Under the Bridge

Although it is already March, the spring girl came particularly late, and heavy snow around the Qingming Festival.

That day, the snowflakes kept drifting, and I dragged my suitcase alone to the bottom of the overpass. I was alone this year, and the person who sent me was no longer likely to come. I looked at my watch, the car hadn't come yet, so I sat in the suitcase. Behind me was a thick blanket of snow, making it hard to breathe. A gust of wind lifted the ice on top, shimmering in the sunlight, just like footage from an old movie.

In the haze, I remembered the past, when lilacs were in full bloom. At that time, he passed by here on his bicycle with me. Whenever he came here, he would slow down his car and even use the word "walk" to describe it. I reached out and plucked the bright petals, scattered them on his body, and laughed with him. Now, his passing is just like the flurry of petals, irrevocable. I opened my eyes in a daze and looked around, but could not see anything but white snow.

Although living in the north, I do not like snow much. Snow is too selfish to freeze a city for its whiteness. A gust of wind, a few snowflakes floating up, like a spinning Trojan horse. I reached out to catch it, and it melted, a drop of water left in the palm. If it was so weak, why did it float to the earth? I froze as the earth spun, spun, spun until my memory lingered on that distant night.

That night, my brother invited me to celebrate his birthday. His name was Lu Qi, a good friend of my brother, a handsome college student. Brother had known him for almost three years, and the two got along very well. "Lu Qi, this is my sister!" My brother pulled me forward and introduced me to him.

"Hello!" He smiled, and two sweet dimples appeared on his face. My brother and I sat on the nearest chair and watched the people coming and going.

"This birthday dinner is quite grand! His family must be very rich." I asked.

"Yes. His dad owns a company and is very famous on Sanhao Street." My brother said.

"So he's in IT!" I stopped talking and sat quietly.

Some beautiful women were talking and laughing with him, and he was so happy.

......

"Hey, do you know how to dance?" He asked.

"Call me? I ......" I hesitated, not knowing how to answer.

"She can't!" My brother said it for me.

I stood red-faced and mute, like an aggrieved child.

Shortly after, he entered the dance floor and danced, and all the girls' eyes were focused on him.

His back was tall, his eyes were clear, and his smile was sweet ...... That night, I was simply enchanted by him.

From then on, we met more often and became more and more familiar.

"You and your brother are two kinds of people! Before, I did not know he had you as a sister."

"What, hate to see each other!"

"A little ......"

He paused and gave me a small piece of paper with a QQ number and cell phone number and said, "Call me if you have anything!"

"No need, I have all your information!" I hemmed and hawed and ran forward.

"I'm Little Leaf!" I shouted.

This is my screen name, we have been communicating online for some time. Every time we chatted, it was like a light breeze had caressed my body, soothing, and he never knew who I was. I had even said I was a student at the same school as him. I lied to him.

"Sayaka, is it you?"

"Of course it is!"

He typed these words into the dialog box and stopped. He had told me that there was a long-lost feeling that kept touching him and kept him sleepless. He even said he liked me and wanted to get out of the internet and into reality. But what will happen when he finds out who I am? He is five years older than me and surrounded by beautiful women. He is in his junior year of college and I am in my senior year of high school. We are on two parallel lines that will not intersect.

During winter break, I was going to my grandmother's house and he came to see me off. We stood on the overpass, facing the north wind, and said nothing, because my brother was standing beside me. When we parted, he slipped me a letter with only four words on it - "Take care and say goodbye!"

That night was like an elegy, quietly sung. I got into a cab. Crossing the bridge, the car raced through the bustle of the West Tower, all the way through neon, all the way to the fancy Korean clubs ...... I had never ventured here, though I passed it again and again. The glass of the car windows reflected the lights. The car was soundproof, and the people outside flashed by one by one like actors in a pantomime. The good feeling swept past me like the scenery outside. From one streetlight to another, light and dark, dark and light, like discordant notes strung up and down in the heart, making people ponder. The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you're getting into. I tilted my head out the window and tried not to think about him. Although the city is so busy, there is no point that I created, every building, every floor, every room, even if it is every light pole, every floor tile ......

Cars stop and go, the flow of people sliding past in front of their eyes, the horizontal line, the vertical line ...... so fast pace, traffic lights flashing non-stop. At this point, I found myself walking at the end of the city.

Late at night, the town's neighborhood only had some shuttle cabs. Hot and cold roadside, dust soaked into the snow, in this quiet late-night condensed into a basalt-like black. At the corner of the block, I leaned against the streetlight and spread out the letter. The tears slipped carelessly and splashed on the paper, a blooming black splash. I really couldn't bear to give up, but what was the point? I have not yet been admitted to college, not yet financially independent ...... I want to be an obedient child, listen to my mom and dad, and listen to my brother. Everything is like the fall of a drama, even the earth is quiet, and I am like a hydrogen balloon floating in the air.

Under the sky of sixteen years old, why always hold so many gorgeous fantasies? These three years, I should walk numbly through, not looking up, like crawling in a long dark tunnel. The wind blew, and I walked, leaving no memories. However, I fiddled with the Rubik's Cube when I shouldn't have, turning my world into a chaotic and splendid place.

The morning breeze blew by and I walked alone toward a vacant lot on the outskirts of the city. There was a wild date palm tree beside the road, and the clumps of grass still held the same color as last fall. Grandpa's grave is here, and a lot of small grass has grown on it. Although only a year has passed, the grass tells me that the dust has settled. The sun still rises every day, the grass is still green year after year, and the noisy tractor is still turning over the plowed land. Looking at the blue sky, I picked up my promise, not that I should do it, but that I must do it, not only for my family but also for myself.

The train whistle woke me up. In the distance, the train rushed this way reflecting the fiery red sunrise, sped past, and disappeared on the horizon of the wilderness. I stood on my tiptoes and looked back, and the smoke was already rising from my grandmother's house. I should go back ...... I know that someone will be waiting for me alone in the dark, and the lights should be brighter in the distance.