Windowless Soul

First Encounters

An overwhelming blast of hot air all but slapped her, the moment she stepping outside. The heat had her panting underneath all the layers she wore, much unlike the house her mother always kept overly air conditioned in the summers. Despite the uncomfortably humid air, that morning seemed to be quite beautiful. The gleaming sun smiled more colors into the cloudless sky, seeping into the atmosphere in an intoxicating golden haze. Sweet smells of summer flowers floated above the city's pollution and she stopped walking only to stand, breathing and enjoying summer's wonderful gift. Sometimes it paid to have insomnia she thought, knowing she would have missed that morning had she been able to sleep like all the normal people were at that hour. She found herself twirling about, singing and smiling, even laughing a few times; all things she hadn't been able to do in a while. Things she had forgotten how to do.
Her rusty bench came into view and it didn't take long till it stood before her, inviting, and she sat down. As usual, her drawing pad was all she carried, her only companion. The scratching sounds of pencil to paper instantly filled her world, discarding all other emotions. She was without fear, without loneliness, without emptiness. This was all she would ever need, where she would always belong. This was home she realized as a sigh of contentment escaped her lips. Suddenly an emotion she could not quite describe washed over her and she felt the air about her shift. A disturbing confusion she had never felt before engulfed her. She lifted her head, attempting to make sense of what was happening. She looked across the street and her heart instantly melted to the ground. Her thoughts were a blur and she couldn't think. She couldn't breathe, couldn't feel, and couldn't hear. Not even her pencil and sketch book hitting the ground registered in her head. All sounds were muted except for her heart pounding thunderously against her ear drums. Everything that surrounded her evaporated, leaving only the angel across the street splayed in her mind. All she could do was stare, her mouth involuntarily gaping open at the running figure. He stopped to catch his breath she supposed, and looked around. He began to stretch and from the heavy rise and fall of his chest, she knew he had been running for a while. His hair was a messy mass of dark brown curls that he kept pushing out of his beautiful face. He was tall, very tall, about 6.2” she guessed and he had a lanky yet muscled build. He was, she decided, the reason she had awoken thirty minutes earlier that morning. Fate had to have played a huge part in this encounter, of this she was very sure. The sun shone only on him it seemed, like he was the center of the universe. Her universe. She watched, a small smile spreading across her lips, and in that moment he became aware of someone studying him. He looked around, searching, until his eyes landed on Iris. Even from where she sat, she could feel the storm in his eyes shooting waves upon waves of heat into her. She felt his searing gaze everywhere within her, never mind that it was focused on her eyes alone. It cut into the walls that surrounded her soul and she allowed it. She didn't immediately avert her eyes and neither did she try to hide herself as she so often did, but instead she left her secrets and her pain reflected in her eyes for him to see. Something about him made her want to show him everything she had for so long been hiding, and by the way he was staring at her, she wondered if he felt the same. She raised her hand in a small wave, feeling unlike her usual timid self. He abruptly tore his eyes away from her, as if the spell had been broken somehow and began to back away. The more his eyes strayed back to her, and she began to fold into herself, losing her nerve. He started moving away faster but then tripped on his own feet, sending him staggering wildly in mid air, in search of something to hold onto. Try as she might, she could not control herself as she burst into uncontrollable giggles. She covered her mouth as she laughed harder than she had ever laughed in her entire life as he lay sprawled across the pavement. He looked at his hands and sat up in the middle of the sidewalk, looking a little bewildered. Even with their distance, she could see that his cheeks were burning, that his eyes had turned very dark, as he left his hair to fall onto his face like a shield between his eyes and hers. Slowly he stood up, avoiding any further glances in her direction and ran in the direction in which he had come. She dropped her eyes, finally noticing her sketch book on the ground beneath her feet. Despite her best efforts, tears gathered in her eyes and threatened to fall. Tears that had been of pure laughter, were now of deep sadness. She didn't even understand why. When her thoughts became decipherable again, she sighed, unable to swallow her emotions. She was reduced to a succession of strangled breaths and rapid blinking. The sound of her tears hitting the ground echoed loudly in her mind. She managed a humorless chuckle through her trembling lips, thinking she would never see the boy again. She closed her eyes and let this cold truth spread through her body, her breath a huge lump in her throat.