here is a story i wrote years ago...but it appeared in a few newspapers in germany and schools press...people really liked it. i was inspired by our first and last time we stay in ras el bar with the family. its maily about growing older and changes. i hope you all like it too
Eternity
Imagine it's a summer night. Not really warm, but surely not cold, a little windy. I'm sitting in a deck chair, and the sea is right in front of me. It seems to be endless. No clouds. No lamps near me. It's dark. Thousands and thousands of stars in the sky. The moon is shining in a colour I have never seen before; a mix between yellow and orange. I'm all alone, because it's perhaps not the best time to go to the sea, especially for a girl.
It's three o'clock. All the cafés nearby are already closed. Normal people are sleeping or at home, but not me. The moon attracts my eyes. I lean back in the deck chair and take off my shoes. I bore my feet into the cold sand. It tickles. I feel the mussels pricking my feet. I have never felt as alone as I feel now. I look at the stars and see the lights of a plane in the sky. The gentle breeze is playing with my hair. I am enjoying the beauty of the night. I forget the time, start thinking about eternity. I wish I could live forever. I live my life like this. No school, no tests, no homework. All problems so far away from me. I feel so free. Away from the dreary daily routine. Why can't life be like this all the time? I get a feeling of being well-balanced. Everything I wanted to achieve in my life suddenly seems not so important anymore. I guess I'm losing my goals. I've never had this feeling before. I get a feeling of being egoistical. I can't describe that. My head is spinning around things I will never find an answer for. I feel naive. I see the transience in everything. I'm so pleased with my life now. I feel old, but I know I'm young, my life has just begun. If I see a shooting star, I know what I will wish for. I don't want to let the time pass so fast. I want to enjoy every moment. The air is so fresh, I take a deep breath, close my eyes. I feel so fine. I get lost in thoughts. I want to stay in this moment forever. I get a salty taste on my lips. I smell the salty air, too. The wind makes me shiver, but I feel that I'm in harmony with myself in these seconds. There is nothing I would change in my life right now. I hear the waves of the sea and I get a feeling of eternity.
Somebody is coming from the back. I feel the hands of my very best friend on my eyes. "Who am I?" he asks in a disguised voice. - 'And who am I?' I think. he doesn't give me the chance to answer, comes around and takes my hands to make me stand up. I see my cousin and another friend coming, too. I forget what I've been thinking about. They've been looking for me. They wonder why I am sitting here all alone, but then they see the beauty of the night. I don't have to tell them anymore. They take off their shoes, too, and we walk along the beach. Carefully, because there are pieces of broken glass on the ground. I look at them. Concentrated, they are looking at the ground. They don't talk, they look like little babies. It makes me smile. The sea is playing with us. With every wave reaching the beach, it seems to come closer to us. Sometimes our feet are surrounded by water. Walking gets harder. It looks as if the sand doesn't want to let us go, but every footprint we make is gone with the next wave reaching the beach. We don't talk. Step by step we go on. There is a mosquito flying around. It's making a noise. My cousin starts to gesticulate wildly, I know she hates insects. My very best friend and I start laughing at her. Not Hani. How can a small animal, like a mosquito, make people get so frightened? There are better things they could be frightened of, but they are frightened of insects. It's strange to me. It seems as if the mosquito wants to make us angry, but after a short while it flies away. We go on walking, but not as quietly as before. Maybe the mosquito has wakened us up. We are making jokes. We are laughing. Could I get happier at all? I feel the lightness around us. For a second I think that we don't think highly enough of the moment. We are carefree. I get a feeling of being strong. I lose these thoughts, and after some time we stop walking and sit down on some deck chairs. I don't know why, but here are a lot of these chairs. Silence again, for a long time. Maybe my friends are as deeply moves as I am by this beautiful night.
"A very nice moment"; says Hani. He is so right. He is a person who starts talking when words fail other people. He understands, in a fantastic way, how to read minds and to express one's views.
We are all happy, I feel that, but there is something making me feel sad: the fact that our days are counted. Soon the holidays will end. I will go back to Germany, and they will go to college. Three different colleges, in three different cities. It is strange to know that in a few years Hani will be a doctor, my cousin a writer for a newspaper magazine and my best friend an engineer for ships. They seem to be much too young to be grown-up. I ask myself where the time has gone, we've been playing together since we were children. The time is passing so fast. Again I feel the transience and it gets harder to see the meaning of eternity.
My spirits are depleting, something makes me sad.
I admire them, because I would be so afraid of going to a college in another city, all alone, without anybody I know. I guess that they are afraid, too; no, I know, but I wonder why they don't show it. Is it a sign of weakness to be afraid? My best shows that he is afraid only when there aren't too many people around him, when we are alone. He never loses his hope. It looks as if he were inviolable, but I know better. He gets hurt easily, but he doesn't show it. Perhaps that's the reason why he is so special for me. No matter what the situation is, he is able to give us a feeling in every situation, telling us everything will turn out good. If I could ask the future not to come, I would. The time is so right now. Earth, please stop revolving around the sun! - Only for a short while! I'm afraid of the future!
Maybe our friendship will break because of so many miles between us. Such a huge distance. I don't think so. I guess it will keep well, just like it has done for so many years before. We have been friends for as long as I can remember. The distance was never a real problem for us, but I wish I could have them around all the time. I have other friends, but not as good friends as they are for me. It seems that our hearts beat the same way, feel the same way and think the same way. We are like brothers and sisters, only better. I guess that it is very hard to find true friends, but I did. They mean so much to me.
I'm so blessed! I'm thanking God for these friends. It is so good to know that there are some persons who care for you no matter what happens. We will all go on to find our own way, but I'm so sure that our ways will meet again, just like all the times before.
I feel that it is getting hard to keep my eyes open. I'm so tired. I try to fight this sleepiness, but it's hard. I fall asleep.
When I wake up it becomes clear to me that, like any other nights, that night passes. We are still sitting in our deck chairs. I'm looking at my friends. They don't talk. They are looking like daydreamers. I will hide my pain, I don't want anybody to know. Silence, only the sea is audible. The sun is coming around, and the dark of the night disappears. I can still see the moon. Somebody is sighing. I think it was me! It's getting warmer. There are a few clouds in the sky now. The sun will drive them away. With the look over the sea, to the horizon, I see the huge fireball, so strong and dazzling. It's hurting my eyes, I look away. It will be a hot day. The gentle breeze is still playing with my hair, and once again, I bore my feet into the sand. The sand is warm now. I still feel the mussels pricking my feet. We decide to go home. I guess we are overdue. I get sick at the pressure the future is bringing with it. We walk as carefully as last night. On my back I feel the sunbeams. The day is bringing warmth. We are making plans for the day. I banish my dread. With mixed feelings I go home. I guess I got wiser that night, just older, perhaps it's only an illusion. I don't know, but one thing is for sure, things may come and go, but not these friends, not this night, not this feeling of being free and a lasting friendship for eternity...
Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:53 pm by Guest
Subject: Eternity 
