The checked jacket ~
A deserted alley. Wonderful.
A deserted alley. Wonderful.
That was her first thought. Anamika got off the bike and scanned her surroundings quickly while keeping her eyes mainly on the man locking up his bike. "It will be safe here. Come, let's walk. I will show you the hall", his voice caught her wandering mind's attention and she quietly followed him. Silence cloaked them but not against the rain. "The steps", he motioned with his hand. A large staircase of uneven stone loomed in front of her. As far as her eyes could make out in the thin mist and rain, there was a small light on top. "Let's go", she said and her face broke out into a smile. They took the first step.
She felt freed ~
The stairs ended and now it was a bare wet face of solid rock that faced them. A quiet, easy banter had struck up between them. Unobtrusive, gentle, calming and a thousand more words. It felt normal, natural almost, that she should be here that night, soaked in chilling rain and being nearly swept off her feet by the wind. Oh, the wind. The glorious wind which blew strong sending chills to her heart and shivers down her spine. He called her crazy yes, but he never questioned why she came. He let her be. And maybe this... Familiar stranger understood her better than her lover.
Her lover who was also her best friend. Her best friend who had seen her many rough patches, who believed in her, who trusted her. Who had broke down crying, begging her to stay. Her, the cold blooded creature who had shut Him off when the pressure was too much. Love freed and love confined. Confined.
They reached the chamber and it wasn't much. But it was something. To her, it was a mark of celebration. A mark of new strengths, decisions and hopes.
A chamber from dreams ~~~
Passion, heat ran through her. She eyed the man sitting next to her on the rock. Her familiar stranger who had let her be. Who had come for her in the middle of the night to show her what she had demanded to see almost on a childish impulse. She was listening to him yes, laughing and responding suitably and on time. Yet some strange feelings swept through her and calmed her. Relieved her. Freed the child in her to be natural again, to be open, to feel what is out and not just in.
He thought she was beautiful that night and saying as much, made her stand for a picture. She stood. He clicked. Her smile was now frozen, captured as an image in his phone.
"Are you cold? You are shivering. Have my jacket."
"No, I'm fine. Keep it, you need it."
That smile on her face, the faraway look in Anamika's eyes, the dreamy expression taking in all the little lights that surrounded them and her mind oblivious to the her body's trembles. Maybe that was what struck him as beautiful. Maybe it was the childlike nature interspersed in the maturity that was she. The softness of her looks, that pure unadulterated joy. The trust she showed in coming with him in the middle of a stormy night. The beauty of honesty and strength that brought her here with him. He knew how hard it must have been for her.
"I insist."
"Okay, but on one condition."
He draped his jacket over her shoulders, "What?"
"Share it with me. It's too cold for you to be macho."
Dark brown met light brown. "Okay, you crazy woman."
They stood side by side. He smiled to himself as she put her arm around his shoulders, reaching a little high to match his height, covering him in the jacket's warmth. He put his arm around her waist to support her pose on the uneven rock and then hesitated as his arm met the soft, wet cloth. But she made herself comfortable quickly and so he let his hand rest on her waist limply. Does she realize what she is doing?, he wondered. Laughing and smiling along with their tirade while holding her safe, he led her through the darkness and the rain, sometimes lifting her to help cross uneven patches and safely down the stairs they had gone up 3 hours ago.
She really was beautiful ~~~
-continued-
