Floating on a Black Lake in DarknessA Story by A.J Fitz A romantic short of a boy and a girl on a train. This is not my usual style but hey, it was in my head and it will soon be Valentine's Day! The boy smiles as he watches the girl read on the train. The girl is so absorbed in her book she fails to notice their friends get up and walk out of the carriage. Loud laughter is suddenly cut to a dull hum as the door of the carriage slides shut and the carriage is plunged into silence. Still the girl does not stop reading. The boy feels that he is intruding in her solitude, but he won’t leave. He wants to talk to her but he does not know what to say. He wants to tell her how much he enjoyed last night. Neither one able to sleep, talking, drinking at the hotel bar until the sun was no longer a distant memory. Something makes the girl look up. The boy is staring at her, a strange almost wistful expression. The boy doesn’t look away or hide. The girl likes this about the boy, most people hide who they are or they are so arrogant they feel justified without ever questioning their actions. The boy’s arms are open, relaxed beside him. “Where did everybody go?” she asks the boy. “They went to get some snacks.” “Why didn’t you go with them?” “I was afraid you would look up from your book and wonder where everyone had gone.” The boy gets up and sits down beside her. She closes her book; she will not read her book again today. The same intense expression searches her face for an answer she doesn’t know the question to. The girl wants to ask the boy ‘what is it?’ but she knows that this is a meaningless question. Life has taught the girl patience. Life unfolds the answers in its own time. The boy reaches up and takes off the girls cap. Her long dark hair is freed and tumbles down over her shoulders. The boy takes a strand of her hair. His fingers softly brush her cheek. He places the hair over her left shoulder and lays his head down, his cheek caressing the silky strands of her hair. He gently pushes her back down against the rough material of the seat. Her body easily bends to his will. He encircles his arm over hers which is on her lap. Comfortable as any position of old lovers who know each other’s bodies well. But the boy and girl are not lovers. Their bodies do not know each other and they lay in each other’s arms stiff and unsure. Her heart beat quickens willing for time to come faster. The summer rain streaks across the window of the train as the world rushes by. “I’m sorry, I’m just so tired.” The boy says. “You don’t ever have to apologise to me.” Sometimes the simplest statement can say so much. “Oh, really?” The boy grins but the girl cannot see his face. The boy reaches up and gently but firmly places his hand on the girl’s breast. She swipes his hand away and the boy chuckles. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist!” The girl laughs and relaxes a little. Sleep begins to pull them into darkness. After a while he says to her, “I can’t believe that’s the first time I touched your b**b!” “You say that like there will be a second time?” The moments before you fall asleep can feel like you are floating on a black lake in darkness. The couple are embraced alone on a train, but their voices, slurred and half-drunk from sleep, are coming from an ever greater distance from the lake. For a moment the boy’s voice unexpectedly reaches out to her in the darkness as the boy and girl drift apart on the lake. “That won’t be the only time.” “I know.” The girl replies from her own solitary darkness. She does not have to think of her answer, it came as easily to the girl as the question came to the boy. In response the boy gently squeezes her hand. The only answer he can give as sleep finally takes him. The girl relaxes and leans her head on the top of his head and the boy smiles. As their friends return the carriage becomes noisy once again with their laughter. The first friend notices the couple asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. The friend tries in vain to hush his friends as they pile into the carriage pointing at the sleeping couple. A pack of cards is brought out and a game ensues as the drinks and sandwiches purchased are passed around the table. The friends are not quiet; there is no need, they know that the boy and girl are no longer with them. The boy and girl’s bodies are on the train wrapped tightly around each other in a silent embrace, but their minds have drifted across the lake of darkness, away from each other, and away from their friends on the train. © 2013 A.J FitzReviews
|
StatsAuthor
A.J FitzUnited KingdomAboutI have been writing all my life, but writing professionally only for the last few years. I kind of fell into writing. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. Writing was just something I always did, it w.. more..Writing
|
![[send message]](https://www.writerscafe.org/images/mail.png){kind=small}
![[befriend]](https://www.writerscafe.org/images/friend.png){kind=small}
Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Read Request
My Library
Flag Writing
