Her intention all this while had been to stay close enough so she could see her colleagues but far enough so as to not interact with them, so that she will be safe yet alone at the same time.

The girl, caught on this, which Joane did not expect to happen at all.

Seeing Joane’s hesitation, she said, “Ah alright, maybe not for today then.”

Joane was taken aback, “I…” she didn’t know what to say.

The other has already sat down on the sandy beach, and pulled Joane’s hand, “Come on, have a seat.”

So Joane spent her first night of her college trip with a senior from her college, just watching the waves rolling onto the land and listening to the cheers erupting from the bonfire, as the stars blinked and the wind brushed past them.

The students were supposed to stay there for five days, and Joane somehow met with that senior every night for the rest of the trip.

The second night, Joane came across that senior once again, but this time Joane didn’t want to disturb the other for a while, so she just sat on the back with everyone else, listening to their stories.

But time to time, her eyes would travel towards the place where the other was seated in the dark all by herself.

Suddenly, Joane thought that person looked very lonely, lonely than how she felt about herself.

With that thought, Joane excused herself from the crowd and joined with her new found friend to spend the second night as well.

“Hey, you are here again.” It was Joane who started talking this time.

The senior looked at her with what Joane would describe as awe, “You came here just for me?”

Joane snorted, “What? No… of course not.”

The girl burst into laughter again, “I don’t believe you!”

Joane gave up saying, “Believe whatever you want then.”

The second night, they had a lovely conversation. A conversation where they talked about the most random things, but Joane found herself enjoying every second of it.

The following days, up to the fifth and the final day, continued the same way.

The two inexplicably bonded over the simplest things, like the books they read, and the music they preferred.

Every night, they’d have an interesting conversation one after the other.

Until the final day came.

They would be returning to their homes the next morning.

“Now we are friends, do you trust me enough to show you that incredible thing?” she asked the final night.

Joane blinked, she had already forgotten about what her friend was talking about.

“You know, the first time we met.” The other explained.

“Oh…” Joane recalled the events of that day.

 “Oh yeah! For sure, uh let-let’s go.” Joane managed to say and grinned.

“Perfect!” her friend’s emerald eyes sparkled brighter than ever as she said, “Follow me then!”

So the two of them walked across the sandy beach.

The breeze brushed through Joane’s hair, and clothes, and she suddenly let out a laugh.

Her friend was surprised, and turned to her, “What’s up?”

Joane shook her head, still laughing and shouted, “This is so fun!!!”

Her friend, seeing Joane in such joy, yelled as well, “You think so?!”

Joane yelled back, “Hell yeah!!!” and laughed louder.

That was when her friend took her hand, and broke into a run, pulling Joane along with her, “Let’s make a run for it then!”

Who knew running was even more fun than walking?

They ran against the sea breeze, they ran against the waves, they ran against the rest of the world, to a world only the two of them could relate to.

They finally stopped at a place far from the bonfire, where it was only a ball of orange light and nothing more.

Infront of them was a giant rock, it was not that high and they could easily climb onto it.

Despite that, Joane’s friend decided to still lend a hand and pull her up, and Joane gladly accepted it.

Once they were up, she said, “This is the best spot to watch the scenery, look, look at the sky and the ocean.”

Joane looked at the sky, sure enough, there were countless stars that shone a lot brighter here. It was as if every shining star of the galaxy had gathered at this very spot.

She looked at the ocean, where she could see the waves formed at a distance crashing onto the land in a side view.

“Woah!” Joane exclaimed.

“Incredible right?”

Joane nodded whole heartedly.

“Only one other friend of mine knows of this place.”

Joane looked at her, slightly surprised, “That friend is not here?”

“No,” the other smiled, but Joane thought that smile had a twinge of sadness to it, “She was supposed to come here too, but sadly, she couldn’t make it.”

“Oh.” Joane didn’t ask about it anymore, simply because she felt like it was too personal.

However, the other kept talking, “You remind me a lot about her.”

Joane smiled, “Oh is that so?”

“Yeah, in a good way I mean.”

That was all she said.

Joane, “You must miss her a lot then.”

“Very.”

Though Joane didn’t ask her anymore than she should, she kept thinking about it even days after the college trip.

Time and time again, she recalled their conversations, the happiness she felt, and also about this mysterious friend who couldn’t make it to the trip.

Once they were back at college, Joane didn’t even see her again, and it was only then she realized that all those times they talked, none of the two bothered to ask each other’s names.

Joane laughed bitterly at herself.

What an idiot she is.

Months later, Joane had finally given up looking for the person, when she saw her again, by chance.

But this was by no means how Joane imagined their reunion to be.

That rainy evening, Joane, who was carrying a black umbrella was taking her usual path to go home which happens to be past a graveyard.

Normally, when the weather was good, there would be one or two people present every day,  carrying a bunch of flowers to greet their loved ones. And Joane would look at them as she walks by, thinking, someday she will have the same fate, either be the dead or the one to greet the dead.

The rainy days are when the graveyards are supposed to be empty. But just this day, Joane noticed one person kneeling infront of a gravestone, with nothing to cover them from the rain.

They let the rain soak them, and Joane suddenly stopped on her tracks.

The one who was kneeling had golden brown hair, reminding of someone she knew.

Joane watched the other for a long time, and the more she looked, more they looked like that person, until they finally got up, and Joane realized, they didn’t look like her, that was her!

The friend she met at the beach months ago, the friend that took her to a place no one knew other than one other person, that good friend of hers.

Joane finally put the pieces together.

The sad smile, the way she said Joane was so similar to her friend, the way she said her friend couldn’t make it to the trip…

That evening, Joane left before the other could see her, so as to avoid meeting face to face in such a setting.

Later on, on another day, Joane visited the graveyard herself, and looked at the gravestone with a picture of a smiling girl with raven black hair, and dark brown eyes, just like hers.  Joane read the date of her death; which happened to be a month before the college trip that year.

Joane sighed, and before leaving, she left some white flowers on the grave.

Knowing the full story, Joane understood her new friend was another human surviving the grief and loss of a person dear to her. She was someone who accidentally came across Joane that day on the beach.

Joane wholeheartedly wished her friend to have found some relief from those few days, although it was brief and short-lived.

Because, Joane did.

For the first time in her life, she became herself with that friend. She had fun with her, she enjoyed spending time with her.

Amidst all this, Joane also felt a twinge of pain, for she knew they would never meet again, and they would never get to know more about each other than what they already knew.

Nevertheless, the thing called fate was strange and worked in strange ways, for exactly one year later, they met again, at the college park.

Out of the blue, Joane heard a voice she hadn’t heard for so long coming behind her once more, “Here you are!  I’ve been looking all over for you!”

The familiar yet strange voice told her.

Joane turned around, and came face to face with the friend she thought she’d never meet again. The friend who was the highlight of her recent memories.

This friend stepped forward, and extended her hand, her face bright with a smile, “I’m Morgan, it’s nice to meet you.”

Joane smiled as well, and took the other’s hand with no hesitation whatsoever, “I am Joane, and the pleasure is all mine.”

                                                   -  End   -