With the weight of the world on his shoulders, he walked aimlessly for hours hoping there is no tomorrow. Exhausted, he sat besides an old grave. On one of the corners of the grave was written in small words
"To you, a 100 years from now,
A source of joy for millions in the future should always look forward to the unknown tomorrow inspite of today's troubles."

With a relieved smile he thanked the stranger and his destiny for being able to come across something he needed to know at that moment.

All this while not knowing that it was indeed him in his past life who had it written a century ago.

-

Those we love don't go.

They walk beside us everywhere every day, unseen, unheard but always near,
still very dear.

-

The frustrated teen sat by the edge of the cliff whispering
'I'm better off alone'.

The clouds darkened and he felt an uneasy heaviness on hearing the approaching footsteps. He turned back to see the grim reaper in his dark cloak with the scythe ready to collect his soul.

It's time to let go , he thought ready to jump.

" STOP "— % &"Stop" bemoaned the reaper, "A prayer has delayed your death indefinitely"

The phone rang, the confused and scared teen picked up the call to hear the familiar voice of his mom
"You looked stress today, is everything alright? Dad's came home early to specially cook for you, come soon."

Through the tears he mumbled ' coming'. It took him a long time to realise that he wasn't better off alone as long as he had his special guardians who would be there for him always , fighting against the death himself if needed to.

Tears of frustration replaced with tears of regret and relief for the kid who wished for a hug from his parents more than death.— % &

-

He felt they borrowed the lives of dear ones
Too many times only to never return
And so he dedicated years of his life
To remove that evil with his delicate knife
Now they stand before me, the ones in lab coat
With an envelope in hand, the most senior doctor spoke
The results of which you wanted to be sure
That have you found the cancer's cure
Is
Snap
Snippity snap it broke
From the prolonged dream the 16 year old woke
'To the dream from which I woke up early
So many doubts but now surely
I find a one way ticket in my pocket
To my destiny I move like a rocket
In my own way I want to be a protector
In an attempt to cure cancer I study to be a doctor.'

-

"Doctor, even one mm to the side and he is a goner" said the anxious resident doctor in sharp contrast to the senior doctor whose palms were steady and his relaxing demenaur a representation of all things sane.

Yet when the senior doctor went on his first date in years, his palms got sweaty while making an unsuccessful attempt to hold the hand of the beautiful girl who was nothing short of an angel in his eyes.

He refused to accept his anxiety and fear and instead claimed with a proud look that like God, the human body works in mysterious ways.

-

By the ocean, in a field of dandelions they lie on the grass as he steals a glance of her smile, he musters the courage to say
"I think I should leave now."
"So soon."
A silent smile of sadness followed for he had to go abroad for a long time for the sake of their futures.

Two years hence, she called him and asked what it smells like.
Looking through his city window he said
"Today, unlike other days
It smells like ocean
It smells like love
It smells like I'm lying
In a field of dandelion
It must be some magical perfume
Cause I know it's not true
This city air tonight
Tonight it smells like you "

A silent smile of happiness followed the subtle knock on his door.
Tonight it smelled like you.

-

Ignoring the call from his sister he sighed
"She is just calling to invite me for the holidays. You know, if I had a time machine, I'd go back to the time when we were on good terms, I can't go there now. I shouldn't miss those times anymore but I do."

" Beep beep - boop boop ",
his dorky wife made a weird robotic sound as she slowly walked towards him
" I come from the future, I see you regretting not meeting your sisters and then telling your lovely wife ' if I had a time machine, I'd love to meet my sister for holidays' " .

She hugged him tight and recieved a warm smile in return. It was time to pick up the call and pack the bags for a short trip.— % &

-

Pizza !!
Burger !!
Chinese !!

The cousins fought at family get-together over the choice of dinner to order.

"I can prove it to you why my choice is the best one ."

"Why don't you ?"

Within a few moments all the cousins formed groups and gave a presentation in front of the family on why their choice of cuisine is the best one.

The family rolled in laughter seeing their kids all suit up talking about food like their career depended on it .

With time no one remembered who won, all that left was a memory of people in whose eyes you could see tears of laughter and a content smile.

-

The mom looked at her 30 year old son working from home on his laptop, all engrossed. He used to be a 5 year old, running around the house, always getting clothes dirty, super loud, asking his mom to cook the simplest potato fry as a treat every time he had a great day at gully cricket. Watching the first single strand of white hair in his beard she wondered how the time flies.

" Yesssssss " roared the son breaking her thoughtful silence, " I did it, boss said it'd take all week but I did it on the first day" he said with a childlike smile,
"Mom make the special potato fry today."

Time flew but she was still a mom and he still remained her son.

-

Wrapped in the blanket, she sat on the sofa staring at the blank wall. Her husband who just returned from work to see his beloved like this immediately asked in his soft voice

"What happened?"

"We sad today."

He looked puzzled.

"What got you down?"

No further reply.

"Do you want to talk about it ?"

The only voice that could be heard were the sound of his steps

"Can I make it better?"

He kept his briefcase aside and tried making short conversations

" Wanna know about my day ? Should we bitch about someone you dislike for no good reason ?"

He kept his blazer aside realising his words didn't have the answer. He sat curling alongside her in the warm blanket.
He then spoke the words which followed a long comfortable silence

"I say we sad today."

-