I Would Have Killed

The doorbell rang. I opened and saw the girl. She was a ghostly blonde now, she always changed her appearance and managed to make herself even more fascinating. She was like an element, or like the weather.

”Hey, I brought your books back,” she said. We used to hang out more. She kept borrowing books from me but never had the time to read them.

”Thanks. You gave up on reading them?"

"No, I actually read them all,” she did not seem offended at all, she was smiling, “I liked the one about the guy who gave up his office job and started living in the wilderness."

"Yeah, that was a good one.”

She stepped from one foot to the other, “Do you wanna hang out?"

"Oh,” I said, and she immediately withdrew, nodding her head with understanding, “I have a lot of stuff to do, a lot of work. Listen, I appreciate that you came all the way out here, but I really need to…"

"That’s okay, I should have called."

"Oh, no. Come by anytime, it’s just not a good time currently. Call me and we’ll…”

After we said our goodbyes, I locked the door behind me and started putting the books back. There was a time when I would have killed for a situation like this. Her coming to me, asking to spend time with me. It is funny how unrequited love sometimes fades. And it only took me fifteen years to get over her.

Posted by: Paweł Kowaluk