I Am Here

A prickling feeling settled over my skin as I felt the watchful gaze of eyes press into me. The feeling was startling and I wondered how, of the hundreds of people surrounding me, those eyes were trained on me.

A dizzying swirl of scents churned in the air. Sweat and perfume mixing with the already tainted city. As it was every morning, the streets were a frenzied rush of piranhas; the careless stampede of bodies squeezing past each other and pushing. I always kept to the alleyway in the mornings. I kept my distance from the animals.

Through a rare gap in the pandemonium, I saw him. A boy at the café across the street watched me, his head tilted delicately to the side. At first I was sure I was mistaken. He was deep in thought, or looking past me. But that was silly. Nobody hid in the darkness behind me and I could see his attempts at looking around the chaotic rush when the stampede returned.

A blush crept through my cheeks, the only heat in my ever-cold body and I wondered why this boy would deem me interesting and how he had found me at all. I didn’t ponder long. Through the thick of the crowd, the boy emerged, eyes seeking me once he had managed to pop out of the throng.

I stared with eyes as wide as they could possibly go, gawking at his thin smile and frowning as he leaned against the alley wall across from me.

“Hey,” he said casually.

My lips pressed into a thin line, worrying over the reason as to the boy’s presence. His smile only got wider, his teeth unable to hide behind his lips.

“I’m Leigh,” he continued.

I only nodded, turning my eyes away and back toward the rushing swarm, hoping the boy named Leigh might leave but I was out of such luck. The boy pushed off the wall and came to stand beside me, his eyes never leaving my face. I, of course, tried to ignore that his gaze bothered me and I mentally smacked myself whenever I peeked at him to see if he still watched. He did. With an amused smile tucked neatly in the corners of his lips.

“Can I help you?” I asked finally, letting out an exasperated sigh.

The boy’s face turned to shock for a fraction of a second before he gave me a Cheshire cat grin. I dared to glance at him, noting his excited blue eyes and the way his hair seemed to fall straight down before curling at the ends. He couldn’t be too much older than I was.

“Saw you across the road,” he answered, nodding his head at the café I’d seen him at. “Thought you looked pretty, so I came to say hey. Hey!”

My blush deepened. I was probably looking about as ripe as a tomato now. Never had anybody ever given me a compliment, let alone a compliment on my appearance. I wouldn’t say I was ugly. But I wasn’t exactly the supermodels and high-class business women that walked the daylight city.

How strange that for my entire life, I hadn’t once thought about my appearance, and yet as soon as Leigh’s words slipped smoothly from his lips I could feel a twinge of vanity kick in. Suddenly I noticed the stained white dress that I wore every day. And the knotted hair framing my face. I grimaced at the grime beneath my fingernails and my shoeless feet.

How could he think I was pretty?

I shuffled away from the boy, turning my body on an angle so that he couldn’t see how filthy I was but he only scuffled closer. Eventually I gave up. The grin still plastered across his face showed clear amusement.

“So what are you doing here anyway?” He asked, and I shrugged.

My vague response didn’t seem to deter him though, which struck me as strange. He seemed content, happy even, to just stand by my side and watch the morning traffic pass through. The simple act was almost flattering. If I didn’t feel uncomfortable standing with someone.

“I’m waiting,” I said, though I knew it must already be too late to answer his question because his brows furrowed in confusion. “Until the crowd is thin.”

His brows arched nicely as he realised what I was telling him. Leigh’s lips turned up at the corners and he gently leaned his shoulder into me, giving me a light nudge.

“You’re lucky,” he mused, his eyes darting to his phone. “I’ve got an appointment right about now, so it looks like I’m gonna have to run.”

I ignored the sinking feeling in my stomach at the thought of the only person who had ever noticed me, suddenly leaving. My eyes studied the passing mob, turning back to the boy only when I thought he’d left. Instead an arm reached out and pulled me into his warm body. My eyes widened as he let go and darted off.

“You know,” the boy called back. “I never got your name.”

My teeth sunk into my bottom lip as Leigh waited, bodies bumping carelessly into his shoulders. “It’s Grace.”

Whether he had heard me or not, I couldn’t tell. My voice was too soft to really shout over the mass of voices already buzzing in the air. Still, I gave the boy a weak smile, blushing when he beamed back before disappearing into the crowd.