Turning Leaves - Chapter Two

Chapter two

The ringing of my phone fuels a surge of adrenaline through my veins. I answer almost hesitantly, afraid it won't be you. Silence greets me, but then I hear the rich tones of your voice poor out of the receiver. Each word, from your greeting to how you casually mention the weather and how the afternoon breeze reminds you of the wind blowing through the window this morning, to your description of what has happened to you since you left my arms just serves to further remind me that we won't share a bed tonight.

The restraints of teenage life are falling away, but nowhere near as quickly as childhood. High school is just months from being a sweet memory for us to look back on, but our parents' authority still overshadow our freedom. Steeling the precious time needed to properly appreciate and explore each other is difficult without giving skewered versions of the truth to our authority figures. But it seems like nothing could be too great a sacrifice to spend one more blissful hour melting into one-another.

Before hanging up you paint me a vivid scene with words and phrases that only I understand the secret meanings too. Each word rekindles a sensation from when we were together, and your loving goodbye tops it off to leave me aching to be with you.

Sleep hesitantly creeps into my mind, yet is not strong enough to overpower my contemplations of you. As my thoughts evolve into dreams they take on a life like quality, fooling me into believing that once again we are together. Even our conceptual hand holding fills me with graceful and enveloping warmth. When morning approaches and my mind begins to clear I instinctively reach for you, but all I find is a cold, unoccupied side of the bed and a melancholy feeling.