All Men Are Not The Same

That's Life

After having closed and opened his eyelids for the third time, Maddox was finally convinced that he was not dreaming. The message he received was indeed from that wonderful person he met more than a year back but who disappeared for months until that particular day. It was from Angel. Angelica Gilbert.

As Maddox opened the message, his eyes fell on nothing but a five letter word - hello. Yet, that was enough to draw a huge smile on his face, making him temporarily forget about his previous worry.

The young guy's fingers were dancing along the letters on the keyboard but every now and then, going to the "delete" button, erasing what they wrote and retyping new words over and over again. Maddox did not know what he had to tell her exactly. He could not decide what should go first - a "hello" or a "sorry".

He finally stopped for a moment, sealing his fingers in tight fists, breathing deeply while looking up towards the ceiling. He watched the fan swirling - the blades going round and round, just like the thoughts in his head. Then, he was at it again. Typing.

"Angel."

This was the perfect word to use to break the ice.

"Angel. Where have you been? I have been looking for you. Each day. I had to say sorry. I had to."

Maddox paused as memories of the day where he punched Angel's dad's face resurfaced. He was still angry when he remembered Mr Jonathan's words but each time Angel's grieved and panicked face came to his mind, Maddox felt his heart cramp.

"I'm sorry for what I did to your dad. But..." Maddox typed then stopped and stared at the words on the screen. He knew something was wrong in what he just wrote. He recalled his stepmom's words. No 'buts' when you are admitting your fault. He smiled and erased the last word.

"I'm sorry for what I did to your dad. I'm sorry I have hurt you with that. I don't know if I was right or wrong, I just know that without your forgiveness, I can't move on. The guilt will follow me all along, and to shoulder that, I'm not that strong.
Please forgive me."

After sending the message, Maddox waited. He waited, yet, no reply. No sign of Angel. The young guy could see that the initial message he got from her was an hour back. Angel must have logged out of her Facebook account. I wonder when she will be around. I should tell Deb that Angel has sent me a message though! Oh no! Deb!

Maddox was suddenly shaken up when he remembered the phone call from Deborah and her sobs followed by the incident that happened at her house that morning. Angelica's message had kept his mind off that for some minutes but once more he was troubled by this fact and desperately wanted to contact his girlfriend again.

He immediately searched for Deborah's Facebook profile to send her a message.

"But... but where is it?" Maddox asked himself as he scratched his chin, worried.

As he could not find her Facebook account, he went to their previous conversation and opened the chat box. The messages were still there, the last words from Deborah being "Goodnight Mad Cow! Love you too." Everything was still there but the only thing was that when he tried to send another message, he couldn't. He then noticed some new words saying "You cannot reply to this conversation anymore." He was then convinced that Deborah must have deleted her Facebook account.

Maddox felt dejected. He had no means to contact Deborah anymore. And with this realisation, he missed her more.

Maddox's eyes remained stuck to the screen. That same screen made his heart jump with happiness some minutes back and now, it made him sulk in sadness.

"That's life" some people would say. "People keep coming and keep leaving", yet, it is always painful for the one living through it. Always.