My old friend Ann - Original short story

When I’ve woken up today it was already 9.10a.m. and I’ve realized that I was late for work again. It’s registered in my mind that it became my habit to give up on the things I didn’t really like to do. I have the most ordinary job that a young woman could have in the world of today. I am a shop assistant in a perfume shop and I spend all my free time writing useless short stories with black humor that is clear for me only.
At work I was thinking only about the plot of the new perfect story I was going to write that evening. But I was interrupted when one of the customers asked me about some eau de parfum.

“Excuse me, I haven’t heard about this brand! Is it new?”

I was about to get annoyed for bothering me but at that same moment I caught the strict look of my manager and I had to swallow my irritation.
I told her all I knew about the product and then she left me. As my thoughts were interrupted I became bored by the people and the same old picture around that I saw every single day. But suddenly something caught my eye. Or Somebody. It was a girl with the fluffy dark hair that I could see while she was standing with her back to me. I couldn’t believe that I saw her! Could it be Ann?
I approached closer and I was fighting with myself to say something. A word would have been enough. She turned to me and I realized that I was wrong! It was someone else but not my old friend Ann!

When work was over I was going to go home but I went through the places we used to hang out with Ann when we were friends. I couldn’t get rid of the guilty feeling that I left her in her misery long time ago. It’s been a year we didn’t talk to each other. I wonder what happened to her then, and where she was now. Was she at the same town or maybe she moved?
What if I call her?
No, no! What a stupid idea! I’ll never do such a silly thing!
I was talking myself out of this idea but at the same time my hands were pulling the cell phone out of the bag.
I checked my contacts and found that I still had her number in the phone book.
I hesitated for a moment but my fingers did their job themselves. And now I caught myself calling Ann after a year of silence! I knew it was as crazy as being hung on the rope from the bridge!
I was calling her and on the third ring I was ready to cancel but Ann picked up the phone.

“Hello!” she said in her usual uncaring way.

“H-hello,” I said nervously, and then after a short pause, “How are you?”

“Good!” she said as if we talked just yesterday, ”You?”

“I’m ok!” I said “I was thinking…”

“What?” she asked a little too soon.

“Do you have any plans for tonight? I mean do you want to see a new movie?”

“Sure! Let’s do it!” agreed she.

“Then let’s meet at our usual place at 7 p.m.!” I said and my mood got better since she didn’t refuse.

So later in the evening I was waiting for her at the bus stop near the mall where we were going to head. It was already 7.10 p.m. when I decided to call her again in case she was being late.
She answered.

“Hi! I’m almost there! Just two sec!”

“Ok!” I told her relieved and thinking that it was so Ann to have kept me waiting.

“Alright, I’m there! But I don’t see you! Where are you?” she asked me.

I didn’t appreciate her humor. I looked around but she wasn’t even in the vicinity.
“Is this some kind of a joke?” I said sourly but then I realized one thing, “Are you trying to punish me for the past?”

“What past? What are you talking about? I’m here at the bus stop! Where are you?” she was insisting but I couldn’t believe her anymore.

I put away the phone and wanted to go home but I felt it wasn’t enough. I needed some satisfaction. I went to her place. I knocked at the door as loud as I could. At first there was nobody to open the door but then I heard weak steps behind it. Then the door was slowly pushed from another side. I saw an old woman. It was Ann’s grandmother as I remembered.

“Sorry, but could I talk to Ann, please?” I said in a tough way.

Her grandmother looked at me trying to see something in my face. She looked like I was hurting her feelings.
“I don’t know what’s the purpose of your coming, young lady. But it’s not funny!”

“I don’t understand! Isn’t she at home?” I said in confusion.

“Well, I can’t call Ann for you. Nobody can anymore. She refused to live almost a year ago”, she told me and shut the door with rattle.

I left this place neither alive nor dead. I was thinking about what happened today and the girl I was talking on the phone with. It was Ann, no doubt. I’d recognize her voice even if she was ill and raspy. But how could I talk to her on the phone when her grandmother specifically told me that she was not in the world of the living anymore? Whatever it was , I felt that I'd failed my old friend big time and there's nothing I can do to make things right between us again. She's lost to me and to everyone else. Or is she really?

This may be a mystery I would never ever solve.

Thank you for reading my original short story. Please, leave your comments below, your feedback is important to me! You can also follow the link further on and read one of my other stories.

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