Aisle 10

Four years ago, we made a promise to each other that we would meet in aisle ten. The location? At one of my favourite stores, in one of his favourite malls and the decision to do this felt so right at the time. We had agreed to meet in the morning at 10am, I checked the time for the 100th time this morning. I'd rushed out of bed this morning, I couldn't sleep much at all last night. I was too busy thinking about meeting him again, it's been such a long time since I last saw him or even spoke to him. I hadn't even reached out to confirm that we were still meeting, I knew deep down that there was a chance that he may have already forgotten about me and perhaps he had moved on for good in the last four years that we had cut ties from each other.

I had asked him to make a second promise to me, I asked him to promise that he wasn't going to wait for me due to the first promise that we had made to meet again one day. Deep down I knew I had only asked him to make that promise because I wanted him to prove to himself that he could be with someone else and still be happy, without me. Part of me wanted to believe that he was out there, he has been waiting for me and today was going to be the day we meet again.

I parked my car right outside the mall, I looked around anxiously trying to find his car and forgot to consider the fact that he could have had another car. I nervously looked around for him, searching for him in a sea of faces approaching the entrance of the mall but I couldn't see him. I checked my phone again for the time, it was still somewhat early but if he remembered anything about me then he would remember that I am always early, never late and occasionally on time but always early.

I get out of my car, locked the door and made my way to the mall entrance. I felt nervous, I felt close to him and had butterflies in the pit of my stomach. I saw the store ahead of me, the bright lights marking the entrance and I saw people walking in and out of the store. It had been so many years since I had been here, everything looked different and the same all at once. I felt this glow in my chest, as if my heart was warming at the thought of seeing him for the first time in years. My heart was pounding through my chest, I was so nervous but I made my way into the store and walked towards aisle ten...