the appearance

last night i drempt that he had come back. its been over 16 years, and he finally resurfaced. we were all meeting some friends, old high school ones. and someone told me he was on his way to see me. how could that be? i asked myself. we laid him to rest. i was there. how could he be here now?

then, i saw him. he walked over to me, smiling, then giving me a casually warm hug. he looked the same, and as if the years had never passed. i stared at him in bewilderment, blinking, in total disbelief. no one else around thought his appearance was unusual. everyone hugged and said hello to him.

later, while we were alone, he explained that he had to leave abruptly seventeen years ago. for what reason, he didnt say. he said that he had to fake his death and that no one, not even family, could know why. and then he kissed me. it was a passionate kiss, one i did not recognize. nor was it at all intimate. i was perplexed as to how he could just act as if nothing happened, as if he didnt owe me something for my sorrows.

not long after, a woman appeared. we were back in the room full of people now. there were more people around, mostly high school friends, but some others i didnt know. she was familiar though, but i couldnt pinpoint where i had seen her before. there was something uneasy about her presence. i didnt know why, but she made me very uncomfortable. and the way she was dressed, it was rather fancy for such an informal gathering. she said her round of hellos without noticing that she stood out...or that i noticed her from across the room.

i heard whispers of conversations in the room. they were about her...and him. i learned that she was now a very wealthy woman who started setting her sights on fortunes when she was very young. i was soon able to put together that she was the reason he departed some years ago. he had left his simple life for a glamorous one that she offered him. and apparently, wealth was not the only thing she had set her eyes on.