Autumn, 2009

As soon as I first saw you I knew that one day I would end up spending the rest of my life with you.

So there sitting on an old park bench a couple of meters away from me. You were staring ever so intently at the trees, face held the most curious expression. I wondered why, the trees at this time of the year where far more dull and bare than in summer, hell they won’t even provide a little bit of shade from the cool autumn rain, if anything I preferred the trees in the summer. At least they were useful for something. I then pulled myself together and made my towards you. Every ounce of confidence and courage draining from me as I took another daunting step to you.

It’s not that I was scared of you, I was scared of the thought of you not liking me, at the time I was just a skinny, lanky kid with no purpose in life. You were out of my league, I mean you were just so beautiful. Your cheeks had a faint red tint to them (presumably due to the chilly autumn breeze), your hair cascaded down to your hips and god how much I wanted to run my fingers through your hair at the time. But what really took my breath away was your smile; it lit up my world and in that instance I had decided. You were the one. You would be my purpose.

“Umm, excuse me, but why are you looking up at the trees so intently?”

Damn, that was such a ty line to start with I mean of all things to say, and why did you have to sound like such a . I’ve screwed up, she’s never going to answer me, she’ll think I’m some weird kid who stalks her and , I’ve screwed up. She’s out of my league anyways.

I was ready to leave and was just awkwardly waiting for you to say the words that I couldn’t bear to hear but to my surprise you just smiled.

“They’re beautiful aren’t they? Trees in autumn are the best”

I was confused.

“Surely trees in summer are better aren’t they? I mean they can offer you shade and are far more beautiful, with all their leaves and fruits that they waited all winter to bore, surely they are of more convenience to us than the ones in autumn. Plus in autumn they are slowly withering away, dying, no, forgotten and fading. ”

“That’s where you are wrong my friend, they are not merely dying, they are in fact waiting, waiting for all of this worlds suffering to pass them by, she sacrifices herself and falls into deep slumber, ceasing to exist for a while, but never for long as her lover always comes round, he takes her by the hand, looks deeply into her eyes and lets her breath for the first time. Every year he never abuses her trust, she knows that she can strip , for the whole world to see and that’s fine because her lover will always come running in spring and he shall bathe her in silks and riches. He treats her like a queen, lovers whose love could make even the soulless smile. Their love is radiant and everlasting that is until she stops breathing, not for a while, but forever. Fate is cruel so sometimes the lover cries tears of ice and sometimes fury but spring has come once more and all he can do is nothing. So he fades away, into nothing and slowly becomes nothing. Their love, which was once so pure and beautiful sleeps, like the fading echoes of voices in an empty hallway.  Forgotten.

You smiled, got up and walked away. Leaving me speechless, and then I realized

I hadn’t even got your name.