“Untitled” Written by, Michaela Quinn
The summer sun bounces off the water and drowns my vision in a hot sea of white. All there is to guide me is her soft silhouette, delicately moving along the edge of the river. Her hair catching the breeze and sweeping around her shoulders. My eyes adjust to the beams as she turns to me. Soft features start to come into focus, slowly guiding me towards her. Her lips curl into a smile but her eyes retain that same subtle sadness they’ve always had. As if there where a constant force far off on the horizon taking her mind away from where she was. I feel the familiar desire to pull her close to me. To somehow reach into her thoughts and banish whatever darkness circles around those beautiful eyes.
She melts down to the earth below her and sits, letting her toes just barely dip into the water. Her gaze falls to the ground as she mindlessly begins to move her hand along the blades of wild grass beneath her fingers. The smile begins to fade and her eyes become more consumed by the darkness only she can see. I sit next to her and take her hand. She grips me back with a sort of delicate desperation. I speak her name gently, doing what little I can to bring her back to me.
The sound cuts through the silence and hangs in the air for what feels like hours. She looks at me and there’s a change that washes over her eyes. I’m taken by surprise as the full weight of those eyes suddenly consumes me and I see her as if for the first time. Her smile slowly returns, this time no longer wearing on her face like a mask. Instead it flows into her cheeks like it was truly meant to be there. Put there deliberately as an extension of her feelings.
The walls I’ve been fighting so hard to tare down start to break apart on their own, crumbling into dust at my feet. I barely feel the smile that graces grace my lips as I start to intently study her, as if she were a sculpture in some ancient cathedral. My hand, almost on its own, cups her cheek and she melts into my palm.
“What?” She says. Her voice only serving to make this moment more surreal.
I shake my head, not being able to put into words what I’m feeling. I pull her close to me and kiss her. Everything stops when I feel her arms wrap around me. We start to mold into each other like puzzle pieces and I kiss her harder, wanting to make the moment last as long as I can.
As we pull away from each other, her eyes stay closed and she smiles to herself with a quiet resolve. Her body unravels and she surrenders into my arms. I hold her tighter, telling her with my touch how deeply I’ve fallen for her. I make a promise to myself to stay this happy with her forever. I promise to always love her, as I do now, for the rest of my life.
