EYES

A flash of blonde. They were holding hands. It was dark. Off in the distance car lights reflected off the skyscrapers. There were no streetlights working in this part of New York, so the girl held his hand like it was a bungee cord holding her over a dark gorge. Inconsistently a wind whipped past blowing the dark orange leaves off the trees scattering in front of the two walking on the sidewalk. A car horn in the distance made the girl jump, if only to the slightest degree, and a shiver went down her spine like someone walking on her grave.

“Only two more blocks Natalie,” he whispered in her ear as his jean jacket whipped in the wind.

She was as close to him as she could be now, holding his arm like a bear trap.

“I know Jason,” she sniffled.

The two came up to the last crosswalk before the girl’s house. The lights illuminating the crosswalk flickered then sputtered out, leaving the two in darkness. The world seemed to hold its breath. The girl suddenly smiled. There seemed to be no trace of her previous mindset, as if she was wearing a painted glass mask before and had suddenly thrown it to the concrete. The girl swept up in front of him, staring up at the bottom of his chin before he slowly tilted his head downwards. She smiled at him with eyes that were as brown as the bark of an ebony tree. The only contrast was a gold ring around the girls left iris.

She spun around. “I’ll take it from here Jason,” she said stepping into the street. She had danced halfway across before the boy called out to her, “Wait up!”

She stopped and turned to look back at him.

“I’ll be fine,” she said in a coaxing voice drawing him closer like a siren. As he took a step forward, the wind suddenly stopped and the fog sitting on the road stood still like a corpse.

The wind rushed out of the boy’s lungs. The girl seemed to lose all weight, dancing like a ballerina in the air. He heard a crack of bone as a sliver far away lit up the sky like heaven sat behind a wall that someone was breaking cracks through.

A single streetlight flickered back on, shedding a warm yellow glow on the girl who lay motionless, like a tired sun.

The asphalt slowly turned red as the blood trickled into the cracks.

The girls head made a slow sigh as it rolled before a faint splash as it hit the curb, leaving a trail of brilliant red.

The boy looked in the direction of the street and saw a red light slowly flickering left, fleeting into the heavy fog. He looked at the girl before taking each step like it was his last. He knelt between the head and the body, his face expressionless.

The rain came before his tears. The boy knelt there for what seemed like eternity, watching the pigments and blood slowly fade out of her eyes like they were coming out on her tears. All that was left was the gold ring where her left iris used to be.

The world exhaled like it was freed from a burden and the wind started up again. The fog seemed to recede from the streetlights light.

The drip of the rain turned into a pour. The world was crying as the boy continued to kneel over the body, now following the sky's example. Another strike of heavens light in the distance made the boy quiver, and he started to move again.

He began to cry out, yelling to the sky. His words were incomprehensible. He was no longer a boy, but a distraught beast, howling as he picked up the body and held her tightly in his arms. He held the head in one hand before kissing its forehead. He stood up, carrying her in his arms like a princess, and took his first step with grimace towards her home.

One turned into two, then three, and four. His steps somehow echoed louder than the rain and the wind. The pavement didn't seem so familiar anymore. He was walking on quicksand, slowly being sucked down. A chill rushed down his spine as leaves fell in front of him as he turned the last corner.

Three steps and a knock was all that was left. Simple you would think, but he froze like an ice sculpture. Another bolt of lightning far away seemed to usher him along as if it was speaking to him saying,"Come-on," and nudging him onward.

The first step brought him guilt and the second his legs were screaming, telling him to turn around. The last step creaked with a slow moan and his hand knocked three times on the door without him even telling his hand to move.

It was only a second before the red door opened, and light streamed out onto the sidewalk. The girl’s eyes seemed to grab at the light trying to regain its color, as a small girl peered out from behind the wood with wide eyes and the same gold circle around her left eye. Just before a tear covered it up.

2013