A Place Like No Other

When you’re a regular student, living life just one day at a time, you don’t really understand what it means when people older than you tell you things like “Good friendships are really important”.
My young heart didn’t understand what these little people meant to me until that day – my last day at school. 3rd May 2019, the day that changed my life in ways I never thought of before.

The best part? It never hit me that it was my last day until the very last moment.
We spent the whole day not realising it would be the last time we would be together. And then the last bell of the day rang and we all walked down the stairs as always, teasing and pushing one another, not once thinking that it would be the last time we would share those laughs and jokes.

I walked those last few steps with my best friend, deep in discussion, not realising his eyes were glued to those steps, refusing to look at me, holding back tears. I stood in the middle of the ground, chit chatting with my friends, just like always, or so I thought. That was until one of my friends finally lost it and broke down. Followed by my bestest friend – no – my sister, clinging to me and crying her heart out.
I looked around and saw all my closest friends – all of them, but not the way I remembered them. Not one teasing remark or witty comeback, no goofy faces or ugly laughs. They all stood around me, tears flowing down their cheeks, red eyes and somber expressions.

When I finally managed to calm them down and send them off to their buses and walked towards my own bus – I saw my other group of best friends, my brothers, my partners in crime, standing by the school canteen, trying desperately to conceal the tears they were crying (but obviously not doing a good job at hiding it).
I looked at them all , saw their tears, their heartbroken looks, their heavy voices and pained expressions as we said bye with our cool handshakes one last time. I saw all of it, but felt nothing. Not a single tear fell from my eyes, I was numb.

But it all came rushing at me.

A few days later as I sat at the airport with my family, waiting for the boarding announcements – it hit me. It hit me and I cried, and hyperventilated. Tears streaming down my face, each memory – big and small hitting me like a brick.

All the times I walked down those steps, all the times I stood there at that ground talking and playing with my friends, all the times I bullied my brothers and bestfriends for treats from the school canteen always promising to pay back but never actually paying them back, all the times we fought in those classrooms and all the furniture we broke and pretended that it was never us and acting innocent infront of teachers, all the water wars that got out of hand, all the concerts we had in those classrooms – singing lyrics we didn’t even understand at the top of our lungs in our worst voices. It hit me that I would never have any of that,ever.

It hit me that I was saying goodbye to some of the most important people of my life. People that taught me the importance of surrounding myself with good people and good energy. People that taught me to laugh and live, to fall and get up, to cry and then laught it off. People that held my hand in happy times and hugged me tight during my first encounter with tough times. People who saw me grow up, and people that I grew up with. People that shaped me into the person I am today, people that are the root of all the good I’ve done and all that I will do. People that put their foot down on all my foolishness and forgave me time and time again, teaching me some of the most beautiful and important lessons of my life. People that stood by me then and still stand by me, present forever in my heart. These little people, unaware of life,just like little me, yet so wise. People that I would live and die for.

It hit me that that was my very last moment in a very special place – a place that I called my home. A place where I had people that loved me and I loved more than myself. A place where I lived some of the best years of my life. A place where I grew up from a wild, curious young girl to a much clear headed, wiser young adult. A place that shaped me in ways I didn’t realise until now. A place like no other.

To all my friends, I love you all and you will forever be the most special people in my life. Until we meet again,
Love, Anu.