The first time she kissed me it was a summer day. My cheeks already colored red from heat gotten even deeper. My cheeks, two round plumps, filled with burgundy and her soft hands gently pulling me closer to her. She stood on her tippy toes and kissed me firmly until I kissed back. It was that same summer day that everything changed. It was that summer day that she ran away.

       It had been months, I often feel the ghostly presence of her lips. The heat hasn’t left me even as it nears autumn. The leaves changes hues and becoming more dull. It was if I was a leaf, missing my tree. She left that summer night, dew filling my eyes. The sweet graze of her lips seared into mine, almost as if it was imprinted there. Maybe it was, because I’ll never forget that summer day.

       Two years have come and go, I miss my friend. She left so abruptly and I think that kiss was a goodbye. I begin feeling the dampness of her tears on my lips. Cooling the heat she’s left. Now I feel cold, the leaves in the trees change and grow but I stay still. I’m still holding onto the sway and flow. 

“You’ve been so distant since she left.”

         They speak to deaf ears. They never speak her name, even I’m told not to. Yet, I want to. Her name fills my lungs with fresh air, so for once I’ll speak,

“Her name is Lisa and I miss her.”

        She lives far away, Thailand I think. My heart c