Teen Fiction: The Unforgettable Memory… who was that boy and where did he come from?

#TeenEssay

A retired Oxford porter sat in his rocking chair, a pipe wedged in his mouth and his weathered knuckles sliding up and down the splintered, wooden surface. At night, he was in the habit of falling asleep by the fire, a woolen blanket heavy on his body and a particular memory from his days at the esteemed college heavy on his mind.

Hands quaking, he gripped the pipe and lowered it onto an awaiting tray, tucking the pipe away for the night.

The memory was vivid.

It was June of 1989, the library, bustling with fleeing students, flashed before him. In the memory, he was in the middle of sweeping the upper floor when he spotted an unusual girl in the far corner packing her bags silently.

Hair like fire and eyes like the ocean, she was an interesting thing to look at. Curious, the old porter tottered over to the girl, limping due to an old racquetball injury.

Perhaps if he hadn’t been injured, or the bookshelves not so wide, he would have seen the boy come up to the girl. Nevertheless, the newcomer seemed to arrive in an instant. To this day, he never questioned how the boy appeared so quickly beside the girl.

As he neared the couple, the memory started slipping from his mind, becoming clogged with smoke. Through the haze, he saw the boy as he gingerly tapped the girl’s shoulder, whispering, “Darling.”

Startled, the girl jumped, sending papers scattering like frightened birds, only for them to be caught by the boy. The girl offered her thanks, no further recognition dawning.

To this, the boy blinked, looked down at his cluttered watch with ten spinning arms and cursed.

Coming back to the present, the old porter shook at his own delusion, gripping his blanket harder before falling asleep to the words he convinced himself he had never heard: “Pardon, I must have the wrong timeline.”

Elisabeth Dellit is a Ninth Grader at Jesuit High School. She enjoys reading, writing creative stories, baking/cooking with her family and participating in her school’s drama program.