A picture perfect moment. The three of us strewn on the floor watching videos from one of our phones. It wasn’t much but I knew I would miss it one day.
Years from that moment we may meet at a little shop, catching each other up on our lives. We might wonder how we weren’t there for all the big moments, how we missed them preoccupied with our new, hypothetical lives.
One will tell us she finally made it, she got her dream, the one she worked for years. We knew of course, perhaps from instagram pictures and second-hand stories. That moment would probably be the first time we’ll hear her tell us. We probably won’t be there to witness the peak of her life like we had planned.
The other will have followed the footsteps of her peers. We might not be there to congratulate her on her success, or even know for that matter. I’ll tell them of my fulfilled dreams. They’ll probably wonder how I got it, or how the dream even began in the first place. Maybe we never would’ve stuck together long enough for me to tell them of it.
I’ll ask,
“Did you ever see that band live?” One will respond,
“I never had the time.” I’ll ask the other one,
“Did you fall in love as you planned?”
“I did, but she fell in love with someone else.” I’ll wonder why I wasn’t there to comfort her. How could I have left her alone in those moments?
As we leave I’ll tell them,
“Don’t be a stranger.” It’ll be more of a reassurance to myself than a statement to them.
I dread the day I find us drifting. The day we all watch on separate phones rather than one. The day the hypothetical future turns true. The day secrets are kept from each other. The day we no longer rush to tell each other things. The day we no longer like the same music. I fear that it’ll happen slowly. We won’t even notice it happening till it’s done.
I hope we never reach that point. I pray we could forever freeze this moment, relish in it for years. Live in an endless scroll together. Nothing was really going on, but we were all happy and complete.
While it hasn’t quite started yet, I’ll do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen. I just have to hope it won’t drive them away.
The day I’ll say “Don’t be a stranger.” It’ll be a statement we’ll follow. As if it were a spell. We shall never be strangers. If we do, one day become strangers. It should happen fast. A falling out as quickly as possible. We’ll be in pain, but at least we won’t look back at the moments and grieve something that could’ve been kept.
Karmin is a young girl who loves writing and dreams of becoming a filmmaker. She also enjoys reading, playing guitar, and crocheting.
KALEIDO ZINE 
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