Story Eight from "A Symphony of Short Stories"

Story Eight: THE REALIZATION GAME

It took Richard 7 days, after receiving that fateful text from Amanda, to realize that he was losing his “best buddy in the world”.

She had not returned any of his calls or text messages. Her email had been programmed for an auto reply. It kept bouncing back to him with the following message –

“I am off to a long and well-deserved holiday. I may or may not check my emails because I would be having too fun for once in my life. I’ll probably be back in a month or three! We shall see!

Amanda”

By day 8, Amanda’s mobile had been permanently switched off. It went straight into her voicemail every time Richard tried to call. And he really tried, several times each day.

By day 9, her mailbox was full. He could no longer leave her any voice messages.

From day 10 through day 15, Richard felt most uneasy. Even Simone could not cheer him up. Something was just not right, but he could not put his finger on it. He was becoming less and less excited about his impending wedding to Simone. In fact, he was beginning to dread it altogether.

Day 18, Richard and Simone had their first full-blown fight. Nothing had been going right between them. It was Simone who laid down the “bombshell” for Richard.

“You are the idiot! Can’t you see that you have not been the same ever since you could not find Amanda? Every day and night, I have to hear you talk about her – where is she, what is she doing, who is she with, is she ok, why is she not returning my calls or emails! Look at you! You are a mess!”

“What are you really saying, Simone?” Richard stared at her.

“I am saying you are a stupid idiot man for not realizing that the person you love is your best buddy and not me! The wedding is off. Everything is off! Mange de la merde!” Simone yelled and stormed out of his apartment.

Richard did not even bother getting up to run after Simone. He had let her leave. But did she just tell him to ‘eat shit’ in French?

In any case, he did not care. He wanted her to leave him alone with his thoughts. He was too busy thinking about Amanda.

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS AMANDA KIM?!

Day by day, Richard was getting more agitated. It was becoming a challenge to concentrate on the last few weeks of his baking course.

Then the question started to trickle into his mind.

Could it really be true? Whatever Simone had said began to take root.

THIS IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK: "LIFE IS A JOURNEY - A SYMPHONY OF SHORT STORIES".

THE BOOK IS BEING PUBLISHED AS WE SPEAK, BOTH IN HARD COPY AND E-FORMAT. 

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