The corridor was deserted. Not a sound could be heard. The
only source of light was the window at its end, from where the afternoon light
was illuminating the darkness to some extent. The aura of the corridor gave the
feeling of a morgue. Occasionally a light breeze would break the silence, and
ruffle her straightened hair, which fell above her shoulders. She just stood
there, looking out of the window at the sky outside. There was no one in this
dim and vacant corridor. The other end of the corridor ended in a T-point, leading
to two more corridors, clearly brighter than this one with illuminating
tubelights, leading away from this deserted one, and a worn double door between
them, made of metal, with splashes of white paint on its glass windows and the
doors swinging lightly off its hinges, and no signs of anyone's presence
outside or inside. She never realized when the seconds melted into minutes and
then into hours. Perhaps, loneliness was all that she wanted. Of course, she
had stayed away from all her friends and family since... Who would really
remember her after all those months? Moreover, who would she need to stand
besides her, she had always stood there on her own feet, by herself. She was
all that she had, and she had always been like that. She had always been a
loner, a one man army, who had many friends and relatives, but none of them
were those who were close to her heart, it had only been herself. Time passed
and she stood there like a statue, staring out of the window into nothingness.
Suddenly, the silent solitude was broken by a swift creak in hinges of the big
double door which made her turn back. Someone had just pushed open those weary
doors and entered the building. And he didn't choose those corridors to the
sides, he decided to walk straight into this dark one. Seeing someone already
standing at its end, he paused his swift walk. After some mental consideration,
he realized who this lone girl was. His eyes widened the moment realization hit
him. "Akki??" he muttered her name in shock, the whisper too drowning in the
silence as it approached the end of the name. He doubled his pace to get to
her. She kept standing there, looking at this transition that had just taken
place in him. Even she had grown curious for a split-second when she saw him,
but soon her curiosity was replaced with a tiny smile, and then again went back
to her plain face. He came to a standstill only when he was right in front of
her.
"Akki, you here..?" he asked inquisitively. She just smiled for an answer.
Those warming and tired smiles. Even he smiled in return. From those old times
of friendship, he knew that she just didn't want to speak at that moment. She
looked away from him, her mind still wandering on unknown paths, while her feet
stood at the exact same spot. After a couple of moments of silence, he held out
his arms with a sweet smile and hopeful and consoling eyes, indicating a hug. Sensing
movement in silence, she looked back at him and smiled, and hugged him as he
closed his arms around her. Well, friends were meeting after quite a long time,
a hug was meant to be. But it wasn't like those tight and refreshing reunion
hugs that happened when friends met after a long time. The two seconds hug
somehow lengthened and it all of a sudden became tight for a while, pressing
her insides making them chill in the sudden warmth and solace to soul and make
her give out a sharp exhale and grit her teeth and tighten her fists, her eyes
closed tight, unknowingly hugging him tighter. Two more seconds, and they again
went back to normal. She was looking at the floor. He was looking anywhere but
her. After a second, they again looked at each other, with apparently blank
faces.
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