Ted had a faraway look in his eyes as he watched the entry point for arrivals. He was expectant, but as he watched he couldn't stop his thoughts from drifting a bit. Of course those drifting thoughts still hovered around Anna. She was his world, the one part of him he couldn't let go of.
He remembered every bit of how she had looked and smelt that morning when she had left. Her flowered blue dress, those dusty looking shoes she loved, the flowers on her hair, and her constant golden smile; they were all etched onto his memory. He smiled a bit as he recalled her words of assurance that day.
"Don't you worry, it'll only be a week" she had said. Then she had whispered mischievously in his ears;
"Mum despises hot weather, and I've heard that Africa is quite the oven". And she had winked at him.
He smiled again, such confidence from a fourteen year old.
But then she had gone, and a week later the call had come; there had been a tragedy and Anna had lost her mum. There were no details on what had happened, or if there were, he could not remember them anymore. All he remembered was that her dad had been planning on assuming a world health organization role full time too. Then there was also some talk of closure and other big words but at the time, Ted didn't want or need to hear all of that.
The message he had gotten was clear; Anna wasn't coming back, not anytime soon anyway. And he had cried his heart out. His mum had tried with great efforts to console him, but it was all to no effect. Anna was his best friend, his only playmate, and he wasn't going to see her again. No one could even begin to understand.
But it was his dad's words that day that had eventually got to him.
"You could wish her back", his dad had said.
"But wishes don't come true" had been his tear filled first response.
Then his dad had sat down on the floor next to him, and had uttered those words which were to become his creed in the years to come;
"Son, the nearest star to us is 4.25 light years away, that's why wishes take at least nine years to come true, but they do come true eventually. You could wish her back son, but you would have to be patient."
All that was nine years ago now, and Ted had been patient. Very soon now he was going to see his Anna again, she would walk through that door labelled ARRIVALS...
And until then, he would be at this train station every other day at 2pm, watching...
Waiting...
THE END
Who are you waiting for...?
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