Elena, a woman in her 30s has always followed a routine and never disrupted it. The one time, it happened was enough to change her whole life.
Elena was dashing towards the subway to catch the train since she had woken up late, which was already an odd incident in Elena’s daily life. Just as she reached the station, she saw her usual train leaving the station. Frustrated, she started to read the schedules trains and saw that the next train would leave in 20 minutes. Since she had nothing to do, she decided to visit a Café nearby the station. Elena enters the café and orders a Cappuccino, looking around she notices an old man, likely in his 60s sitting blankly staring at the café door waiting for someone to arrive. Intrigued by the man, she decides to spend her time with the old man. As she sits down at his table, she introduces herself and the man introduces himself as THOMAS. Elena asks Thomas the question that was bugging for a while,’ So, who are you waiting for? Is your wife meeting you here?’ Thomas’s face lights up with a contempt smile as he replies,’ No, she cannot visit me in her current state. I sit here in hope of not meeting my wife but my daughter,’ Thomas abruptly stops and tuns towards Elena,’ Now that I have shared a part of my life with you, it seems only fair that you do the same.’ Elena smirks and responds,’ Well, there is not much to share but I will indulge you, I have a really simple life, a routine that I never break, no personal contacts, no family and not even friends.’ Thomas once again smiles and says,’ Girl, I have lived twice your age, I can tell the difference between a genuine smile and a smile that is created to hide pain. Now tell me what is your true story,’ Elena shocked with the old man’s revelation as his words were exactly true to Elena’s story. ‘Alright, I guess I can tell you, my story. Let me start with my childhood friend who became my love Interest. I met him when I had moved states after My mom divorced my dad, it’s safe to say our relationship was not friendly, I found shelter in his presence, he always seemed calm and never got angry, even as we got older, he never raised his voice at anyone, everyone saw him as a loner, but only I knew what a kind soul he was.’ Tears start to well up in Elena’s eyes as she finishes her story. Elena quickly wipes her tears and gestures to Thomas to continue his story. Thomas clears his throat and starts to speak,’ I am ashamed to admit it, but I could never be the parent my daughter wanted me to be, and now I sit in her favourite café waiting for her to return, just for a moment so I can see her one last time.’ Elena snuffling says,’ Wow! I thought my life was sad but yours is one you only hope to rekindle and yet you cling to that, even if there is no guarantee.’ Thomas chuckles and Elena checked the time on her watch noticing that 15 had passed and her train would arrive soon. She saw Thomas wrapping up and getting ready to head out, she invites Thomas to walk with her to the station while she finishes her story. They exit the café and continue walking when Elena starts talking,’ As my friend started getting bullied, I started growing popular and thought to myself “Why should I be involved with such a loner?” I started distancing myself from him and his bullying kept on increasing. One day, he left a note in my locker asking to meet on the roof of our school at lunchtime. I decided to humor him and went up to the roof, when I reached the rooftop, he stood atop the railing looking at me as he smiled and waved and then he… he jumped off the railing into the ground. He somehow survived but his parents felt it was unsafe for him to stay in the school and withdraw his name from the school. I felt guilty for the incident but couldn’t apologize. His smiling face haunted me and I still am not able to get rid of the nightmares.’ Elena breaks down crying while Thomas could only console her, Thomas started speaking,’ Even if I have not been the model human being on this planet, I can say that deep connections are very hard to break but if broken are much harder to join.’ They reach the station and Thomas goes to sit over on a bench while Elena waited for her train, Elena had decided to break her Routine and start making amends for her past mistakes. Elena’s train but before boarding, she turns back to look at Thomas smiling at her from the bench, she boards the train, not to her workplace but to meet an old friend. Thomas sat upon the bench smiling at the incidents of the day when he hears sounds of rapid footsteps that abruptly stop in front of him. As he looks up to see the mysterious fellow, a girl speaks in a whisper,’ Is that you, Dad?’
