I remember

We're all here. Not all, but many whom I've forgotten to keep in contact with all these years. I remember them all. The good, the bad and the ugly. The uncanny, the simple, the sure and the stressed. The unworldly, the untidy, the unknown. All of them. I remember basketball Fridays. I remember Mc Donald's Fridays. I remember FAC Fridays. I remember Metrojaya Fridays. I remember Cathy's Toys Fridays. All of which are no longer in existence. I remember.

Some are business people, some are sales people. Some are travelers, some are comfortable. Some are risky, some are steady and sure. But all are friends. I look around me. All of them know me. All of them know my past. All of them know what I've become since. I know them. I know where they're from. I know where they've gone from there. I know them. I know them. They're friends. No. They're family. Family lost in time. Time it took for me to realize they're still here. Time it took for me to remember how much they meant to me. They're family.

I smoke and one of them smoke too. He told me Today we're gathered here to see one of our wedding. Next thing will be one of our child's baptism. Then it might be one of our death. Death. The course of life that is sure. The moment you realize the most precious thing you cannot let go of is not your bank account. It will be your memories. Memories you wish could be stored in a hard drive somewhere forever. Memories you wish someone would see and cherish. I remember smoking in stair ways. I remember playing KOF. I remember CS. I remember Snooker. I remember. I remember clubs and discos. I remember drinking and smoking up. I remember the days I cannot remember.

One of us got hit by a car one day. It was SPM month. A call came, and a prankster told me. Fuck off I said. No, really he said. Fuck off, I need to study I said. My friend woke up in the ward, demanding a Marlboro. His last wishes, even if he was going to die that day, was Marlboro. The hallway outside the ward was full. School uniforms. Smoking. In the hospital, smoking. His mom entered. School uniforms. No smoking. Dead cigarette butts crushed beneath white shoes. All of them. No smoking. Auntie we called.

If there was one wish. One prize. One thing I could do to my past. I want to relive it. I want everyone of us to relive it. Nothing to change. Just the way it was. Just the way it should be. No changes. I remember them all. My most precious belongings. More than my bank account. My memories of my past. Who I was. Where I came from. What I've done. The life I've lived.

I remember.

I remember.

I remember.

I remember.