A Wrong Time for Feeling

  

     If he had not been there, I would have been lost in the dancing oranges of the fall.  But he was there, and his cheeks were a healthy pink from the wind brushing against them.  My hand fell comfortably into his, and we continued walking over crunchy leaves.

     The sun cast a ray over us, but it was his smile that really warmed me.  We were completely alone-- even without cell phone service-- somewhere in the woods.  We came to an opening in the trees, and he stopped.  I closed my eyes and let the silence consume me.  His hand slid up to my shoulder and gently pulled me into his chest.  I felt his breath next to my ear.

      "You amaze me,"  he whispered.  The words echoed in my ear until I realized he was no longer standing next to me.  I opened my eyes to see him running in the direction we were headed.  He smiled and gestured for me to follow.

      "There's one more surprise!"  He called.  I took off after him, pushing off with my right foot, but my left did not follow.  It skidded over a rock, causing me to fall to the ground in an anything-but-graceful manner.  I heard him burst into laughter, but before long he was sitting next to me in the dirt. He was still laughing, and I was now as well. We stayed there for a few more seconds until he stood up and reached his hand down to me.  I took it and pulled myself up.  We brushed each other off and started walking again.

     It didn't take long to get to the next surprise.  We found our way back to the dirt road and followed it until we came to a tunnel.  It was the tunnel that we discovered a few weeks back on a joyride in his dad's new truck.  I remembered the conversation we had had when we first went through it.

      "Look at all that graffiti," he said as he brought the truck to a stop.

      "I've always wanted to vandalize a place like this."  I was serious, but he chuckled.

      "You wouldn't do it,"  he replied.  I knew he was right.  I wasn't the vandalizing type.

 

       But now we were back.  On foot the tunnel was a lot creepier than I remembered.  We stepped into the tunnel, and I ran my fingers over the rigid cement wall.  We took turns reading the graffiti aloud, giggling at the profanities.

     "Here,"  I heard him say from behind me.  I spun around to see him holding out a piece of white chalk. "Make your mark, you vandal."

      I was speechless.  I took the chalk from his palm and spun back around.  I found a small blank spot and stared at it intently.  I couldn't mess this up.  I stood on my tippy-toes and filled the blank space. 

 

      "There."  I handed him the dulled piece of chalk.  "Your turn."  He stepped over to where I had done my illegal magic and smiled at my work.  A few feet away from what I had written, he put the chalk to the wall.  It scratched for a bit, then he turned to me and smiled again-- a sight that would never cease to give me butterflies.

 

       We stood back and examined the proof of our criminal actions.  But then I realized that it was more than that.  It was proof that we had been.  Proof that we had lived that moment and felt with all we had.  Of course, it wouldn't last.  The chalk would eventually fade, as would our will to feel the spark we shared.  And it was the last time we did. 

 

   Today, that spot is blank once again.  The wind that once pinkened his cheeks destroyed the proof of what had been.  The rest was destroyed by something much greater.  No matter how great, however, it was nothing compared to what we were.

Reviews

[Bare trees]

Wow, that was a real heart-warming story. It was those simple things that made you feel alive with him. The end was very sad, but this was a really good story and well written. I don't know why more people haven't reviewed it. Nice job.