11.5.09

You like to sit by the window at lunch. You sit there, cross-legged, and watch people in the courtyard below. You always have the same lunch: a turkey sandwich on a hoagie roll, extra mustard, and a plastic bag of mini carrots. Sometimes, like today, you have a few pieces of candy. But you never eat them. You just set them out on top of your brown paper bag, eat your sandwich and carrots, and then watch the people. You never speak to anyone, or go anywhere else. Every single day…you are there.

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Ryan finally stopped running when he got to the broken bench in the park. Chest heaving, he stood and stared at the crooked plank and the holes from missing bolts. Disappointment was something he knew well, but for some reason this still hurt. He sat down on the bench and covered his face with his hands. Head pounding, heart racing, and legs burning, Ryan wept for the first time in so many years. His father had been right. In the end, everyone leaves. Even the people who say they love you. Through the steady thump thump filling his ears, Ryan heard a soft tumbling of rocks. It sounded a lot like the sound of the small gravel path meeting with the concrete. There was only one person he knew who used that path, and with one last tremble of fragile hope he looked up. It was her. She looked just like he remembered, only somehow more beautiful. The sun was just starting to rise and the chilly morning air turned her cheeks and nose a healthy pink. Her flaming red hair was tousled and filled with brambles, but still those curls fell down her back like an ocean wave. Her brown eyes were rimmed with tears, but there was a happiness in them. There always was that dancing light. It was why he’d fallen in love with her in the first place. He stared at her for a moment, and then launched himself from where he sat and pulled her into his arms. She wiped the tears from his face and grinned, poking his nose. Then, he kissed her.