We were two broken souls lost in a big city. I met you at the subway waiting for the last trip to get away. You saw me in a crowded place of people escaping from reality. We were both heading to the same place.
I sat down on the other edge and you were seated on the opposite. Our eyes met in a minute of silence. You stared at me and I glanced at you with an expression in my face, “Are you lost too?”
We arrived at a station where only lost souls are allowed. A place where broken hearts break out whenever they feel the world is giving up. I hurried to the door when you ran after me; you held up my hand and asked, “Would you please run away with me?”
I had no second thoughts. Had no hesitation. All I thought for that moment was the feeling of freedom I’ve been searching for so long. It was the feeling long before I sought. So I gave you the response and held your arms. We ran away together while you’re firmly holding my hand.
We stopped by the bridge and spent the rest of the time left. We talked about ourselves and the things we messed up with. I started telling you stories said you’ve never heard before. You even laughed at my jokes though people tell me they’re absurd.
You were the first person to do that.
You said you were trying to save me. But how can someone so broken save someone who’s also the same? How can I trust someone I only met at a subway I don’t even know the name?
What can a stranger like you guarantee?
So I told you sooner when we go, let’s end this before it gets started. But then you drew me closer to your chest and kissed me on my forehead. I was lost in a moment of sensation I seem to overcompensate.
Did I get the same feeling or did it only mean something else?
And the following words I heard from you were words I wished he would have told me before I left. How I wished he was you but realized you could never be him and he would never be like you.
You were the perfect stranger I didn’t see coming. Yet he was someone I have known the time before you came. You’ve heard my pain and things I never told anyone else. You’ve given me compliments he should be the one telling.
But whenever I see you look at me, all I can see is a face of his memory. I don’t want to love someone else while I am still seeing someone else’s face because that would never be fair to you. And even if we insist, it would never be just.
I guess we only crossed each other’s path for a purpose. Maybe we were only destined to be afraid of the reason we got nothing to lose. But whatever that reason is, we need to let each other go.
So I left you at the subway where I first met you.
We were the perfect strangers as how we begin, and until that final moment, we became strangers again.
