Send this to someone you met by accident.

We meet a lot of people in life, and it's hard to remember them all. But sometimes we meet the people who are a significant part of our lives before we even know them. Just like with Aaron and Cassie. This is the story of how coincidence brought the two of them together. [I personally don't actively write in this genre, but sometimes, it works]

ENJOY...

We met. Long ago.

“Aaron! Come on!” I hear my best friend shout from a few feet away. We’re on a school trip, two schools from our town decided to all their twelfth graders to the Nashville Zoo on the same day. I can’t tell who’s the copycat since they both declared the trip on the same day. They allowed us to bring our cameras along so I brought mine. I personally like photography, it’s my favourite hobby.

I’m shooting my class as they walk over to the next exhibit. The kids from the other school are coming back from that same exhibit. A girl walks right past, almost bumping into me. She seemed intriguing, moreover really beautiful. I turn around to see her and to my surprise, she turns around to see me. We stare at each other for a few seconds, and then her friend calls her. She turns to walk back to her class but gets a final glance at me before she does. I walk over to my class. I realise on my way there that my camera got it all. I don’t know why but I’m glad it did.

Ten years later.

I dig out some of my old recordings, my friends’ birthdays, school events and trips. My wife, Cassie, is watching them with me. Then I come across an old video of a school trip to the zoo, shot almost ten years ago. Cassie and I watch it until we come across a certain scene, it’s a memory I completely forgot about; the girl I almost bumped into!

Cassie pauses the video when the camera is facing that girl. She bends forward to get a closer look. “That’s me!” She says out of the blue. I raise an eyebrow, “what?” Cassie turns to face me, “That’s me from twelfth grade. I studied at the Western Girls’ School in the twelfth grade. I was on that trip to the Nashville Zoo! I almost ran into a boy from the other school there, he was holding a camera and recording the whole thing, that was you!” It all hits me when she explains. How come? Now I remember what that friend of hers said to call her, “Cassie! Come on!”

Cassie puts her arms around me as I process my memory of that day. When she pulls back, I say, “We met long ago! I photographed you before I even knew you!”

Your guide,

13 Chapters