Fear of Flying

A hand in the center of her back, below her shoulder-blades, pushed her forward “Go on..” he said She looked behind her and he was there. Facing forward, she drew breath and tumbled out of the plane.  Extending her arms out, she was free. And she understood love then. She knew then that he would never hold her back.  

White as Snow

She walked out into the glaring sunshine, huge flakes of snow falling around her and landing in a field of crystal brilliance. She was inside his mind; his muse, his lover, his future, and his past.  On the silver road that lay before them, they would never meet, but she would always be behind him, and he would always be for her.  

Missing persons

"I miss you", he said. "How can you miss me when we're never together?" she asked. "I've always missed you - even before I knew you. I just didn't have a face or a name to put to it, and now that I do, it's a thousand times worse." "Oh", she replied. "Then I guess I miss you too."

What he didn't say

"Where are you", he said anxiously. "Why do you want to know?" she asked - "because you want to find me, or because you want to avoid me?" "One of those", he said. She sighed, and wondered what he'd say to her if there ever came a time when he had to use words to say it. But in a way she liked that they'd never needed to do this, at least not so far, because that way she could still fall asleep with him on the phone.

Is it too late?

"I'm worried about this" she said. "Why?" he asked. "Because you say you don't want to fall in love, but you're doing it anyway. Now your only option is to walk away." "I won't do that. I can't any more" he responded. "Well I'm not going to stop you, so don't expect me to." "You're not going to stop me from leaving?" he asked. "No" she said "I'm not going to stop you from falling the rest of the way."

Friend of a friend

In an innocent act of kindness he'd saved her, as the damp moss at the base of a tree might save a fledgling fallen from the nest. He would never know, because she could never tell him, how he'd kept her soul from collapsing, and how he'd tied a sturdier knot in the fraying fibers connecting her existence to the rest of the world. She felt certain that if she ever met him, she'd know what goodness looked like.

Fifteen minutes to save a life

"I'll be okay as long as nothing bad happens", she said, as she opened the door to leave. "What if something bad does happen?" he asked, pushing the door gently closed. She shrugged, and met his gaze. It was then that she saw the fear on his face, and tears begin to form in his eyes. She knew that she had to continue on, so that he'd never cry because of her, because a patient should never do that to her doctor.

Seeds

"I should leave" she said. "I'll beat the cross-border traffic if I go now". "Take this" he said, weaving a flower through her buttonhole. "And this". Reaching down, he snapped a seed pod from a growth of small orange blooms. "You know I can't take that over the line" she said. "They'll never know if you don't tell them" he whispered. She waits for spring, and the promise in the envelope she's marked "Scott's Seeds."

The dead of the night

"Why do you stay up so late?" he asked. She thought about trying to explain it to him, but in 20 years that had never worked, so she tilted her face up to his and he kissed her mouth. "I'll be up in a while" she said. He went to bed, and she waited for the night to settle around her like the dust of dreams. In the deepening stillness, she let the darkness of her soul open out, and she began to write.

The Interstate

She thought about him driving down the Interstate with his father, avoiding all conversation and anything else that might cause tension. "Are you on your way to Florida yet?" she texted. "Drive safe if you are. I love you." She thought about how many times he'd read that message, because if he sent it to her she'd read it a thousand times. "I love you, I love you, I love you."