How to Unlock a Soul

             I despised her with a fiery passion that consumed my very soul, her curiosity had drawn her to me and her curiosity was making her stay. I was the puppy, abandoned by its owner only to be found by an even crueler one. She had eyes that were pools of tortuous innocence, eyes that threatened to unlock my inner most kept secrets; penetrating my very essence. With eyes that supplied my hate of her to extreme heights.
         Sitting lazily, on her raggedy porch swing, reading a battered book, the day I had first encountered her. The large Victorian house was a rare and overwhelming sight. It was two stories with chipped paint flaking off, floating in the wind like blue ash. The porch wrapped around the house; decorated with wicker chairs and one porch swing at its front that is where I saw this annoying creature. Looking up from her book, her eyes ensnared me holding me with their glance. Pools of the purest blue, heaven sent eyes the color of the brightest sapphires.
         Green- gray eyes meet angel eyes trapped as they searched for a key to unlock my soul. She blinked, lazily allowing me to free myself from the trap that was her stare. Her fair white skin reddened around the cheeks, pools of blood appearing under the skin in a blush; Raven black wavy curtain hiding her face as she shook it out. I took the opportunity to leave, blue knives attacked my back looking for my souls lock, and I could feel them attacking my defenses as I sped up.
         I later discovered her name was Genevieve, Vivi for short, she preferred Vivi. The students took in her very pure appearance, the casual way she had put herself together, the lie of my tormentor; making herself seem harmless. She smiled at the class, they obliviously took in what was in front of them, I refused to accept what I saw; I knew there was a deeper meaning hidden within this creature.
         Chocolate drifted in the air, the sweet aroma of cocoa sent a relaxing calm over me. I breathed in the air, and then she sat. It was as if the smell was erased with her frozen movement. Sapphires began to attack my soul once again. Frustration ate at my patience like a vulture to a carcass, it was insistent. I stole a peek at her; she was looking at me from the corner of her azure puddles. She was trying to be discrete and failing badly.
         "Stop it!" I hissed at her with as much anger as I could project.
         "Stop what?" She spun her gum around her ring finger, a stretchy pink tongue teasing me.
         A beautiful melody floated from her mouth when she spoke. Confused I looked at her, she met my gaze, those damn abnormal eyes again! Retreating, my eyes found the safety of my science book. Couldn't those eyes dull? Why couldn't they become a less striking blue? How about they fell out of her sockets disappearing from existence taking her with them?
         Taking in a shaky breath I spat, "Stop staring at me."
         "I wasn't staring at you, calm down."
         Malice filled my body, warming me with a tingling sensation that was directed at this creature. Genevieve didn't care, this infuriated me more, and how dare she not notice my extreme desire to obliterate her? Instead, she slurped her gum back into her strawberry pink lips and began chewing. Genevieve seemed to contemplate her next mode of action, when she finally decided she turned back to me.
         "So, are you a crazed psychopath? Is that why I must steer clear of your murderous ways? Did you really rape and kill the last girl who refused you? Is she decapitated in you basement?" 
         I was flabbergasted, what had she said? Where in the hell had she heard that? I was confused this made me angrier. The rumors about me were vast like the seemingly endless supply of water that seemed to fill this world. Genevieve was waiting for my answer, I should tell her it was true and that I was thinking of her as my next victim. But as soon as the words found their way to my mouth she was talking again.
         "I don't believe them, the rumors I mean. It's a load of crap." She turned back to the board.
         Class went by smoothly enough for her, as for me I squirmed in my chair. I was a mouse caught by the persistent cat. She continued to analyze me under her gaze, it was starting to hurt; those eyes attacked my soul causing me actual pain, her eyes cut into me for the next hour. When the bell finally did ring I was the first out of my chair and the first out of the door.   
         She was a beautiful creature that was attached to me just like my shadow. Genevieve pursued me at lunch, I usually sat on the wall a bystander to the world around me, how could I be a bystander when one of the most noticeable of god's beings was attached to me? At lunch she sat with me on the wall. Genevieve began her tests, moving closer and closer timidly gauging my reactions to the space between us. The students were more interested then I was.
          When the students finally became engrossed in us I started to listen. We became the most interesting creatures on earth when Genevieve had finally saved up enough courage to use me as her back rest. I hardly registered the new weight on my shoulder, as long as I was able to eat my crappy lunch I was fine; also if she wouldn't attack my soul with her cobalt daggers. The male animals were suddenly offended by the female. She had chosen her companion without giving them a single passing thought.
         "Puppy, are you ok? You're quiet."
         Puppy, it was the most exasperating name ever, her nickname of choice for I was her puppy and she had decided to adopt me. I truly felt like the puppy that had no say in who took him next. Genevieve never registered the things that bothered me, at least she refused to actually show if she did or not. She wasn't even paying attention to the world around her. Genevieve was eating her lunch, which was all that mattered to her at the moment.
         Split into numerous pieces all different sizes were the first step for Genevieve to eat almost anything. Small then medium then the large, she would scrutinize each piece making sure it was the exact size of piece she was eating next. She would then lick the wrapper making sure every microscopic stain was gone before going to her fingers. Today she went through that process with a chocolate bar. I watched with minimum interest.
         "Puppy, Did you here me?" she asked, searching the wrapper for anything she may have missed.
         "Yes, I heard you."
         "Then what did I say? I bet you don't know."
         I sighed; it took a lot of energy to keep up a conversation. "You asked if I was ok. I am. Aren't I always quiet?"
         Genevieve nodded, "I suppose. Hey Puppy would you like to play a round of the truth game?"
          The truth game was her favorite pass time; it was a question game where you had to answer each question truthfully, a straight foreword game. I found myself nodding; I didn't mind the game I use to play it with my mother. I closed my eyes trying to block the memory, I refused to let it sneak through. Genevieve was thinking of a question when I opened my eyes; she looked even more perfect as she tried to think.
         "Were you born here?"
         "Yes, why'd you move here?"
         "My dad landed a job at a nearby hospital we came here because the housing is cheaper and it's just outside the city."
         I always asked safe questions ones that wouldn't leave me open, ones that wouldn't allow Genevieve a chance to break through my defenses. She was fair; she only asked questions that matched my level of difficulty. I couldn't let her in, I found a small part of me wanting to take that extra leap and open my soul's deepest darkest secrets to her.
         Months passed, seasons sailed by and I accepted Vivi. I was being open with her. My souls door gradually opening a timid move that left me at a loss. Vivi was my friend; I wouldn't be ashamed to say it to any person who asked. She was still a greater force that I feared. Sometimes I felt guilty, I was corrupting her as we stayed in contact like this.
         It was a day full to the brim with gray clouds that threatened rain. This day hadn't been going well; Vivi and I played our usual round of the truth game. Over time I had learned a lot about Genevieve and not just the basics either. I knew she had shaved her head as a dare, and her underwear had once been hung from a flag pole. But I knew her parents were gone her mother dead and I knew she had never met her father. Vivi was an open book that I had read countless times.
         This day was the day that Vivi had broken her own rule and had asked a question that was harder then my own. Perhaps I could have ignored it, lied perhaps but I didn't; I shamelessly trusted her.
She was playing with my jacket's zipper when she had nonchalantly asked, "Where are your parents?"
         I was frozen now, a sense of emptiness found a place around my souls barriers. My body had thrown up the alert systems making shields around my emotions and my hapless heart. Vivi had noticed the sudden change as my body became immobilized, a statue ready to burst. She was staring at me her eyes trying in vain to get through my bodies natural defense to this question. I was going against my body as my ignorant mouth opened and whispered, "They are dead."
         "They are in the cemetery here aren't they? My gram told me, she knew your mom." Vivi was looking at the ground.
         "You knew? Then why did you bother asking?" I heard my voice; it was just as it was months before.
         "Have you ever visited them?" she was timid.
         "No"
         "We'll go see them."
         "No!"
         "Puppy, come on"
         Vivi was a determined person who could argue for the sake of arguing. I lost the battle and ended up at the graveyard. The ominous gates were tall made of sinister metal, pointed tops that resembled a point on a scythe. We entered the death choked valley, decaying flesh lay under our feet. Tombstones littered the ground many cracked, many with surfaces that no longer read the corpses name. A sad-eyed angel peered at us from a pillar, she looked as I felt: Hopeless and numb.
         Vivi had left me at Matilda and Benjamin Sr.'s graves. I stared at these rocks my mind blanking out the realization before me. I continued to stare my defenses holding strong. The rain broke through the surfaces of the sky sneaking through to splash on my face. That single drop of rain crashed through my defenses. I was suddenly breathing hard, shaking with the effort.
         Rain was heavy that day, it was hard to see. The rain obscured the senses. I was five years old, my parents were late picking me up from school I didn't mind I was overly excited. My eagerness made me impatient to see my mom's smile. Only that day I wasn't going to get my wish. The grim reaper barreled down the rode with increasing speed, moving side to side in a drunken stupor. My parents had arrived at the same time as the reaper. They collided with a screeching sound that sent a glass shower to the ground. My mother was on the hood, her blood pooled with the rain swirling in a cherry swirl.
          I was staring at the graves my eyes stinging. I was suddenly overcome with rage my fists found the ground, slamming into it with perpetual precision. My voice found the sky, its volume increasing scaring me as I listened to my screams of pain. I hit the ground mud squelching as I lifted my fists again, I was broken my walls, barriers and shields had once been so impregnable was now a littered mass of forgotten pieces.
         "Damn you! How could you leave me alone like this?"
         I went for the jagged rocks now attacking them with my fists; blood peaked through my skin attaching itself to my parent's graves. "I hate YOU! You abandoned me! How could you?!" I sounded so pathetic, so useless. I'd spent years perfecting my defenses, and some how a girl had broken through them she was an army all her own.
         "Ben, are you alright?"
         I turned to meet the eyes of an angel, she was a ghostly presence sent to torture me further. "Leave me alone! I hate you!" I took a swing at her, attacking her with all the energy I had left in my body. Fatigue washed over me, all I ended up doing was falling foreword. She caught me, her arms wrapping around my frail body holding me to her chest in a comforting way. I broke down, the last fragments of my wall washing away with the tide that was my tears. Her voice drifted over me caressing my broken heart.
         "Everything's going to be alright, I promise."
          It was Genevieve; I was shaking and lost in Genevieve's arms. Her head rested against my own she rubbed my back gently, I closed my eyes and wished all of my vulnerability would disappear, melt away like a candle's wax. Hopelessness consumed my very soul attacking my heart and leaving me battered and bruised. I wanted to sleep, to fall away from the pain that had stolen my life.
         I loved her, I wanted her in my very soul she was part of me. She didn't need a key to my soul because she was my soul. Her gaze was her way of trying to find a way back in. She was my foundation, the light that cleared the darkest recesses of my heart. Every since my break down she has supported me, we visited my parents grave everyday, I spoke to them; about my day and my ambitions, I know they heard me.
         After one of my visits, Vivi and I were leaving the cemetery when I spotted the sad-eyed angel, she no longer resembled the way I felt. This statue was inaccurate; angels were beautiful celestial beings that lead you into the light. I no longer looked at that counterfeit angel; I looked at the true angel holding my hand. She met my gaze with a smile, one single kiss against her soft lips made my heart and soul come to life, Our souls were connected her cerulean eyes had found and unlocked my soul.