Author Information
Dear Stranger
“Dear Stranger”
It all started that morning. I was starving because I woke up late, and I did not have a chance to eat breakfast. I spent almost all night studying for my big Math test, and those ten hours of hard work did not pay off at the end. The class looked like a cemetery, with empty pale faces that I couldn’t decipher whether they were full of emotions or just forgotten about themselves; only the remains of what used to be my classmates with a slice difference under the eyes: eye bags like black spots, the real clock that marked the hours of sleep they had lost the night before.
The professor arrived and I could hear everybody’s sighs, almost like a TV show when the host tells a joke and the audience does the same thing with a perfect timing but this time was different because nobody was laughing. He started walking between the lines handing over the exam. I looked at the upper left corner of the sheet: “Department of Mathematics. Final Exam. December 23”, then I started my exam. I looked down and stopped in the first problem, a ten line explanation problem, I started to feel nervous but quickly calmed down and started to read what it was about just to realize the more I read the less I was understanding. I try as hard as I could not to lose my mind but it was too late. My mind was already in blank. For some reason I had test anxiety. Nerves took control of me and I just couldn’t help it. The clock was ticking and I could feel each minute inside my bones, my hands were sweating. I was so desperate for it to finish that all I did was to stare out the window and watch the snowflakes falling from the sky. When the time finally ended, I handed it in. I felt relieved, but I was certain that I had failed the exam.
While walking out of school, all I was thinking of was how badly I wanted to finish with school and take a plane directly to my hometown. I started walking straight to my apartment with my head down. I was feeling so bad with myself. I raised my head and looked at the sky then looked down again.
“New York City has never been this bright” I thought. Christmas trees decorating every store; huge red, green and silver spheres hanging on the buildings; families dressing big smiles, but still nothing. I was invisible for them as they were for me. I kept walking when I noticed a Starbucks down the street and I thought that the only thing that could make me feel better in that precise moment was a hot Cherry Mocha.
“Perfect” I said and entered the place. The line was empty. The cashier was being nice; he was smiling and asking how my day was going while he was writing my hot drink on a Venti red cup. When I was ready to pay, I looked down my backpack to take out my wallet just to realize I had forgotten it. I was not sure about anything, not even if I had left it in my apartment. My mind collapsed. How could I have forgotten the most essential thing? There was not much to do, so I just told the cashier how sorry I was.
“What a day you had, huh? he said.
“You have no idea”, I said and with a smile of shame walked out of the place.
I continued my way to my apartment but in order to get there, I had to take the subway. I looked for my subway card in my jeans’ pocket, it was a trashy day, I couldn’t expect anything good.
“Thank God I didn’t forget about you” I said to it and passed the turnstiles.
I had never considered myself a pessimist, but this was the exception, my day was horrible. Then, I began to feel something in my back but I was too distracted to care, I thought it was stress so I did not pay much attention. It was still there and I was still ignoring it, when suddenly I felt a tug on my right arm that made me turn. As I turned I saw a beautiful blonde girl, just about my age. She was smiling and carrying some kind of envelope on her hand. She extended her hand and with a sweet smile on her face she told me: “Take it, it’s for you”. I did not wanted to take it because I didn’t knew the girl, but she insisted. I took the red envelope. While I was opening the red paper thing, the girl just disappeared on the crowd. I started reading the card that was inside. It was a Christmas card that read: “Dear stranger, I know you don’t know me, but I just hope you have a Merry Christmas this year. Remember to be happy, and please try to make others happy.”
All of a sudden, all that anger and frustration I was feeling that day went away. Then I realized that the coffee, the wallet and the exam were not that important. I understood that I had forgotten what was really important in life. After this subway situation I started to feel alive again.
