Maple leaves

Hope you all enjoy this story.
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The roof, the sky, the path...everything was covered in orange and yellow. The sky was dyed orange from the sun, while a canopy of fallen maple leaves colored the roof, the path, and the world with shades of yellow and orange. This wonderful color of the sky and the ground complimented each other, creating a divine picture.

 

The only thing that tainted this wonderful picture were the ugly and gnarly trees.

 

Trees were left with their ugly naked branches. Trees were shaking off leaves that once made them beautiful. The withered leaves fell gently to the ground, where they were looking back at the trees, sad and angry and disappointed. They were the ones that had beautify the trees. But it was no use crying over bad luck after knowing that a friend had betrayed you.

 

When I was in secondary school, I met and made friend with Audrey. We had to take an exam that determined whether we could go to a good university or not in that Spring.

 

Audrey had been my friend. She was always poor academically. She was like dust compared to other classmates that always got good results. She was always looked down upon, so being her friend, I had the responsibility to help her.

 

We decided to revise together. And in order to help her improve faster, I had done so many things for her: summarizing all the main points of different subjects and writing all of them on the word document. I even printed all of them out for her while she was still playing dodge-ball and computer games with her friends.

 

I stopped her from playing computer games, because she would become addicted and not get good results. Though she did complain to me sometimes, I willed myself not to waver so easily, because I know what was important for our future.

 

Days passed, and the exam neared. Even Audrey felt the pressure and became more hard-working.

 

The exam was a nightmare to me. On the second day, I caught a cold from nowhere. It was impossible to control my running nose, my swollen eyes, and most importantly, my malfunctioning brain. The nightmare became more and more terrible as days passed.

 

When I received my report card. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was...it was...it was a D. I should at least got a B-, I had been working so hard.

 

I ran to Audrey with watering eyes. She got a B+ in average; that meant she could get to the university that I dreamed of. Audrey looked at my grade, and patted me on my back. She then turned back and walked towards her friends and clapped hands happily as they all got good results, not once did she look back at me.

 

I was dust compared to Audrey, and I went in a college that was dust compared to Audrey's university.

 

I then spent six hard years studying in order to get a good job.

 

When I finished studying, Audrey was already working in a very good company which I wanted to join. It would be easier to be accepted into the company if  there was someone inside to recommend me, so I texted Audrey. The last time I texted her again. I received no reply for four weeks.

 

Day after day, I waited, but nothing came, and when I couldn't suppress it any longer, I waited outside her company. Finally, I saw her chatting with her colleagues happily. " Audrey!" I called. She glanced at me for a moment and continued talking with her colleagues! She ignored me! Fuming, I walked in front of them and shouted at her," Audrey, why you didn't text me back? Why are you acting like a stranger to me?" She looked at me for a few seconds and told her colleagues to head back first.

 

She sat down on a bench while I stood.

 

After a while, she drawled," so, what do you want me to do for you?"

 

I gave her the form I wanted her to fill in. She glanced at it and snickered.

 

" Why should I help you?" she asked.

 

"Why should you not help me?"

 

Her sarcastic smirk dropped as she looked down, possibly thinking of a good excuse. A silent moment dragged by.

 

I was so furious at her attitude that it was impossible to stop my piercing words from bursting.

 

" Why won't you face me now? I bet you are afraid of me, no, your past; speaking of the past, I was the one who stood beside you when you were teased; I was the one who helped you with your homework; I was the one forcing you to revise so you can get high marks in that exam and join a good company now! How can you be so horrible, how can you give up on a person who tried her very best to help you!"

 

I had a feeling that my words would hurt her. However, if she wasn't friends with me, I hope the words would make her learn. If she still cared for me, even it was just a little, I hope these words could wake her up.

 

I continued with a gentler tone. " We can still be...be friends now. We can still help each other out."

 

She didn't reply and look down at her watch, she said coldly," sorry, I have to go now, or I will be late for the coming meeting." She then walked across the path, leaving me once again in the dust, speechless.

 

" HOW CAN YOU BE LIKE THIS?" Audrey didn't reply, she didn't even turn back. Perhaps the wind caught my voice and carried away, perhaps, it was just Audrey who pretended not to have heard my words.

 

Maple leaves fell on the ground around me. They were fragile, the slightest step could crush them. They lay facing the trees that were once beautiful because of them. What were they possibly feeling? Perhaps anger, sadness, or even disappointment, But whatever could they do? And like them, whatever could I have done?

 

The crackling of maple leaves beneath my feet awoke me from my journey to memory lane. Yeah, there isn't anything that can be changed, and there is no use crying over bad luck after knowing a friend had betrayed you.