Cloudy Weather
☂
The rain dropped to the ground. Drip, drip, drop. It stung as it drove into a man's face. A man who sat solemnly on an old rusted swing that belonged to a park. This park was a special place, covered in autumn leaves and bright green grass. The same park where he and someone special used to play as children. The swingset was a vibrant red then. Brand new, as were they.
The thunder overhead crashed noisily.
Smoke sifted through his cracked lips. It swirled up and away, clouding his already distorted vision of the world around him. He rocked back and forth in the same swing that he had pushed her in a few weeks prior, or was it an eternity ago? Pitter-patter-drip-drop. He sighed, a bouquet of flowers hung limply from his shivering hand. A little lily fell out into a muddied puddle.
I'm sorry. The murmur was lost in the howling wind that had tossed his wet hair to and fro. With his teeth clenched shut tightly, he wept. He wept for all of the lost opportunities. For the memories he would never make. For the kisses he would never again feel on his lips.
They were going to spend a lifetime together. Nothing could even contest this decision. It was made long ago when they were children... though they didn't know it at the time. She was just a little girl with her soft brown hair pulled into two pigtails, one was lopsided. The one she had tried to fix herself to show mommy how big she was.
A ghost of a smile swept across his lips,a bittersweet memory. Another tear raced down his cheek, mixed in among the droplets of rain that he didn't bother to shield his face from. The wind seemed to carry memories around, throwing them at him. He thought of the kids that had pushed her down that day in the park. They were much bigger than the two of them, but it didn't stop him from standing up to older kids.
That was what gave her the strength to get up... though they simply pushed both of them down. The young girl began to cry loudly, which made the other kids laugh, point, and call her silly names like cry-baby as they ran off to find someone else to torment. He remembers he dusted off her knees and pulled her back up. Even then her hand seemed to fit snugly in his.
It wasn't until somewhere in the middle of high school when they started dating. A dry laugh was barely heard above the rain. The memory of how she had rolled her iridescent green eyes while punching him lightly on the shoulder, “You're so stupid, I've always liked you.” They laughed together. That was then.
That was when always meant forever, but if only he had known that it was a silly concept. A single word promise that is never really kept. Even now, he would probably still believe that little word if she uttered it once more.
She should be somewhere flying over the ocean now. He had been late, late to arrive at the airport. Late to tell her that he did love her, and that he had made the worst mistake in the history of time. He didn't want her to go away where he couldn't see her, where he couldn't hold her during the night when all the lights died out. So far away so that he wouldn't be there to protect and cherish her.
Their last conversation blared in his ears. He couldn't remember how it had started, who had shouted first. Who threw the first insult, but he could remember the blunt pain that stabbed into his chest as he told her to get whatever she had to and just go. Leave. Her tear-stained face stuck. All he could see was the way her cheeks flushed a ruddy red, and how her bottom lip had quivered before she whipped around and stormed out of his apartment. The door slammed loudly.
“I love you... I didn't mean what I had said... I am so sorry.” he looked up into the rumbling sky.
“You know, you really are stupid.” someone panted from behind him, their voice cracked.
The thunder overhead crashed noisily.
Smoke sifted through his cracked lips. It swirled up and away, clouding his already distorted vision of the world around him. He rocked back and forth in the same swing that he had pushed her in a few weeks prior, or was it an eternity ago? Pitter-patter-drip-drop. He sighed, a bouquet of flowers hung limply from his shivering hand. A little lily fell out into a muddied puddle.
I'm sorry. The murmur was lost in the howling wind that had tossed his wet hair to and fro. With his teeth clenched shut tightly, he wept. He wept for all of the lost opportunities. For the memories he would never make. For the kisses he would never again feel on his lips.
They were going to spend a lifetime together. Nothing could even contest this decision. It was made long ago when they were children... though they didn't know it at the time. She was just a little girl with her soft brown hair pulled into two pigtails, one was lopsided. The one she had tried to fix herself to show mommy how big she was.
A ghost of a smile swept across his lips,a bittersweet memory. Another tear raced down his cheek, mixed in among the droplets of rain that he didn't bother to shield his face from. The wind seemed to carry memories around, throwing them at him. He thought of the kids that had pushed her down that day in the park. They were much bigger than the two of them, but it didn't stop him from standing up to older kids.
That was what gave her the strength to get up... though they simply pushed both of them down. The young girl began to cry loudly, which made the other kids laugh, point, and call her silly names like cry-baby as they ran off to find someone else to torment. He remembers he dusted off her knees and pulled her back up. Even then her hand seemed to fit snugly in his.
It wasn't until somewhere in the middle of high school when they started dating. A dry laugh was barely heard above the rain. The memory of how she had rolled her iridescent green eyes while punching him lightly on the shoulder, “You're so stupid, I've always liked you.” They laughed together. That was then.
That was when always meant forever, but if only he had known that it was a silly concept. A single word promise that is never really kept. Even now, he would probably still believe that little word if she uttered it once more.
She should be somewhere flying over the ocean now. He had been late, late to arrive at the airport. Late to tell her that he did love her, and that he had made the worst mistake in the history of time. He didn't want her to go away where he couldn't see her, where he couldn't hold her during the night when all the lights died out. So far away so that he wouldn't be there to protect and cherish her.
Their last conversation blared in his ears. He couldn't remember how it had started, who had shouted first. Who threw the first insult, but he could remember the blunt pain that stabbed into his chest as he told her to get whatever she had to and just go. Leave. Her tear-stained face stuck. All he could see was the way her cheeks flushed a ruddy red, and how her bottom lip had quivered before she whipped around and stormed out of his apartment. The door slammed loudly.
“I love you... I didn't mean what I had said... I am so sorry.” he looked up into the rumbling sky.
“You know, you really are stupid.” someone panted from behind him, their voice cracked.