Saying 'Hello' to No One

I "went old school"--literally--out of San Jose.
The last time I set foot there was some 8 years ago, almost a decade back. With that in mind, the campus completely disappeared from my mental map of the city. Of all the people there, only a single student is enrolled and still sees me at my current high school.

The feeling was strange. 8 years is a long time, a period of change and improvements. Visiting the campus was like being introduced to a new one, yet, recollections from the back of the mind lit up like glowing ash. It was a unique feeling, as if one were already familiar with a place they've never seen before, that I found myself indulged in; it led me to the very front steps of my former classroom: 304.


One of the things I loved about the school that I would never see again was that it was an indoor-based school: hallways connecting classrooms. On this very day, these dark halls simply echoed the pitter-patter of footsteps 8 years back.


Questions trickled in my mind: Does ____ still teach here? Does s/he still remember me?
I doubt so. It's my fault for not visiting, yet, the way the school was erased from my mind was something I had no control of.

Today, 8 years forward and at 17, I cannot afford to lose anything else.