Our Bad Day

Writer: Mariam Hisham

Editor: Ahmed Ashry


Well, one of the benefits of living close to the beach is that I can go there every night.

“Clarisse?”, my mom called as I was opening the door.
“Yes mom?” I replied.
“Don’t be late, hun.”, she said with a gentle smile.
“Sure mom, I’ll come back in an hour.”, I replied and she nodded back.

I took a breath and went out, closing the door behind me. I walked to the beach and sat in front of it. I just thought I should, despite that I walk that same route everyday. I looked at the sky, noticing the moon; it’s a full moon day today. It looks wonderful, literally mind-blowing.

I had a bad day: I broke up with my boyfriend today. Unfortunately, I’m not the person who would discuss her emotions with anyone at all. So it’s harder for me to heal. No one else is here, but I looked around one last time then took off my shirt and got into the water. I just laid on the water and let it lift me up.

I’m not a good swimmer at all, so that was a risk. I stared at the sky and stopped thinking about everything. I just stared at the sky, still close to the shore.

“That’s dangerous, you know.”, a deep male voice from the shore made me jump. “Oh my God!”, I gasped, barley able to catch my breath.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” the guy said.
Now I can clearly see him; he’s around my age but maybe a little bit older. His hair is a shade of blonde that looks like sun beams on a sunny day. He was skinny, tall guy with ocean-blue eyes.

“It’s okay,” I said with a grin.
“So why are you here so late?”, he asked with a smile. “And why are you?”, I replied sarcastically.
“Hmm, good question.. Well, I’ve had a bad day today; my dream school didn’t accept me, and my mother who raised me all alone pretended to be supportive, but I know she was even more disappointed than I am..”, he said, almost tearing up.

I felt like he didn’t want me to feel apathetic so I just told him that, “Today, My boyfriend broke up with me for literally no apparant reason. I don’t discuss my emotions with anyone, so it feels so bad. He meant a lot to me, you know. He didn’t even try to solve the problem. He just left..”. I didn’t meet his gaze.

“The moon looks amazing tonight!”, he claimed, ignoring the fact that we have just talked about our so bad day.
“Yes it’s the first thing I’ve noticed!”, I replied cheerfully.

We spoke and spoke for hours.
“I should be going home; I’m already two hours late..”, I said sadly.
“Me too..”, he replied.
We didn’t exchange numbers or anything. We felt that we shouldn’t; the universe just made us here, given that we had bad days.

“Have a good life stranger!”, he said.
He then spoke again before I could reply,
“Wait, what’s your name?”, he asked.
“I’m Clairsse..what about yours?”, I asked.
“I’m Artemis”, he said then waved at me. I waved back.

We never saw each other again. Not every detail in our life will cause a major change. Sometimes, fate gives us small pushes so we could keep going; sometimes, it’s all we need, and I’m thankful for this one.