The room was still and as cold as winter, just the way he liked it. "Bzzt, bzzt," the air conditioner whispered as our breaths brought in the room's only warmth. This little house of ours was laden with his favorite secnt: the thick smell of dust. As we sat opposite each other at the tall, bar style table, I watched him push up his superglue remedied glasses and sweep his freshly cut hair from his face with his pinky fingers.
"Joey," I said as I reached across the table to grab his hands, "What happens next?" He frowned and turned towards Blue, the build-a-bear I made for him last Christmas, and muttered, "I don't know. I really don't know."
Tears ran down his face slowly, but hit the floor like pelting hail on a metal rooftop. I jumped off my chair, walked over to his side, lifted his chin, slipped his glasses off, and wiped the wetness from his face. He looked at me and I whispered, "There's no crying in baseball." He chuckled as I pressed my lips against his forehead. I took a deep breath and thought to myself, "Mmmm, he still uses that Old Spice body wash that I like so much." Then, without any regard to the moment I was having, he grabbed my hands and exclaimed, "Marry me!"
I frowned, pulled my hands away and looked over my left shoulder. "Why not?!" he demanded. I turned toward him and faked a smile as best I could. "I'm only seventeen, darling. And you, you're only nineteen. We have so much time to live before we have to end our adventure." I took a deep breath and exhaled. Hopefully he would understand; it was near impossible to get him to see any light besides the one he was holding. He allowed an audible 'hm' to escape his throat; God how I hated that 'hm,' that arrogant, pointless 'hm.'
"Passíon," he began, with a slight air of superiority, "I'm not comfortable with the life that you're living over there. You have become someone else." My name sounded so vile coming out of his mouth. I gnashed my teeth and covered my ears; I was done listening to him tell me how to live. I glanced up at his impatient face and thought about how to respond.
"Joey," I sighed, "how will this ever work? We've become two separate beings with two separate ideas on life and you refuse to hear a word I say. We need to communicate." He looked at me as though my last statement was a waste of breath. "Well we're here now..."
I pushed the hair from his face and laid my head on his shoulder. I inhaled then sighed; his jacket smelt just like the rest of the house--dusty. "I know that we're here now, but," I paused, "I'm just a figment of your imagination." He started weeping again, his warm tears falling perfectly on my left shoulder. My eyes started to well up with saltwater as he said, "Well it's all we've got now, isn't it? I mean, now that the emotion is no longer existent." The air conditioner reached the point of automatic shutdown, leaving the completely silent with the exception of our heavy breathing. "It's time for us to wake up." I kissed his lips and mouthed the words 'I love you.' He stepped away from me and watched as my body became transparent, and finally, disappeared.
-December 3rd, 2010
