"I might not have been an angel, but every second spent with you felt like heaven"
Once the glass of milk was empty they signaled the waitress for the check, and as she arrived and saw the untouched coffee her expression morphed into one of confusion as she placed a small platter with the check on the table. Recalling the scene of the stranger crying as they stared at the coffee and the puffy eyes they now had, she didn't dare ask any questions. She watched as they pulled out their wallet and took out a far bigger bill than necessary and placed it on the silver little platter as they stood and walked away. The confusion in her grew, not being able to think of a reasonable cause for the stranger to have acted the way they had. But, how could she? It's not the easiest thing to recognize a broken soul, when you've never been one or met one.
Our photographer could feel the young girls' stare on their back as they walked away from the coffee shop, away from the untouched cup of now cold black coffee. Just the thought of it made their insides clench and their throat close up making it hard to breathe.
The steps they took felt robotic, one foot forward and then another and repeat, and as this went on their mind wandered everywhere and nowhere as their feet kept on taking steps, leading them to wherever their destination was, and before they knew it, their face was tear stained once again, cold drops of salty water falling one after the other as their expression remained empty...except for the eyes, red and puffy and full of pain, just staring at them could bring you to tears. Everyone who passed this pained soul felt their own heart clench, hoping they never reached such a broken state were strangers stared and felt the pain those eyes held, hoped they never experienced such profound heart break that it could not be hidden to the rest of the world.
Our photographer knew the impact their emotions had on other people, especially when taking the pictures of loving couples, how they would look through to their broken soul and feel pity but then stare towards their loved one and emit even more love than before. Our photographer's pain caused sadness to some but it also caused others to feel grateful for what they had, and after realizing this they decided to stop trying so hard to repress the pained and shattered heart they barely held together from the world.
One step forward and then the next and repeat. Even though the tears kept on falling our photographer did nothing but continue walking, they had a destination to get to and a schedule to stick to, so no matter how shattered a heart they had, as long as their legs worked, they planned on staying on track and getting through everything planned for the day, even if it killed them.
After a couple more minutes of walking they reached their final destination, a gorgeous little fountain with a statue of two angels in the middle staring at each other. One with proud open wings using both hands to hold the face of the other with a small smile adorning their lips, and the other with a pained expression and eyes closed holding onto the tunic smiling angel, the pained angel had his wings on the floor, all tangled and with feathers scattered around them.
This was one of our photographer's favorite places in the world, and every time they came to this city they made it a must to come see the fountain, and every time they came, they did so a little bit afraid that with time humans might have taken it down or destroyed it and left it there as a ruin. And every single time it was just as it was before, it felt like a miracle. The fact that once upon a time they had thrown a penny into that same fountain, wishing every time they came the fountain and statues stayed the same, made it a little more magical.
As our photographer reached a bench in front of the fountain they stared at their surroundings taking in a calming breath before sitting down and looking at the floor for a few seconds trying to keep the pain at bay to be able to enjoy the place they treasured with all their heart. But as they looked up their eyes landed on a young awkward couple flirting, and the pain they tried so hard to control rushed in harder than before, shaking and shattering our photographer even further than they already were.
YOU ARE READING
A Broken Hearts Last Day
Short Story"I'm trying to achieve perfection duh" Taking advantage of the spoken words the photographer decided to take it upon themselves to make the artist relax a little bit "I'd say you're already pretty perfect, wouldn't you?" Yes, the words were cheesie...
