“Funny how fate plays its hand” She says wistfully looking at water lapping along the edge in front of her. She and I are sitting on the patio of the food court in campus. “I once thought my future lay here.”

The air around us is pregnant with words unsaid.

My mind flashes back a good twenty years. Mom had never wanted her to move away. Memories of raised voices and much tears come flooding in.

“She never wanted you to move away.” I say quietly.

Her face is brighter now. “Perhaps it was not meant to be. I only wish I had heard back from the school. I really thought I had made it. Everything worked out well did it not? I am happy with my life. Staying back opened up opportunities I would not have explored otherwise. ” The cheer is back in her voice and her eyes light up at the sight of her niece, my daughter working her way across the tables towards us.

The letter in my hands burn a hole. The one I found sorting through mom’s effects after her demise. The one with the school emblem embossed on the cover. Unopened. I silently slide it back into my bag.

Perhaps some things are not meant to be.

PS: This is my entry to Writing 101 Day Five.

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