Write about your first love — be it a person, place, or thing.

I’ve had my crushes throughout my years. When I was 12 I had this major crush on a girl 2 years older than me. That last a little while and by the age of 13 I had a crush on another girl. And I have posted about my first girlfriend, the first girl who said she liked me but I also do think about this girl who didn’t tell me directly that she liked me, but apparently it was kind of known among her friends that she liked me and I was interested in her as well. But that was puppy love ofcourse as I was 14 and she was 12.

Yeah, so many, many years ago and I have sort of forgotten what her face looked like – at times it’s a blur but at times she appears in my mind as clear as if she was standing face to face to me. I rarely do think about her but since the last 2 years or so I keep thinking about her once in a while – mainly because I hear her name a lot more. And that is because, my next door neighbours have a teenage daughter with that name and I have a colleague who has the same name as well. So about this then 12 year old girl who had a crush on me she was in the 7th grade when I was in the 9th grade. Her name was Maryam and she was from a Muslim family.

Her parents were ultra strict with her but not mainly with regards to religion or religious upbringing. Infact, in hindsight, her family must seem quite modern to most now. They were very strict with her studies and things like that. So they had no television and no games and no radio! This is the year 1990! Her family were well off enough to afford a couple of tvs and a few radios and walkman but she and her younger sister were forbidden to have them at home. Anyways towards the end of that year, I came to know that she had a crush on me, based on a few comments her friends made and what she wrote in my book (like a year end autograph book we used to keep back then).

All summer I was dreaming of meeting her again and actually pursuing this and maybe get to know her even better. Unfortunately, when I came back to school and started looking for her, she was not to be seen. I spoke to a couple of her girl friends and they said that her parents had moved away to another city and hence she had left the school. I feel that it is a shame. I hope she has had a wonderful life so far and has a nice family to get home to.

Prompt from 31 DAYS OF WRITING PROMPTS FOR MAY at The SitsGirls