City Of Love

• Arielle Brodsky, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2023

Many years ago, in the most romantic city in the world, lived a young man called Noah. Noah had lived in Paris for some time but had never had time to visit the Eiffel Tower. On his way home from university that day, he decided to finally visit the iconic site. He knew he had to be quick as the last train home left at 7pm.
At that very moment, Emma had also decided to see the tower. Unlike Noah, she had only just moved to Paris. She had always dreamed of visiting Paris, especially the Eiffel Tower and it was so incredibly exciting.
Emma ran up the stairs, raced around the corner, and crashed into Noah. She fell to the ground and as she sat up, rubbing her head, Noah stood over her. “Are you all right?” he asked.
She stared deeply into his eyes, instantly feeling a connection. Emma thought to herself, “Paris is the city of love, maybe I have finally found mine?”
Meanwhile, all that Noah was thinking about was, “I can’t miss my train, I’d better hurry.” So, Noah said a quick “sorry” and ran off, but in the confusion Noah had not seen his watch slip from his wrist. Emma picked up the watch and tried calling after him, but he was already gone. “I will return this watch,” Emma said.
While Noah sat on his train, when he happened to look down and notice his missing watch. He thought, “I must have lost it at the Eiffel Tower?”. He put his head into his hands and sighed deeply. His grandfather gifted him the watch just before he died, it was his most important possession.
The next morning Emma woke up determined to find Noah. She had not lived in Paris long but knew a lot of people there. She got on Facebook, reaching out to all her friends and followers, asking if anyone knew a Noah Jones in Paris? After a couple of hours and checking Facebook every minute...
Apparently one of her friends went to University with a Noah Jones. They weren’t sure if it was her Noah, but it was worth a try.
Noah had gone back to the Eiffel Tower desperately hoping someone had found his watch, but no one had. Emma knocked on the door of the address on the watch, but no one answered. She sat on the step looking at the watch. This was a stupid idea, “I should have just handed it in when I found it”.
Emma spotted a small café and decided a cup of coffee and croissant would make her feel better. As she finished the last bite of her croissant, Noah walked into the café and ordered a coffee. As Noah turned, their eyes met.
Emma slowly opened the palm of her hand revealing his watch. “Who was this girl and how did she find me?”. Noah had no idea, but he sure wanted to find out!