- Never Stop Dreaming -
In this 30 years of short lived existence, God, or whoever is in charge had taken 4 of my beloved friends, and they were all below 30. When the 1st one went, she was only 19...then 2 other left in their twenties. Now the 4th, at 29 years of age, left suddenly like the previous 3...leaving far too many questions open to imagination. Of the 4, 2 were taken due to traffic accident but the other 2 were whisked away like the wind.
This entire post is dedicated to the memory of my friend, Novem who left us on the 31st of Jan in the year 2011 at 29 years of age.
I met her thru my friend Cindy years back when we were, or rather, I was still an advocate of the Japanese Langauge following. The impression that she gave anyone who was new to here was a sweet, fun-loving party girl. Then slowly as I got to know her better, I was quite surprised how well she had concealed her dominant character beneath. She had a strong character leaning towards the masculine side capable of attempting any challenges put across to her, coupled with her sweet demeanor, she was a figure worth much respect.
As I found about more about her, we seemed to realize that both she and I shared a lot of interesting past adventures alike. Life on the fast lane, booze, brawls, gasoline, tarmac...and it was the very beginning of our very unique friendship. From there we crashed all sorts of parties and danced out youth away into the brink of the morning light.
The most memorable event that I could never ever forget was the one at Zouk. It started out when I was invited by my friends to crash a birthday party at Zouk and there I was happily studying the strangers in the VIP lounge with my horde of friends where Novem showed up with her group of friends apparently crashing a birthday party as well. Surprises and coincidences come hand in hand in situations like this and there we were checking out each others' private group of friends. Once the merry making kicks in, booze were coerced by everyone to everyone else in an attempt to keep the party spirit alive. Novem was back to back against me with each of our groups of friends in opposites sides. Sneakily she would hand alcohol offered to her to me where I would coerced them to my friends and then do the exact same to alcohol offered to me to Novem. That way not only did we not flipped and puke our guts out like the rest, the music warmed our souls as we danced and partied till the morning light.
Somewhere along the night of the party, Novem got pissed at some drunk ass and even offered to throw him off the second floor balcony. It was a huge commotion but I was certain she would had done it given the nature of the situation and her character. As usual I did my stint and saw her sweet smile once again before heading for supper. We grew our friendship deeper after that incident and I realized that she was becoming more of my idol than a friend.
Not long after, I left for Japan to accomplish my dreams that I had carved since the beginning of a long journey and it was then Novem and I slowly drifted apart as the lands and oceans separated us. Not we were not a couple and no we weren't dating but we were just really amazing friends with great respect for each other. She was definitely one very unique character that I will never forget because for once, to find a fine lady of such caliber who not only shared the same amazing past as me but to earn such deep respect from me.
Initially my intentions were to fly home on 29th of Jan to attend a wedding on the 30th but just days before I flew, this sad news came so sudden that Novem was in ICU and her condition was very critical. Though I do not know what exactly the cause was and never will, I wasn't prepared in any way to handle the situation. All I could do was to visit her for the very last time, while she was still breathing thru a machine in a small glass cubicle. Her brother had swollen eyes from all the crying and so were her friends.
She looked really frail but still I tapped the button, the glass door opened and I walked in. There I held her warm hands and said, "My friend, I know you can hear me sub-consciously and I am here to tell you that I have flown a long way from Japan to see you. I am not sure if you would ever wake up from this eternal slumber but I still hope that you will. " Silence endured for a long time while I stared at my friend for the very last time, trying to remember every detail about her.
Went home to get changed and then attended the wedding with the most pretentious smile since in the back of my head, I was still worrying about her since every passing second would be her last. After the wedding, I went to have a chat with my friends till the early hours of the morning of the 31st. Came home to check Novem's FB page and the update was, "She has departed and thank you all who have came to see her..."
This was where my brain froze and all the memories of the good times came flashing in my head. Not sure if God or religion or heaven really exist but someday if we meet again Novem, I would be dead envious since you will still be all young and pretty while I would be a frail old man.
It is here I say my final goodbye to you my dearest friend and till we meet again. Thank you so much for being a very special part of my life...have a safe journey and watch over us sometime when you are free.
End
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