The Memories "chapter 1 The Reunion"

  THE REUNION

Twenty years have passed away since our graduation but none of my friends ever did try to contact me. One fine morning, just about to leave for office I received a letter embedded in a red envelope with a golden tape at the site from where it read "OPEN". Sitting relaxed, took a sip of water from the glass kept next to me on the table, I opened the seal. To my surprise, it was a photo of me and my best friend Annu at the back of which emphasized a sentence in a pink bold look," I m on my way Mark, be ready !"
                                                                                       
                                                             At first I got totally blank, I didn't expect that after so many years anyone of my batch mates would ever try to call me or message me, but not only did she contacted me, she invited me for a REUNION.  I could imagine Annu & me dancing on our favorite song "Bryan Adams_ (Everything I do) I Do It For You". Oh sorry, I got lost in the old memories.... !! As per the instruction I got ready and waited for her. For a minute or two I closed my eyes, isolating myself from the world near me figuring out how she might look now?...
                                                  
                                                             The door bell rang! Moving towards the door latch, my heartbeat started to pounce hay way the moment I opened it. A young woman with a slight confused smile gazed at me for a while, came close to me , murmured in my ear & then exclaimed "Mark ! How are you my buddy?"  I couldn't bear that sudden jerk in my ear as  she exclaimed it so loudly. And that young woman who delightfully exclaimed in my ear was none other than Annu herself. I thought we did go out for breakfast together or say for lunch but, the whole afternoon was spent in chatting and what all things we did these years. All the memories were getting flourished in my mind like a flashback set on a music tape. Just waiting for someone to press the "PLAY" button !
                       
                                                                                                                                                        Later that evening as Annu headed her way home I pulled out the curtains, shut the windows and door, turned on the AC and laid down on the bed with my spine feeling cold. Tears rolled from my eyes to both cheeks in a symmetry as if they were saying," Years have passed Mark, but Annu didn't change!" Today also she was here at my place, she made the same coffee which I liked the most as it had the same taste which Annu made during the college time. Meeting Annu and reanalyzing my merits and flaws one thing is totally clear that I can write whatever I can. Why not to give it a try then, I mean start writing a diary for Annu about 'the memories' we both had together especially those two golden months of college. See  got the topic for the book too, "The Memories".                                                    

                                                Glimpsing down through our college's photo album & seeking for some kind of inspiration to write I came across a photo which was out of the box. The photo would seem like a normal photo to anyone who sees it, but for me it was Surprising! It was a group photo of all the batch mates posing weird looks against the camera lens. Annu on the other hand sat in the corner of the room peeking out through the window, looked like she was in very deep thoughts. Guess someone did notice it at all? I remember Annu had lend me about her future prospects achieving a Doctors degree & her dream to become a good surgeon someday. The tense look on her face is surely because of this reason "I guess" . Soon the night was fading away and the sun wanted to shine as fast as it could. I couldn't write a single word even when I watched the whole album a thousand times.
                                    
                                                     It was sharp 7 a.m. in the morning when a tweet from my Smartphone popped that made my eyes to open up. Oh my goodness! A text from Annu, so early in the morning? "Be prepared for the evening as we all are planning for a REUNION." A reunion after so many long years sounds pretty cool, meeting old buddies and I guess we all boys could even have a competition as we used to do in the college days. Who amongst us drinks more number of "Vodka Shots" . Wait a second I don't remember any of the mates names except Annu. Phew! Such a long time since the graduation day...twenty years!!  
                             
                              Gulping up the toast and milk simultaneously in one go I looked up at the wall clock. Already late for office. My boss will surely fire me as this is fifth time I'm late for office in two weeks, I'm reaching an hour late. As soon as reached the office entrance I saw a huge crowd of people gathered in front of the office entrance. Didn't knew what in world was going on, all the people (staff members) grinned at me and I realized it when I pulled my thumb from my pocket, it had the office opening keys. And I felt more than a culprit now.
                
                              My boss came closer when I was about to open the gate, he laughed and said, " No problem young man you feel a little bit tired , why don't you take a leave for today". I could easily make out that my boss was haunting me with his sarcastic taunts, as usual!  I thought that this might be the right time to go home and write a diary for Annu. But what could be so worse I was feeling too dizzy as I didn't sleep well last night. Flipping the old albums, resist me from sleeping.