Stranger Eyes

A Story by Tanvi Banjan

This isn't as much a story, as it is a personal memoir. It's something that I recently experienced and I'm not sure if anyone has felt the same way. Just seeking some relativity here :)

And he glanced at me, with those flawless blue eyes, and it felt like every atom of my being stood before him, ready to acquaint him with the disaster I was. That gaze, that one dreamy gaze ripped of my skin, and bled out all my pondering like a flowing river which has finally been let out. My thoughts were smoke, and he a vivid smoker; inhaling in everything that my mind held and my heart felt. How many layers did it take me to hide it all up, to conceal all the pain and broken pieces, but just one look by this pious devil and all my walls came shattering down. In that moment, it felt as if he knew me...he knew everything I was, and everything I will ever be. He knew me, or at least it felt like he did. Not the me you know, no. He knew the me that shadowed itself when the first piece of my heart hit the ground. In that moment, I was not this hair, not this skin; I was the soul that lived beneath it all. There were no words exchanged, but it felt like my entire story rung in his ears. And then my beloved stranger looked away casually, like nothing ever happened, like no hearts we exchanged. Maybe he doesn't glance towards me anymore, maybe that one time he did was purely an accident, and maybe he didn't know me as I felt he did, but trust me, when the stranger you have come to love looks at you the way he looked at me: all the stars in the sky will light up just for you and the planets will all align themselves and it will be the end of everything sad you ever knew. And finally, everything that you hated about yourself will become diamonds around your neck, because you saw something in those eyes. 'Cause honey, maybe that stupid glance meant nothing to him, but there is something in those stranger eyes that make you love yourself.